Tag Archives: sign

Pen and Wash Portraits of Maldon High Street

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I was born in Maldon (as was my dad), and I lived there until I was 18 so I feel a very strong bond with the place despite having lived away for 30 plus years.

 I decided to paint some of Maldon’s most beautiful buildings. 

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While I was taking reference photos I got the urge to paint all the façades from the old police station in West Square down to the Rose & Crown on the corner of Butt Lane. 

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Part of the loveliness of buildings comes from their relationship to their neighbours; that’s something we could also say about ourselves.

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That stretch of High Street was too long to fit onto one piece of paper so I divided it into eight sections and started making rough sketches. Then I challenged myself to finish all the paintings in a year and exhibit them at the Maeldune Heritage Centre, which is one of the buildings included in the series.

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And since I’ve painted these buildings I’ve notice that they’ve become more vibrant to me. I mean that when I walk or drive past them now, they seem brighter and more alive. It’s as if by getting to know all the little details of their faces I’ve made friends with them!

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The exhibition runs from 17th August to the 5th September 2023, do drop by if you can! There’s an low tech interactive element – please do some colouring in and share your High Street memories on the large black and white print in the centre of the gallery.

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Fine Art Prints

I’ve had some beautiful fine art prints made which capture the essence of the original paintings at half their size. Click here to buy prints.

The ink is lightfast, so it won’t deteriorate over time and the museum quality paper is Hahnemuhle William Turner 310gsm, which has a texture and weight similar to the watercolour paper on which I painted the originals.

Exhibition

Read about my summer exhibition at the Maeldune Heritage Centre here.

Sign Painting – The Limes

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sign, sign painting, sign writing, hand painted, illustration, fruit, vegetables, one shot enamel, shop local, burnham on crouch, essex, fresh, sun burst, asparagus, cherries, peas, strawberries, lime, mushroom, pears, advertising, promotionBack at the start of the first Covid lockdown in spring 2020 we were delighted and grateful to secure weekly fresh fruit and veg delivery from The Limes. It’s a lovely, local, family business in Burnham on Crouch.

Our closest supermarket is also in Burnham, and on my way there and back I’d pass The Limes, see their sign (perfectly functional but a bit rough and ready) and daydream about painting them a new one. Painting food is one of my passions afterall.

I made a Photoshop mockup incorporating some of the fruit and veg drawings from my sketchbooks and sent it to them with my proposal. They were really enthusiastic, suggested a couple of design changes which led to the final version below.

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I got a full size (110 x 125 cm) copy printed in black and white and used it to trace the design onto both sides of the board after they had had a couple of coats of exterior gloss paint. Important to remember to flip the arrow on side two!

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I worked from the bottom up, turning the board over after each section had dried to paint both sides to the same stage. I didn’t fancy completing one side then having to start from scratch on side two. Below – my supervisor does his quality control check.

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I used One Shot sign painters’ enamel for the text and decorative parts. It’s a durable, high quality paint with a lovely, creamy consistency. 

one shot sign painters enamel

It’s also expensive, so I limited my order to six colours: white, lettering black, medium green, reflex blue, fire red and primrose yellow. I planned to mix all the shades I needed from them. You can see a colour chart I mixed using the red and yellow below.

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As I painted the fruity parts, I used my sketches and real fruit for reference. The sketches for a loose approach to shape and the real fruit for accuracy of colour and detail.lime, work in progress, sign, sign painting, sign writing, hand painted, illustration, fruit, vegetables, one shot enamel, shop local, burnham on crouch, essex, fresh, sun burst, asparagus, cherries, peas, strawberries, lime, mushroom, pears, advertising, promotion

My limited palette of colours worked perfectly until I got to the cherries. I just couldn’t get the shade I was after by mixing the fire red with reflex blue so I had to order a pot of kool [sic] crimson.

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I worked slowly and steadily, averaging a couple of hours a day over three happy months. I enjoyed painting this sign so much and I hope that it shows in the finished product.

The good folks at The Limes are very happy. I’ll add some photos of the sign in situ once it’s been installed. In the meantime here’s my supervisor taking a well earned rest.

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Campground Map and Sign

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I was staying at Camping Schoonenberg, a beautiful campgound set in woodland in North Holland when one of the staff members saw me painting a portrait. He showed a photo of my painting to the manager who asked me to make a new combined sign and map for the campground. Delighted!

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I started by making a rough map of the campground as I walked around it, using an aerial view from google earth as a template for the outline. The manager then helped me number the camping places and mark which ones had electricity.

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I then drew the full size map out on paper and added all the details and text (above). 

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Once the draft had been approved I traced it onto a piece of primed marine plywood which had been cut to allow a narrow unpainted border.

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Since the sign will be hung in a place which is sheltered from direct sunlight and rain and will be stored inside during the winter months when the campground is closed I chose to use acrylic paints which are water based. That makes the whole process much cleaner and odour free.

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Casa del Sol

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I was commissioned to design a sign for a house called La Casa del Sol, which could also be used as an image for business cards by a lovely lady who is a ’Lightworker’. She wanted a representation of the sun, sky and sea in the form of a mandala, painted in bright, positive colours.Casa del Sol by Kathryn Hockey

Having researched the client’s ideas I made small preliminary sketches, developing the one which stood out as being particularly harmonious into a larger line drawing, which she approved. She also decided on the size and shape of the sign at this point and approved the colour samples I’d made.

I painted the sign on primed marine plywood in gloss paint, using several coats of varnish to make it weather proof and used a simplified version of the sign for the business cards. The client was delighted with the results.