USA

Vote Against Prohibition Ghostsign in Baltimore

This is the first ever example from the modern era that I’ve come across of hand painted advertising on buildings used for political purposes. There are the ancient ghostsigns of Pompeii which I’ve written about before and also the murals of places like Nicaragua and Northern Ireland. This photo from Samuel Adam Johnson caught my eye […]

23 Jul 2012

American Roadside sign art from Bill Martin

Bennie Frazier’s retro fashion store in Sweetwater, Texas, is an unlikely home for a collection of original artworks from Bill Martin, late resident of the same town. These depict the colourful roadside signs that once characterised American highways, often using neon and sometimes as big as the buildings they were positioned on. These were referred […]

22 Jul 2012

Salisbury Ghost Sign Restoration Project

The Salisbury Ghost Sign Restoration Project is an initiative of three enthusiasts in North Carolina. They have recently unveiled their first two restorations, both for Coca-Cola signs, so I thought it was time to catch up with one of the trio, Justin Dionne to find out more about the project. Can you tell me a […]

21 Jul 2012

Derek McDonald film and interview

Another signpainter profiled on film, this time Derek McDonald of Golden West Sign Arts, one of the craftsman who worked on this year’s ‘Declaration of Independence’ campaign for Jack Daniel’s. More from Derek in this extended article from Oakland North. Is it just me or do there seem to be more and more of these […]

19 Jul 2012

Fort Collins and Watertown Ghostsigns

Building on the various tours and trails already published on this site, here are some more: Download a pdf of the Fort Collins Ghost Signs Tour (1) Download a pdf of the Fort Collins Ghost Signs Tour (2) Download a pdf of the Watertown Murals and Ghost Signs Tour Besides the two walking tours above, […]

17 Jul 2012

Owl Cigars ghostsign mystery in San Francisco

Kasey Smith of the Perception Filter blog has just posted this fascinating piece of investigative research into the origins of the Owl Cigars ghostsign on Meacham Place, San Francisco. Can you think of any other theories that would explain its unlikely position given the evidence that Kasey presents?

15 Jul 2012

Dusty Signs doing it the old way in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Lovely video about Dusty Signs‘ Dan Madsen, picked up on Typedeck where there is more information and a gallery of Dan’s images. Dan also showcases his work on Flickr and there is a detailed interview with him on the Type Archive site [Link since expired].

14 Jul 2012

Sign Painters book cover painted by Ira Coyne

The Signpainter Movie project have just released this cover design for the book to accompany the film. Hand painted by Ira Coyne (featured previously here) it has certainly whetted my appetite for the planned October launch date. Visit the project blog to read more about the book launch and current activities on the film. Looking […]

12 Jul 2012

Declarations of Independence campaign from Jack Daniel’s

Today is Independence Day in the USA.  Last year, to celebrate, Jack Daniel’s worked with letter-press experts Yee-Haw Industries and the team at Colossal Media to first produce poster designs and then to scale these up into large scale pieces of hand painted advertising around New York.  The videos at the end of this post […]

4 Jul 2012

Signwriter Bruce Buckley profiled in 2007 Signcraft magazine

This article about signwriter Bruce Buckley of the Chicago Sign Company is worth a read.  (Thanks Andrew Cordani for this link to this page which led me to the article.)  More press about the Chicago Sign Company can be found on their website and here is the home page of Signcraft magazine.

3 Jul 2012

Faux ghostsigns

Sometimes hand painted signs on buildings are created to look old and weathered intentionally.  The example pictured (original photo on Flickr) was produced in 2003 for the Disney film, ‘Miracle’.  (Does anyone have a clip showing where and how it features in the film?)  Another Disney example is this sign for the ‘New Orleans Trading […]

1 Jul 2012

Ghostsign building wrap from the culture+typography blog

I’ve just started following the culture+typography blog which is a regular source of interesting observations on lettering and signage in the public sphere.  Above is an image from blog author Nikki Villagomez from this post about an entire building wrapped in a ghostsign for Liberty Tire.  It is a great discovery from Cincinnati, and could […]

30 Jun 2012

Joseph’s Hat Shop sign threatened in Austin, Texas

This great hand painted sign for Joseph’s Hat Shop in Austin Texas is set for demolition ahead of the construction of a new Marriott hotel.  Another photo showing the entire sign can be found here on the Glyn Lowe Photoworks website.

