Creative workbench scene with two hands applying gold leaf to yellow lettering on a blue sign board.
New at bl.ag online, ‘Brendan Mooney: Memories of a Signwriter’, with a charming short biopic about this retired signwriter from Birr, County Offaly, Ireland.
https://bl.ag/brendan-mooney-memories-of-a-signwriter/
#SignPainting #Signwriting #SignPainters #Signwriters #Birr #Offaly #ShortFilms
People painting lettering and signage directly onto large windows. To the left is someone working on a large newspaper masthead, while to the left they are painting "Amsterdam Letterheads".
I am helping the organisers of this year's Amsterdam Letterheads: “Sea Level” with their email updates.
If you'd like to receive these, then the dedicated event newsletter/mailing list can be joined via this link?
https://bl.ag/#/portal/account/newsletters […]
[Original post on typo.social]
Magazine spread with the headline across the top and a main photo of a woman facing an easel and wearing a t-shirt with a 'Burds of the Brush' design on the back. There is also a little cartoon at the bottom of the right page.
2. ‘Women in Sign Painting: Burds of the Brush, One Year On’ by Rachel E Millar in BLAG 03 (https://bl.ag/03
This piece is also available online here: bl.ag/women-in-sign-painting-b...
Plus there are a few more Burds features and […]
[Original post on typo.social]
Magazine spread with the headline in white set over a photo of four women working together on a mural sign on the left page. The right page is mainly text with two small black and white archival images of a women on a scaffold painting a sign.
Wishing brush-wielding women around the world a happy International Women's Day. Here are two relevant features/articles from BLAG back issues:
1. ‘Safe Spaces and Mighty Meets: Representation and Community for Women, Trans, and Nonbinary Sign Painters’ by […]
[Original post on typo.social]
Support your local sign painter, and if you’re in Ottawa then that can be the lovely Pascal Arpin. She has usefully included a map on her website so that you can easily go check her work for other businesses before hiring her:
https://www.pascalearpin.com/about
It’s a neat idea, which could […]
Just got my hands on the charming ‘Sign Dogs’ zine from Sarah Apple, with all proceeds going to a good canine cause: luckysigns.square.site/product/sign-dog-zine/5G...
I’m planning to include this tribute to sign painters and their […]
[Original post on typo.social]
Sign board with text saying "The Experts" underlined by a picture of a rose and with a large butterfly to the right.
New at bl.ag online, ‘Signs of the Times: The Letterheads in 1981’, in which I tracked down and republished the first ever piece of press for the sign painting movement, exactly 45 years after it appeared in Signs of the Times magazine […]
[Original post on typo.social]
Hand-painted grocery store signs mounted to a series of display boards in a gallery setting. They are predominantly lettered in red on yellow backgrounds with a casual style coming from their ephemeral nature.
I’m gutted I can’t get to São Paulo, Brazil, for the Letras & Filetes group show that’s running there until 5 April:
www.sescsp.org.br/projetos/letras-filetes-...
Photo: Samuel Esteves (https://samuelesteves.com/
🧵 2/ […]
[Original post on typo.social]
Graphic of a spread from a magazine. The two-page article is titled 'Ye Olde Sign Shoppe. Enver Yücebalkan: Signs of the Silver Screen' and is accompanied by four images of signs of different kinds, including an archival photo of two smartly dressed men in front of a cinema and its painted billboards.
Murat also wrote the ‘Ye Olde Sign Shoppe’ column for BLAG 03 (https://bl.ag/03 This tells the fascinating story of sign painter Enver Yücebalkan and his surviving work in Sakarya, Turkey.
cc @muraterturk
#SignPainting #SignPainters #Sakarya
Welcome @muraterturk to typo.social / the fediverse. It's great to see you here and I'm excited to share more from your book in the next issue of BLAG.
Here's a previous post about it (https://typo.social/@blag/115581772437440344 and I recommend people check out Murat's website for a look […]
The truth is that there has always been an overlap between 'fine' artists and sign painters, as I explored in this 'What is Sign Painting?' article:
bl.ag/what-is-sign-painting-or...
#SignPainting #Signwriting #Art #Artists #SignPainters #Sigbwriters
Mural with block and shade lettering for 'Me Aul Flower' set within an array of pale pink flowers.
New at bl.ag online, 'Chain Letter: Meghan McDermott', with the story of how Vanessa Power's Dublin mural guided Meghan towards her chosen career of sign painting.
https://bl.ag/chain-letter-meghan-mcdermott/
PS. This is the eighth 'Chain Letter' in the series: […]
[Original post on typo.social]
Graphic of a spread from a book with a column of text on the right and a black and white landscape image sitting across the fold. The image shows a school/workshop setting with multiple people painting large signs.
Goodness gracious me, it's actually a real book, with an introductory essay from the wonderful Morgane Côme.
This one from @letterformarchive looks spectacular and I can't wait to get my hands on it.
Lettres Décoratives: A Century of French Sign Painters’ […]
[Original post on typo.social]
As BLAG 08 goes to print I've noted work, articles, and projects from 17 countries in total: Argentina; Australia; Belgium; Brazil; Canada; France; Germany; Hong Kong; Kenya; Ireland; Italy; Mexico; South Korea; Spain; Thailand; UK; USA.
