I haven’t been too excited about anything lately to blog, but one thing I am pretty much ALWAYS excited about is sign painting. I’ve only been practicing this craft on and off over the past 3 years and have since developed a great appreciation for any artist that incorporates nice hand drawn lettering in their work…BECAUSE IT’S FREAKING HARD!!! But, when done well it’s amazing and beautiful, and even when not done so well it’s kind of charming.

I’ve found that no one really teaches you how to do this stuff either. I had to stumble through it, first by using all the wrong paints and brushes, until I finally learned about One Shot sign paints and squirrel hair brushes. What. A. Difference.

These guys are living, breathing, paintbrushes. Photo by Michael V. Flores.

Sign painting for me is pretty interesting because it requires my hand to be very slow and precise, which is not how I normally work. The reward comes from painting the perfect curve or pressing/twisting the brush just right to adjust the width of the line. It’s mostly a relaxing activity, except for the discomfort of having to wear a respirator- oil paints are STINKY.

Today I did a project for a former staff member. It is a tribute to two of our dearest animal friends that have passed away this year- their names painted on their feed buckets. Because I really love process photos, I’ve uploaded my own photos of this project to my Flickr account and have written some short details about each step.  Click on the slideshow above if you’d like to read about my process. Some people get really excited about painting their cars or skateboards, I am really excited to have painted these buckets. Rest in peace, Coco and Bobo.

That is some awesome type going on. I love how the GROSS the “Stops Rust!” is. Like burning zombie flesh. Nobody wants that. And who is that Scottish guy? I looked it up and learned that Rustoleum was founded in 1921 by a Scottish-born sea captain named Robert Fergusson who discovered fish oil prevented rust.

I never knew that! You certainly won’t get a hint of it looking at the contemporary design for Stops Rust spray cans:

Weak sauce, my friends. Man, and I had no idea that the red tiled pattern behind the logo used to be Scottish Tartan. Now it just looks like, red bathroom tiles! LAME!

It’s such a bummer that modern design seems to have lost all personality and character, and has no regard for history. Everything is so blando, brand A is no different than brand B, just causes more confusion and headache for me, the shopper.

Rest in peace Captain Fergusson. I never knew ye, but I’m glad I found ye today.

My boyfriend and I have been obsessed with signage ever since it became part of our jobs at work to design and paint them. It didn’t occur to me exactly how much we talk about it to eachother until his younger brother was visiting us during his Spring Break a couple of weeks ago. While most of the time he was sitting quietly in the back seat listening to his iPod, at one point he had commented about how we talk about signs, A LOT. I guess we had probably driven past a few and started complaining about them, haha.

Anyway, years of being trained in the art of using words to make people do stuff (graphic design/typography) has led me to become someone that finds the following images delightfully humourous:

I’ve seen quotes used for emphasis in old hand lettered signage before…was this an acceptable thing to do at some point?

One of my favorite things to point out and make fun of/complain about is how floral imagery is always used on packaging for women’s products. And yet, I find the (ironic?) use of the flowers here totally acceptable and hilarious.

Such an awesome sign…I’ve never seen anything like this. I don’t even remember what store this sign was in front of, but it was in a shopping center in San Antonio, TX. Not only do I love the funny illustration here, but in tiny print at the bottom it says “HONOR SYSTEM,” as if to mentally take you back to elementary school and make you feel guitly for lying about being pregnant. As if to say, “DON’T EVEN TRY IT.” Well, I don’t know if this sign lasted very long, I’ll have to check next time I’m in the area. The Gregory House part of me says that everybody lies and those liars ruined it for the pregnant ladies, and this sign is gone.

Last but certainly not least:

I found this great treasure in a Burger King one evening.

I don’t even have the words.