27 Jun 2012

Childrens Hairdressers revealed in Greenwich Village

This sign was discovered here on the Greenwich Village Daily Photo blog.  It is a recent reveal soon to be covered up again, fittingly described by Ken Mac as “reverting to its time capsule status”.  This development has also been picked up on Frank Jump’s Fading Ad blog and Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York blog.

23 Jun 2012

Keepers of the Craft film profiles Starr Studios in Dallas

Also, forthcoming, are the Signpainter Movie and another called Faded Paint. I really enjoy these films and the things I learn from them.  They evidence pockets of activity around the world and how the craft is indeed being ‘kept’ by these protagonists.  Keep it up! [Thanks to Traditional Sign Maker Magazine for the link.]

18 Jun 2012

RIP Mr. Burbujas (via @ihazrabies)

Photo: Kasey Smith This post on the Perception Filter blog tells a sorry tale of the (partial) loss of this character-filled sign in San Francisco, and some conjecture about hidden meanings within the scene depicted.  It appears that persistant grafitti has led the laundry owners to finally give up on repairing the sign, a very […]

30 May 2012

William Stage investigates some of the ghostsigns of St Louis ahead of forthcoming book

Photo: William Stage This article offers a preview of some of the material that is lined up for the forthcoming book, Ghost Signs of St Louis.  I’m very honoured to have been invited by William Stage to write a forward to this follow up to the definitive ghostsigns book and the postcard book from last […]

22 May 2012

The price of Coke in America remained unchanged for over 70 years

Photo: MOLLYBLOCK The 5c price shown in the picture above only helps to place this sign in the 1886-1959 bracket.  This research attempts to explain why this happened, with the resulting difficulty of using price as a dating tool for Coca-Cola ghostsigns in the USA.

19 May 2012

Hand painted McDonald’s signs, a first for me

Photo: Kasey Smith Everyone is familiar with hand painted signs for Coca-cola but these are new to me.  Some more pictures and an interesting commentary over on the Perception Filter blog.

15 May 2012

‘Sky as Signage’: an atmospheric #instagram photo from @ihazrabies

Photo: Kasey Smith Makes me wonder what once filled that space…  Found on the perception filter blog.

4 May 2012

Stella Artois vs Newcastle Brown Ale

Nice fun poking in New York (via Sell Sell).  In Stella’s defence they did do one of the more impressive pieces of modern hand painted work in that city.  That said, chalice does seem a little poncy and I’ll stick to calling a glass a glass.

1 May 2012

Weathering in Idaho leads to reveal of c.100 year old ghostsign

Photo: Roger Plothow This treasure has just been uncovered, more background on Roger’s blog [Link since expired].  It’s an interesting case of the weather working to ‘save’ a sign rather than eroding it.

27 Apr 2012

Short film about Syracuse’s ‘Love Letter’

Via the Noon-Gun blog I came across this short film by Signpainter Movie directors Faythe Levine and Sam Macon.  It is part of the ‘Love Letter for You’ project, using large scale signpainting for artistic expression and community development. Reminds me of the Ferodo bridges in the UK, albeit much more colourful and not selling brake […]

25 Apr 2012

Dr Ken Jones’ mosaic technique for ghostsigns photography

Dr Ken Jones is a former NASA imaging expert whose work in the 1970s included digitally photographing the surface of Mars. This required the use of image ‘mosaics’, a technique which he is now applying to the more terrestrial subject of ghostsigns.Dr Jones’ work starts from a fairly simple concept of what he wants from the […]

18 Apr 2012