Exterior sign painting in Soho

Back to my roots!  I started as a sign painter and I thoroughly enjoy this sort of work.  This was a great job my crew and I had the pleasure of doing in Soho this spring.
My task was to re-create the exact sign that was previously existing and damaged.  This is the finished work.

Close up.

First, we applied a primer with texture.  The general formula was a tinted, latex primer (Styx) plus Rough Regular texture by Proceed plus keraset powdered setting plaster.  We rolled it on and stippled with a codtail.  We did two coats of this technique.

We knocked down the stippled texture with a trowel for a natural effect.

Then, I dry-brushed a few tonalities in rust tones with a size 80 spalter.

Using a flat, 2-header, I added a verdigris green color over 80% of the surface, working from a palette.

This is the close up of the large pounce pattern we used for the letters.

Here we are placing the pattern after we had already snapped some lines for registering the design.

Using a large pounce pad, we transferred the design.

To get the drop shadow, we simply shifted the design and re-pounced.

Now the fun part.  Using the miraculous, deerhoof brush along with the samina lettering brush for the detailed areas, we blocked in the letters using 2 coats of white  latex paint.

With the deerhoof brush, you have unbelievable control of your line while dispersing a long stroke of opaque paint.  It’s a dream to use and makes for fast coverage.

Using a striping edge and filbert, bordeaux striper, I began the drop shadow in a dark color.

For the rounded areas, the samina lettering brush was the best tool.

After the lettering was finished, we scuffed up the letters with a coarse sandpaper.

To add the aging, we dry-brushed a rust color and softened any harsh lines with the oil badger.

The final decorative painting step involved a final overglazing with raw umber and full-bodied Proceed glaze.

The sign was varnished with 2 coats of GOLDEN MSA flat varnish for protection.

This was a fun project that was a great success, in my opinion. Sign painting jobs are few and far between for my clientele. I love the diversity of projects such as these.