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VALLEY — A LaGrange man who discovered a hidden talent for art while working as a sign painter in south Florida will be one of the exhibitors at the upcoming Fall Into the Holidays art show presented by the Valley Arts Council on the weekend of November 2nd and 3rd. Richard Deal will be one of more than 60 artists from the east Alabama-west Georgia region who will have their works on display.

Deal is originally from West Palm Beach, Florida. He did a lot of odd jobs when he was young. One of them opened up a whole new world for him.

“I was hired as a sign painter’s helper,” he explained. “He hired me to help him paint billboards. It got the smell of oil-based paint in my blood, and it’s never left me. I love it and love being around it.”

Sign painting runs in Deal’s family. His grandfather on his mother’s side was a sign painter in Dayton, Ohio. “He made a pretty good living at it during the Depression,” he said. “He painted a lot of Coca-Cola signs. He had his own sign-painting business.”

When he was in elementary school Deal once won first place in a school-wide art contest. His pen and ink sketch of a cockatiel so impressed the judges that they awarded him the blue ribbon.

During his growing-up years Deal got away from his early art instincts but returned to them when he was helping paint signs.

There was something about the smell of that oil-based paint and the feel of that paint brush in his hand that brought out his creative side.

He was helping paint billboards by day and painting on canvas in the off hours. “Sometimes I don’t know what I’m doing when I get started, but it just comes out,” he said.

Somewhere along the way, Deal decided to join his older brother in LaGrange. “I made my way north from Florida by riding freight trains,” he said. “It was quite an adventure, but it got me to LaGrange. That’s where my brother Mack was living.”

Hoboing trains is what one might call being a free spirit.

‘I don’t take things too seriously,” Deal said. “Life is meant to be lived well while you have it. I’m always kind to stray dogs and stray cats. I guess it’s because I’m kind of a stray person.”

There’s nothing stray about his art work. It’s on the money.

It came out in a big way in LaGrange. Deal is the guy who did the train mural on the side of the Newman building in downtown LaGrange.

“I just love to do trains,” he said. “It was trains that got me to LaGrange.”

Deal has painted lots of trains, especially the big CSX trains that travel through LaGrange every day. When one looks closely at his train paintings they can find his favorite part of the picture. He calls it his hobo cat. There’s a tiny cat somewhere alongside the big CSX engine.

He also likes to do UFOs. “What I like most about doing UFOs is that you can do it anyway you want to,” he said. “No one really knows what they lo0k like.”

Some of his best work is of airplanes. His paintings of planes captured blue ribbon awards in two past art shows.

Deal’s artistic talent has gone beyond the canvas. He makes walking sticks, drink coasters, wall plaques and many other useful and collectable items.

“I like to repurpose things and to create things that are bright and shiny,” he said. “I love knotholes and wormholes you find in wood. Whenever I see a pile of something I want to look through it. You never know what you can find. There can be something there you can make into something new that someone will appreciate.”

Deal said that he misses Florida sometimes but loves it in LaGrange. It’s been home to him for 25 years now.

He likes to make new things out of almost anything that’s old and most people would throw away. “I’ve made new things out of old coffee tables, mosaics out of old tile and turning old spire racks into something new.

Not long ago Deal went to an art show in Carrollton and purchased some aviation prints from a nationally-known artist. “They were really good,” he said. “I’m glad I was able to get some of his prints.”

Deal has done some sign painting work in Lanett. He painted a sign for Bluffton Antiques and for a local restaurant.

He said he’s excited about being in the November art show. “I want to thank Suzie Britt and members of the Valley Art Council for putting on this show and for allowing me to be in it,” he said. “It means a lot to me when people look at my work. I also like to meet with other artists and to look at their work. You always see  lot of talent on display at art shows. They are really worth coming to.”

Deal lost his brother last year. “Mack was a house painter,” he said. “We did lots of work together, and I really miss him.”

What’s really special to Deal about LaGrange its that so many of his signs are on display at local businesses. “They are in the downtown area and all along West Point Road,” he said.

Deal does all kinds of artwork. “I do air brush art, truck lettering, tailgate murals, you name it,” he said.

He’s done college logos on end tables for people.

“I’d like to think I’ve done some pretty things, some really neat things over the years,” he said.

At the upcoming show at Valley Community Center he will be displaying a variety of his work. He’ll definitely have trains, planes and UFOs on display along with walking sticks, drink coasters and wall plaques.

He makes most of the walking sticks out of privet. “Some are straight and some are crooked,” he said. “No two are the same, and you have to work each one differently. I love the challenge. I strip each one down and put clear coat on it.”

Deal said he loves being at home in LaGrange and working in the yard.

“We are going to put Richard in charge of the coffee and the doughnuts at the show,” Britt teases him. “He loves doing that, and we wouldn’t want him to miss out on it. It’s part of the small-town touch we like to have at our shows.”

Deal was well known for his artistry as a sign painter in Florida. He did a lot of work for famed fisherman Roland Martin.

“I didn’t work with Roland that much,” he said. “He was off fishing most of the time, but his wife Pat was the one who put me to work. She was the one who ran the show, but she was good to me, and I really appreciated her. I did the sign work for the Martins for at least 10 years. Roland was big time back then. He and Bill Dance were buddies. I would like to think I still have signs all around Lake Okeechobee. I had them there at one time.”