#signpainters — Public Fediverse posts

One for Spanish readers, or just enjoy the pictures:

‘Entrevista Ales Santos: «El trabajo manual me ha llevado a querer trabajar más con las manos y menos con la pantalla»’ (interview with Ales Santos: “Manual work makes me want to do more with my hands and less on the screen”)

https://www.rayitasazules.com/entrevista-ales-santos-artesano-del-diseno/

Ales’ website can be found at https://www.alessantos.es and the photo here is by Donna Salama at https://donnasalama.com.

#SignPainting #SignPainters #Rotulistas #Rotulismo RayitasAzules

New at bl.ag online, ‘What I Do With (Sign Painters’) Stickers’, with a look inside my album of over 400 stickers collected since about 2019:

https://bl.ag/what-i-do-with-sign-painters-stickers/

Look out for cameos from @allthingsletters @eWalthert @admin @FrancoisTusseki

#Stickers #SignPainters #StickerAlbum #StickerCollection

Well, this is tantalising...

"In 2018, two art school students, Alessandro Latela and Gianluca Ciancaglini, published the first formal study of Mr. De Stefano and the numeraio tradition ... A third designer, Emilio La Mura, created a standardized, computer-made font named Pasquale in homage to the numeraio — a gesture that was 'misunderstood', Mr. Latela said. Mr. De Stefano's family contested the book and the font, fearing that they would be mistaken for his own work, and the projects were pulled from distribution."

Taken from the (paywalled) article here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/03/arts/design/naples-italy-painter.html

#SignPainting #SignPainters #Numeraio #Naples #Napoli

New at bl.ag online, ‘William Gilpin: Signwriter of Ulverston’, with a reproduction of Tony Lewery’s 2016 article describing one man’s contribution to the character of a Cumbrian town.

https://bl.ag/william-gilpin-signwriter-of-ulverston/

With thanks to Tony Lewery and Forum editor John Neilson for their kind permission to share this wonderful piece with BLAG readers. Forum 31 with the original is available in the Letter Exchange shop:

https://letterexchange.org/shop/forum-journal/forum-31

#SignPainting #Signwriting #Ulverston #Cumbria #SignPainters #Signwriters

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

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

Here's a report from their 2016 meet for a taste of what to expect in the Netherlands this August:

https://bl.ag/letterheads-2016-greetings-from-amsterdam/

#Letterheads #SignPainting #Signwriting #SignPainters #Lettering #Signwriters #Amsterdam #IOAFS

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 only be improved by adding images of the signs directly to the map in case it’s not the weather for walking the streets sign spotting.

#SignPainting #Signwriting #SignPainters #Ottawa

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.

https://bl.ag/signs-of-the-times-the-letterheads-in-1981/

#Letterheads #IOAFS #SignPainting #SignPainters #SignsOfTheTimes #1981

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

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:

https://bl.ag/what-is-sign-painting-or-even-signwriting/

#SignPainting #Signwriting #Art #Artists #SignPainters #Sigbwriters

An interesting juxtaposition of ‘Ye Olde Sign Shoppe’ photography and geopolitical comment in this Shropshire Star piece?

https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/voices/readers-letters/2026/01/22/childlike-leaders-ruining-the-world-your-letters-plus-signwriter-remembered-in-a-picture-from-the-archives/

The man at work is Charles (Charlie) Harrington and when I saw the picture the name rang a bell. And then it dawned on me: he's the man photographed alongside his recently painted Bile Beans sign in this piece on the restoration of a ghost sign in Leeds:

https://ghostsigns.co.uk/2021/07/council-funds-bile-beans-repainting-in-leeds/

#SignPainters #YeOldeSignShoppe #Wolverhampton #Ghostsigns #Leeds

New at https://bl.ag online, ‘Joe Farrugia: Keeping Malta’s ‘Tberfil’ Artform on the Road’, where we meet the last painter practising this vernacular style of Maltese vehicle decoration.

https://bl.ag/joe-farrugia-keeping-maltas-tberfil-artform-on-the-road/

#SignPainting #SignPainters #Vehicles #Malta #Vernacular #Artform #DecorativeArts

“The end of every letter has what’s called a terminus, and the interesting thing about road signs is that Highway Gothic* has a terminus on an angle, which is tricky to paint.” — Ray ‘Moondog’ Polotnianka on cutting his teeth painting Australian highway signs:

https://www.indailysa.com.au/salife/people-and-places/2026/01/08/meet-the-man-behind-this-dying-artform

Based in Adelaide, his website is here: https://moondog.net.au.

