Rhonda K - Native Florida Folk Artist..tiki bar signs, inspirational coastal signs, sea shabby chic accessories, garden art, mermaids and MORE. Custom/personalized available.
RhondaK with a new sign painted on a old fish box lid from Cortez, Florida.
WHO IS RHONDAK? You can always check my resume. That's the dry facts of educational attainment and some instances of stark, mad, naked ambition. I am still a librarian, but now practicing that peculiar faith in an academic setting in Venice, Florida. I left a good paying, though soul crushing job in 2005. That's when life got really interesting.
In 2006 I made $6000, had three boats, two pugs, one man and a pretty fascinating life living on board a brightly colored 1950s motorsailor. These things disappeared in pieces, beginning with the one man so that I lived on board for 5 months solo with a mad man trying to do me in with things like cutting my anchor line, stealing my steering wheel and otherwise launching a sort of sea-billy campaign of terror against me.
The important thing is I survived. A lot of the signs I paint here, I actually have used in practical ways. That year was about starving my fears and feeding my dreams. My dream of living on the sea which taught me alot. First off, you'll never know enough and you'll never know everything. And if you ever THINK you know everything, that's when your dinghy will sink. My dinghy never sank and NEVER broke lose.
I love painting tiki bar signs. I've hung out at quite a few and I want my work to share the laid low, feeling fine experience that is real Florida no matter what the city or the road.
Please contact me for any special orders. I'm not mass manufacturing my work. I use primarily found wood and often have stories about the wood I use. I have a big thing for wood out of Safety Harbor. You probably don't want to get me started on that! I do NOT use house paint or bargain paint found at Big Lots. I mix my colors as I go for each individual sign. Everything I do is signed. Some are signed with a story. I do not pick up recently released prisoners to do my work ( that's a great and maybe true folk art urban tale ) nor do I harness my kinfolk into doing it as I tool about in an RV that costs more than your home. I do it. Me. No stencils. I don't even pencil in items. I love working with bars, bait shops, restaurants, marinas and fun folk. Feel free to contact me.BR
This used to be what I woke up to daily....
