This last weekend I traveled down to Price Utah, an old coal mining town, to talk to a retired sign painter by the name of Kerry Jensen.
He painted signs for 30 years and specialized in Lettering by hand. Oddly enough I found his name in an old phone book we were using to clean our pallate knives out with at Periodic Paper where I am was an intern last summer.
I kept the page in a sign painting book I had for 6 months before I bothered calling, and when I did call I was sad to hear that Kerry no longer painted for work. I talked to him though and asked if he would show me his old sign supplies and some of his work.
The next day I headed down to my grandparents who live a few towns over and then spent a few hours with Kerry talking shop, looking at his tools, paints, brushes and he showed me a few tricks of the trade he had picked up along the way.
We hopped in his truck before the sun went down and he showed me some of the signs that he had painted over the years that were still up. He told me that he watched many business go under, a few become millionares and then loose it all.. and a few businesses were still up and running.
We even saw this sign which had been painted by the man whom Kerry had been an apprentice for, Tony Coss.
During the ride I asked him if there was any way he would show me a few tips on painting basic letters.. which he was a little reluctant to at first, but when we got back and pulled out a scrap peice of wood, layed down some guidelines and started painting some letters. They looked amazing to me! I had never seen an experienced sign painter paint in person. He had the most incredibly steady hand and knew the shapes and angles completley from memory. Amazing. The whole while saying that he felt shakey and out of it, not to mention a bit of far sightedness. I watched in Awe, asking how to turn an O or round an S.. He let me know that each sign painter finds a little bit different technique for his letters and mostley you just have to practice, practice, practice!
All in all the night was rad. Rad to connect with somone with so much experienc and know how. Rad to learn some tricks and techniques. Rad to meet someone so genuine and generous.
Thanks Kerry for passing on your knowlege and know how. Thankyou for a rad night of sharing and learning. Thanks.
-Colt