*Highway Gothic on @FontsInUse: https://fontsinuse.com/typefaces/20992/highway-gothic

#Signwriting #Signwriters #SignPainting #SignPainters #Adelaide

@5teverin0 It's worth looking out for the book about the last Mail Pouch barn painter, Harley Warrick.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harley_Warrick

#SignPainters #Barns #MailPouch #Tobacco

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: https://bl.ag/tag/chainletter/

#SignPainting #Signwriting #SignPainters #Signwriters #ChainLetter #Dublin #Mural #MeAulFlower

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: https://bl.ag/tag/chainletter/

#SignPainting #Signwriting #SignPainters #Signwriters #ChainLetter #Dublin #Mural #MeAulFlower

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: https://bl.ag/tag/chainletter/

#SignPainting #Signwriting #SignPainters #Signwriters #ChainLetter #Dublin #Mural #MeAulFlower

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: https://bl.ag/tag/chainletter/

#SignPainting #Signwriting #SignPainters #Signwriters #ChainLetter #Dublin #Mural #MeAulFlower

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: https://bl.ag/tag/chainletter/

#SignPainting #Signwriting #SignPainters #Signwriters #ChainLetter #Dublin #Mural #MeAulFlower

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’ Alphabets

https://letterformarchive.org/shop/lettres-decoratives/

PS. Some of this stuff appeared in a small segment in BLAG 02 (https://bl.ag/02) but this book is next level.

#SignPainting #SignPainters #Enseignes #Signwriters #Signwriting #France #Alphabets

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 'Wise Words' contribution to the first ever issue of BLAG: https://bl.ag/01.

#SignPainters #Signwriters #Jamaica #HurricaneMelissa #Novennber

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 #SignPainters #Signwriters #London #Signs #Shopfronts

I don't usually share these outside of the free mailing list, but I'm breaking from tradition to give this Friday's free online premiere of When Better Letters Met Brian Walker a plug:

https://bl.ag/email/0291bbc9-44b1-4c4a-9685-491a2f74cb27/

#SignPainting #Films #Screenings #Events #Exhibitions #Signwriters #SignPainters #Signwriting

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 in Japan with some little extras for this loyal BLAG member.

#SignPainting #SignPainters #SmallShops #IndependentBookShops

New(ish) at bl.ag online, 'Letterheads 50: 28 Days Later', in which I try to make sense of what happened at the American Sign Museum in June through the lens of photographer Natalie Grilli.

https://bl.ag/letterheads-50-28-days-later/

See if you can find me in this huge group shot that Natalie stitched together after shooting a bunch of pictures from up a ladder...

#SignPainting #Letterheads #SignPainters #Signwriting #Signwriters #Lettering #Craft #AmericanSignMuseum

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 Walk, E9 6DF

Please find further details at https://bl.ag/brian/

And tell your friends!

#SignPainting #Signwriting #SignPainters #Signwriters #ChatsPalace #Hackney #Homerton #Clapton #London

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 #SignPainters #Kumi #Uganda #SmallShops #Brands #Advertising

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': https://muraterturk.medium.com/enver-y%C3%BCcebalkan-signs-of-the-silver-screen-d7c4a4c5e289

More from inside BLAG 03 at https://bl.ag/03, where there's also a link to buy back issues.

#SignPainting #SignPainters #Sakarya #Turkey #Cinemas

I thought I'd have some stuff to edit out of my conversation with sign painter, designer, and all-round Letterhead Elaine Wallis, but there wasn't, and so her session runs to just over 50 minutes, versus the advertised 45, at today's BLAG Meet: https://bl.ag/meet.

During the conversation you can learn all about the kit box that she's resting her foot on in this picture, and its role in her life in signs that spans over 40 years.

#SignPainting #SignPainters #Letterheads

Given the relatiive popularity of the post above, here is another 'neon' vehicle.

It's perhaps less exciting, but does come from a collection of related historical sign shop photos here: https://bl.ag/ye-olde-sign-shoppe-at-the-american-sign-museum/.

#SignPainting #SignPainters #YeOldeSignShoppe #Neon

Smoke a pipe, watch a menu board getting lettered — sounds like the life for me!

From the archive at Lauretano Sign Group, established in 1946: https://lauretano.com/about-us/

#SignPainting #Lettering #SignPainters #YeOldeSignShoppe

'Ye Olde Sign Shoppe at the American Sign Museum' is the latest at bl.ag online, where I get to indulge my fetish for photos of old sign painting shops and related tangents.

https://bl.ag/ye-olde-sign-shoppe-at-the-american-sign-museum/

Pictured are the dapper fellows that once plied their trade at the Raiford Sign Co. in Houston, Texas.

#SignPainters #SignPainting #Signs #YeOldeSignShoppe #Houston

Chanced on this one while wandering around downtown Cincinnati at dusk yesterday

Sign story here: https://bl.ag/meet-chuck-keiger-sam-caldwells-cincinnati-walldog/

Sadly, further photography was abandoned after an unsavoury character started making a beeline for me across the parking lot. Maybe I'll get a opportunity to return for some closer shots of the wall...