The international nature of our adventures in sign […]
Hand-painted paper sign headlined "Clients, Pick Two". Below this is a Venn diagram in red, blue, and yellow, with the main circles labelled "Fast", "Cheap", and "Good". Where fast and good overlap it says "Expensive"; where fast and cheap overlap it says "Poor Quality"; where good and cheap overlap it says "Takes Time"; and where all three overlap in the centre it says "Dream On".
I've just heard from sign painter Bug Sav Art in Jamaica who has taken a big hit from Hurricane Melissa.
A friend of his has started a fundraiser as he looks to recover his business, so please donate and/or boost:
https://gofund.me/6c68243b7
Pictured is Bug's […]
[Original post on typo.social]
Archival photo of a building group with some people walking the street beside it. The foreground is dominated by a curved whitewashed wall which is adorned with hand-painted sign boards advertising film screenings.
Lovely story (in Spanish) about the Albacete sign painter José Esparcia, with a particular focus on his work for cinemas and the films they screened […]
[Original post on typo.social]
Hooded sign painter on a ladder working on a fascia sign on a busy road. The lettering is in a loose rounded cursive style, painted in black with the shadow being applied in pink.
New at bl.ag online, 'Renegade Writing: London’s Faux Fascias', where we meet This Is My Costume and learn about their decade-long initiative refashioning abandoned shops.
https://bl.ag/renegade-writing-londons-faux-fascias/
#SignPainting #Signwriting […]
[Original post on typo.social]
Photo of a book called 'The Golden Era of Sign Design' with a handful of different stickers, including the BLAG and IOAFS logotypes, laid on the floor beside it.
I do like that most orders from my online shop (https://shop.bl.ag are dealt with by a fulfilment company, but I also enjoy the personal touches I get to do with the despatches I make directly from here in Spain.
Here's 'The Golden Era of Sign Design' landing […]
[Original post on typo.social]
Artists vs Sign Painters: an observation.
I've just worked on the edits for a forthcoming BLAG feature profiling five 'fine' artists. Each one has a functional website, whereas all too often sign painters have Instagram as their sole online presence.
Context: I'm moving to crediting websites […]
Man sat on a chair painting a large freestanding sign with Vietnamese lettering. Other signs are propped up against the wall behind this in what is a light industrial workshop setting.
"Handmade signs will make people feel close and real, and at the same time, each artist will convey their own spirit, depending on the painting technique. I think that is the reason why many people still choose to use handmade billboards instead of electronic […]
[Original post on typo.social]
I'm getting very excited about the premiere of our short film, 'When Better Letters Met Brian Walker'.
For those that we can, we hope you'll join us for an informal evening celebrating Brian's life and work as a signwriter.
Tue, 29 July
6:30pm for a 7pm start
Chats Palace, 42-44 Brooksby's […]
A painted sign for a DTP shop called “ArtLife”. The name is painted in white on a green background, and a list of their services is painted in red on white.
In connection with her work on the forthcoming India Street Lettering book, @matratype shared her insights into Indian sign painting for BLAG.
Read 'Indian Sign Painting: A Typeface Designer's Take on the Craft' at […]
[Original post on typo.social]
@letterror In my 'Celebrity Signwriters' article of a few years ago I did include some fathers of famous people like Mohammad Ali, Jerry Seinfeld, and Ronny Wood.
https://bl.ag/celebrity-signwriters-past-present/
Frank Oz' dad is new to me, but I'd love to learn more if you find anything […]
The first screening of my new short film, When Better Letters Met Brian Walker, will take place in London on Tuesday, 29 July.
Please let me know if you can make it, and tell your friends.
https://bl.ag/introducing-a-new-better-letters-film/
#SignPainting #SignPainters #Hackney #ShortFilm
Book cover with yellow Art Deco lettering on black that reads "The Theory & Practice of Poster Art, Wellington".
1/2 — I've been reconsidering the Duke Ellington entry in my 'Celebrity Signwriters' post.
https://bl.ag/celebrity-signwriters-past-present/
Could there perhaps have been a confusion with the similar sounding Duke Wellington, author of 'The Theory and Practice […]
[Original post on typo.social]
I believe that Vienna's Schildermalermuseum is the only one in the world that's solely dedicated to sign painting, but I'd love to be proved wrong!
I was luck to visit in 2016 (https://bl.ag/viennas-incredible-schildermalermuseum/ and then to collaborate with Tom Koch on a short film about the […]
Scene from outside an market building in Uganda, with stalls selling goods. The side of the building is covered with a large hand-painted sign in bright reds, yellows, and greens, with realistic pictorials of two cooking oil containers branded 'Fortune'.
New(ish) at bl.ag online, 'Hand-Painted Shopfronts in Rural Uganda', where Olivia Krawczyk introduces the hand-painted signs for businesses large and small in the rural Kumi district.
https://bl.ag/hand-painted-shopfronts-in-rural-uganda/
#SignPainting […]
[Original post on typo.social]
I've just found Murat Ertürk's 'Ye Olde Sign Shoppe' column from BLAG 03 on Medium, in which he takes us on a trip to Sakarya, Turkey.
'Enver Yücebalkan: Signs of the Silver Screen': muraterturk.medium.com/enver-y%C3%BCcebalkan-si...
More from inside […]
Ooh look, something cooking at @letterformarchive with yours truly and local San Francisco sign painters Michelle "Meng" Nguyen and @nbsigns.
letterformarchive.org/shop/a-sign-painterly-sl...
Although the event is in-person, a recording will be made […]
