Village Inn's Colorful Transformation

Dan Erman dabbed a brush into the red paint on his pallet, then drew the outline of a rocket. He filled in the rocket with more red paint then started making red, white and blue fireworks off to the side.

Erman created the summertime scene in a matter of minutes Wednesday afternoon on the front window of the Village Inn Restaurant.

“He can knock it out quick, it’s awesome, “ said Cindy Wood, his assistant.

The Pingree Grove artist is one of only a handful of artists who create artwork on storefront windows of businesses throughout the region. He has been painting the windows at the Village Inn Restaurant for three years.

Owner Bill Galanis got the idea and sought Erman out through a friend. Galanis said people often comment on the windows and like the different images.

On Wednesday, Erman stopped by to freshen up the windows. He added new colors to the permanent items, like the “Early Bird Special, $4.25” written across the window, and then added new images.

He goes from storefront to storefront in different towns, from Huntley to South Elgin to Addison, so he has to be quick. Erman once painted a 100-foot window in eight minutes, he said. He feels that skill is rare and his goal is to show off what he can do on the Jay Leno or David Letterman shows, he said.

Erman has been painting windows for 28 years and has been doing caricatures for 32 years. The caricature work took him to Disney World in Orlando, Fla., where he worked for about eight months years ago. He also worked at Great America in Gurnee.

His work on storefronts, though, is a mainstay for him. The work is old-fashioned marketing, he said. And in a difficult economy, it makes sense. He charges $40 and works about 10 minutes. The advertising has helped some business increase profits by upward of 20 percent, he said.

The windows at the Village Inn are also nostalgic, he said. His murals capture Huntley's small town feel, he said.