Sign painting was a big part of my life while the family was growing up. Before the onset of printed signs and vinyl wraps I was kept steadily busy, and at one stage had signs in every street in Monaghan Town and on various lorries.
This Summer I was pleasantly surprised to be commissioned to do a directional sign and mural for the prestigious Slane Castle Distillery in County Meath. Through the Dublin based creative firm ‘In The Company of Huskies’ I was approached to take on cleaning down an old metal gate and transforming it into a useful and attractive marketing tool! This I agreed to before I saw the proposed artwork for the sign. You can only imagine my double take when I
saw the photo realistic and very detailed whiskey bottle that was the design plan! With the assistance of Chris, Huskies Head of Design, we got the main lines of the image projected on to the prepared surface. Colour matching to the label of the bottle and the lid was quite tricky, and there was more than one paint mixer scratching his head as multiple attempts were made to get the shades as close as possible.
There followed two weeks of precise painting on the very busy street. My time was regularly interspersed with lively interest and comment from the Slane natives. I was made very welcome and soon felt at home with several new found friends and complimentary coffee! In such a lovely heritage village a hand painted sign is appropriate and appreciated. It adds to the
character of the street and is popular with the Tidy Towns movement, which is always seeking new ways to enhance an area. I am really proud of how this particular project turned out and you can easily see it from the cross roads in Slane on the road to the Castle.