#Ghostsigns #Cincinnati #Ohio #SignPainters #Painters #Decorators

My new studio/office buddy is Daniel Esteve Carbonell, and now I get to walk past live sign painting on the way to my desk every day 🤩

This work in progress is for the Tona mobile churro (xurro in Catalan) van that comes through town for all the major festivals.

Daniel isn't on here, but this is his Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/insertdaniels

#SignPainting #SignPainters #SantPereDeRibes #churros #xurros #xurreria

For BLAG 07 (https://bl.ag/07), I invited sign painters around the world to translate 'the Letterheads motto' into their language, and paint a panel of this, or its acronym.

25 languages are already in, with at least another 8–9 in the pipeline; mind blown!

PS. If you don't know what 'the motto' is, then listen to Keith from about 49:13 here: https://vimeo.com/93170848

Pictured is the Lockdown Letterheads panel from Gustavo Ferrari.

#IOAFS #Letterheads #SignPainting #SignPainters

Letterheads Valencia is go!

1–4 May

More information (Spanish and tEnglish) and Tickets at:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfbw8D4EXdAtqmXMu6FqZtpyRLvuwaIa75uC44_vyjXnZ5NHw/viewform?usp=sf_link

If you're Letterheads curious, then have a browse of some of these posts: https://bl.ag/letterheads.

#Letterheads #IOAFS #SignPainting #SignPainters

The Letterheads meet in June is sold out, but I've had a crazy idea: https://bl.ag/is-this-a-crazy-idea/

There's already interest on three continents, and I really hope we'll be able to realise this international dimension to the movement's 50th anniversary celebrations.

Pictured: The original Letterheads got to know each other at sessions like this in Jerry Albright's shop in Denver, Colorado. Albright will feature in BLAG 07: https://bl.ag/07.

#SignPainting #SignPainters #Letterheeads #IOAFS

I got interviewed for a podcast, and you can listen from about 22 minutes here: https://monocle.com/radio/shows/the-stack/653/

My segment lasts about 12 minutes and I talk about BLAG, what I'm doing with the magazine, the community that is forming around it, and the wider world of the Letterheads.

Thank you to Mae-Li Evans and Monocle for inviting me to be a part of it.

#SignPainting #Signwriting #SignPainters #Signwriters #Lettering #Podcast #Letterheads #FileteadoPorteño

I have been privileged to work alongside Adrian Harrison on two other films: When Better Letters Met Stan Wilkinson (https://bl.ag/stan/) and Everyone Back to Joby's (https://bl.ag/everyone-back-to-jobys/)

Enjoy!

#SignPainting #SignPainters #Letterheads #Films

Married to Comics is showing today at 3pm at The Rio in Dalston, London: https://www.riocinema.org.uk/movie/married-to-comics---uk-premiere.

The film profiles biographical comic luminaries Justin Green (also a sign painter) and Carol Tyler, with contributions from artists including Robert Crumb and Art Spiegelman.

There is also an opportunity to see the film at the Woodstock Museum Film Festival in New York on 31 August.

Boosts appreciated 😃

#comics #films #movies #SignPainters #London #Dalston #E8 #screenings #events #boost

New at bl.ag online, 'Retrospectiva Recalls the Brands and Businesses of the Past'. Visit https://bl.ag/retrospectiva to learn more about this cultural initiative in Quinto, Spain.

#Quinto #Spain #murals #signs #advertising #SignPainting #SignPainters #retrospectiva

Not sure of #TBT (throwback thursday) is a thing on mastodon/the fediverse, but here's a throwback to four years ago today when I hosted the 24-hour marathon that was Lockdown Letterheads:

https://bl.ag/lockdown/

#SignPainting #SignPainters #signwriting #signwriters #lockdown #ioafs

New at bl.ag online: 'Algorithmic Art: The Sign Painting Project by Francis Alÿs' looking at the artist's collaborative and creative adventures with Mexican sign painters.

https://bl.ag/alys

Francis Alÿs: 2023 Wolfgang Hahn Prize is showing at Köln's Museum Ludwig until 7 April.

#signpainting #francisalys #mexico #rotulos #rotulistas #mexicocity #signpainters #art #artist #painting

@gaelchlo Are you familiar with the work of Kevin Freeney?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/gentlemanofletters/albums

He is one of the #signwriters profiled in the #signwriting chapter of Dublin's Vanishing Craftsman by Kevin Corrigan Kearns.

https://archive.org/details/dublinsvanishing00kear

(Only learned writing this reply that @internetarchive has the book in their collection.)

#signwriter #signpainter #signpainters #signpainting