Thursday, May 1, 2008

Harmen's retrospective sign art

The following signs are next to each other in line down Beaumont Street near the entrance to Westhaven Boat Marina.
All these signs have lasted through 15 years, a long time in this industry & in this city! (Auckland) Testament to my philosophy that quality workmanship is appreciated and valued.
They are only a fraction of the work that I have been involved in, some of it simply escaped without being recorded, still more will appear in due course.
I wish to acknowledge the people with whom I had the pleasure of working during my time as a sign writer and mural painter, the team at Signing On, particularly Ross, Tom & Joy Hall, Mike Tolley, Dylan & Damien Lee, Chris Verral, Canon Smith, Al (Bundy) Wier, Mike Stoneyman, Mark James, Anthony Gray & Jimmy Z; couldn't have done it without you!













Starting with the big plywood Coke bottle on the side of the lunch bar, 1992: I took this photo in 2005 and it still looks fresh!
I painted this large installation with automotive lacquer after cutting out the form from 6 sheets of 8'x 4' plywood. The ice cubes are partly painted onto the building and some are also from plywood. The blue sign emerging from the right side of this photo is the next sign job featured...














Bean Rock Lighthouse: 1992, also still there in 2005 and looking good!
This was something of a team effort on account of its size.
I painted the blend on the building, water, clouds etc with and automotive spray gun and acrylic paint. With Chris Verral, I built a fiberglass awning in the shape of a reef complete with marine life. The lighthouse was built by my colleague Julian Pirie and me. It's a 1/4 scale replica of an historic wooden light house marking a reef at the entrance to Auckland harbour.
Mural details follow...




















Schnapper appearing from around the back of the sign.




















Blue Moki swims off nervously.














The reef and shop front awning.














The next shop on the block 1992: Large Mural of storm waves for a marine rescue supply shop.
acrylic house paint on to brick, one of the most difficult of all substrates.
Photo 2005.













Ayers Rock for jacob's Creek wines. 1989.
Before computers and printers dominated the outdoor graphics industry I had to paint these by hand. I painted 10 of these 3 x 10 meter bill boards with very volatile etching inks onto PVC fabric using a combination of airbrush, spray gun and sea sponge.















Graphics on a fleet of 10 vehicles for a local radio station, 1989. Airbrushed on to JAC decal transfer vinyl with automotive acrylic lacquer.














Dave's surf board, 1986
Airbrushed on to foam before glassing.

Four new boat portraits.

Water colour on paper. A4 size Water colour on paper. A4 size Water colour on paper. A4 size Water colour on paper. ...