Sam Roberts

Jamaican Dancehall Signs by Maxine Walters

Gabriel Heatwave sent me a treat of a link to this article about a new book and exhibition celebrating the hand-painted signs used to advertise dancehall events in Jamaica. A copy of the book is on order and will be reviewed at a later date. (Order yours here.) These signs are amazing and come from […]

6 Oct 2012

HAT Ghostsigns Archive upgrade

The Ghostsigns Archive has been updated as part of the wider upgrade to the History of Advertising Trust website. There are not only more photos available but also a new search function which allows you to browse just the ghostsigns pages. This is not the main site search but the one pictured above immediately before […]

3 Oct 2012

Walking tours and talks with Frank Jump

A couple of treats next week for those residing in, or visiting, New York from Frank Jump, author of the excellent ‘Fading Ads of New York City’: 1. An Illustrated Lecture and Book Signing on the evening of Wednesday, 3rd October at the New York Society for Ethical Culture. 2. Two walking tours of New York’s fading […]

29 Sep 2012

Was Walter Kershaw “Britain’s first graffiti artist”?

This question gets some coverage on the Guardian in this article about the Rochdale-born artist who rubbed councils up the wrong way in creating his artworks in the North of England. You can learn more about the man and his work, including various global assignments, on the Walter Kershaw website [Link expired]. There is also […]

26 Sep 2012

Walldogs: Murals on Main Street DVD

This is one of 17 murals produced during a Walldogs ‘meet’ in Pontiac, Illinois, in the summer of 2009. These events bring together sign artists from around the world to decorate towns and cities with colourful murals. In this case it was the home of the International Walldog Mural & Sign Art Museum and a place […]

22 Sep 2012

RIP: A.E. Piggott & Sons, Leicester

This large canal-side ghostsign has fallen victim to the demolition of its host building in Leicester. More details of the location can be seen on Amy’s photo of the sign on Flickr where it is also noted that it made a cameo in the first Walkers crisps commercial featuring Gary Lineker (0:36 and 0:55 below). […]

19 Sep 2012

The signpainting of Anthony Purcell

After finding this fantastic collection of Pittsburgh ghostsigns on the Steeltown Anthem blog [Link since expired] I dug a little deeper and came across another great set of photos. These, including my favourite above, celebrate the hand-painted murals and signs of Anthony Purcell. He also has his own website and this is the Steeltown Anthem home […]

15 Sep 2012

Multi-business ghostsign revealed in St. Petersburg, Texas

Fantastic reveal from St. Petersburg (Texas, not Russia). Three brands once resided in the building: Ermatinger hatters; Hayward’s toy shop; and the Wisteria confectionery company. Given the equal portion of wall space allotted to each business it is likely they split the cost of this sign three ways. It has been dated to 1929 and some […]

12 Sep 2012

Ghostsigns in The Simple Things magazine

A new magazine, The Simple Things, features a great article about Ghostsigns. Written by Kirsten Elliott of Akeman Press in Bath, there are also a couple of wise words and a bunch of photos from yours truly. Regular readers may recall a couple of fascinating photos that Kirsten recently provided to this blog and there is […]

8 Sep 2012

Lyndsey Smith and the signs of Bath and Lewes

The Circulating Library sign from Bath is certainly one of the most popular and regularly photographed ghostsigns in the UK [See comments on this post for some more on this sign]. However, this is the first time I’ve seen it appear in watercolour. This painting by Lyndsey Smith was the runner up in the Bath […]

5 Sep 2012

Ghostsigns and Smiths Grand Teas in the Countryman

This photo by John Vince features in a short piece he’s written on ghostsigns for the Countryman. The sign, from Leicestershire, also features in the History of Advertising Trust Ghostsigns Archive and has the wonderful ‘act local’ line of “Carefully blended to suit the water of the district”. It also has a remarkably diverse set of […]

1 Sep 2012

Hamburg Alphabet by Chris Campe

Hamburg Alphabet by Chris Campe is a delightful expose of one German city’s signage and public lettering. Featuring 220 images it catalogues these examples in alphabetical order according to the word spelled on the sign. The pages are visually striking, offering both similarities and sharp contrasts between different signs. This is testimony to Campe’s work […]

29 Aug 2012

Dubo, Dubon, Dubonnet in Paris, 1983

I had to share this as it is a brilliant example of the classic ‘Dubo, Dubon, Dubonnet’ campaign with illustrations in the hand painted form. It was captured by Scott Phillips in Paris in 1983 and, on his blog, he describes how he was able to create this wonderful image. The original artwork for the 1932 campaign was produced by French artist A. M. […]

25 Aug 2012

Dana Forrester, ghostsigns and classic cars

Work on my book means that I haven’t been blogging as diligently as usual so this is getting back to it. Through William Stage (author of ‘Ghost Signs‘) I became acquainted with American watercolour artist Dana Forrester. Dana is an artist who uses ghostsigns in his original works, alongside a number of other artists who […]

22 Aug 2012

Cover for ‘Hand Painted Signs of Kratie’

Here is a preview of the hand painted cover for the ‘Hand Painted Signs of Kratie’ book. You can also see some photos and video of the work in progress on this. Sadly when I went back to see some more painting in action I was, instead, presented with the finished piece. For a glimpse […]

10 Aug 2012

Walldogs, Ghost Signs and Slappy Hooper

In 2009 the Colorado Gambler published an article by Cathleen Norman called ‘Walldogs, Ghost Signs and Slappy Hooper’. It packs a surprisingly large quantity of material about the history of painting signs on walls in the USA into a very short piece. However, the opening sentence of the main body might be one for the […]

10 Aug 2012

Creating the cover for Hand Painted Signs of Kratie

Today, after three weeks of checking back on an almost daily basis, I caught Kratie signpainter Chouk Rachana at work on the cover for my forthcoming book, ‘Hand Painted Signs of Kratie’. It has taken a bit of back and forth to get towards a common understanding of what I’m looking for and I think […]

7 Aug 2012

Jim Power’s mosaics, a piece of New York history

‘Mosaic Man’ Jim Power profiled in this film showing his work on the Mosaic Trail, a Lower Manhattan art exhibit depicting the people and the history of the area and the city. Sadly many of his works were destroyed but he’s now on a mission to reinstate them. A bit off piste for this blog […]

6 Aug 2012

Two brilliant ghostsigns from Bath

I was recently interviewed by Kirsten Elliott of Akeman Press for an article in a forthcoming magazine launch scheduled for later this year. We’ve since been in email contact as a result of our shared interest in ghostsigns and those from Bath in particular. (Regular readers will remember my little photo essay of a visit […]

5 Aug 2012

Sample pages from ‘Hand Painted Signs of Kratie’ book

Here are some sample pages from my forthcoming book, ‘Hand Painted Signs of Kratie’. It is a study of the hand painted form in a small provincial capital in North East Cambodia, currently my home. (Read more blog posts about hand painted signs in Cambodia.) The book is set to be about 100 pages long […]

4 Aug 2012

Mark Spurgeon’s Preserve project in ProDesign

I’ve just come across this article in ProDesign magazine which profiles Mark Spurgeon of the Preserve project in New Zealand. I’ve written about Mark’s work before and how there are parallels with my own interest in ghostsigns.  This article reinforces those similarities. You can visit Mark’s site at www.preserve.co.nz, it is a real treasure trove […]

3 Aug 2012

Perfectly preserved Coca-Cola sign revealed in restaurant renovations

This is an amazing reveal inside a restaurant in Suffolk, Virginia, showing a vintage Coca-Cola almost perfectly preserved as it would have looked when first painted. This article offers some evidence that the sign could date from the 1890s, I wonder if they’ll do something with the top portion which is presumably on the second […]

2 Aug 2012

Cities at night from space

Photographing ghostsigns and other street scenes provides insights into the culture, society and history of places around the world. Ghostsigns are more prevalent in urban areas, due to their role as industrial and economic centres. This role of cities also leads to another key feature which is lighting at night. The above video offers a […]

1 Aug 2012

The International Walldog Mural & Sign Art Museum

Walldog is the nickname given to those that once roamed the USA painting signs and slogans on brick walls, roadside barns and any other surface capable of providing a canvass for their advertising art. The International Walldog Mural & Sign Art Museum is a celebration of their work, located in Pontiac, Illinois, The city also houses a […]

31 Jul 2012