Chris Mackenzie-Gray

Designer - Sign Painter - Print Maker

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I can’t believe it is April already! These are some photos of my favourite job of the year so far, painted for Waring Street Studios in West Norwood. The client gave me quite a lot of free reign with the design and colours so I took the opportunity with both hands! It has a bit of everything I enjoy, a mix of traditional and casual lettering, bold colours, and a little illustration thrown in too! The main lettering was drawn up by hand on paper and pounced whilst I roughly marked up the casual lettering directly onto the gates before I painted. Absolutely no computers involved!

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A couple of 35mm photos I took during an afternoon spent in the studio of Pierre Tardif whilst on holiday in Canada. There is a better description of the holiday and my time with Pierre in the post below!

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I recently came back from a three-week long holiday in Canada, it was very cold! I arrived in Toronto just before New Years and worked my way to Ottawa via Québec City and Montréal. Whilst I was in Québec City, I had the pleasure of meeting up with renowned sign painter Pierre Tardif, spending the afternoon in his studio discussing lettering, brushes and admiring his huge collection of vintage signs, postcards and various ephemera he had amassed over the years. Pierre has an amazing knowledge of vintage lettering and signage; the bulk of his clients are business with historical interests, custom car owners, museums and movie productions.

It was a privilege to spend some time with him, throwing some paint around and talking shop. Here are some 35mm photos that I took of his workshop and a selection of screenprints, showcards and posters that we spent a while rummaging through. The bottom photo shows a sign that Pierre painted over 20 years ago to advertise his business!

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A better photo of the finished painting. If I ever get round to it, I would like to add some plants coming out at the bottom left, fill up some of that negative space!

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Here is a rather dodgy GIF I made of some fun Toucan lettering I painted just before Christmas. 

Made with 35mm photos I recently got developed, taken on my Olympus [mju:] - III 80.

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Ghostsigns in Vieux-Port, Montreal.

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I stumbled across this amazing signage on the facade of an amazing deli in Little Italy, Montreal.

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35mm photos taken on my Olympus [mju:] - II during a recent trip to Canada.

Clockwise from left: Niagara Falls, Dowtown Toronto, Mid-Town Montreal

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Almost forgot to mention this is in my recap of the year! 

The Evolution of a Chicken. The t-shirt above is a result of a collaboration between myself and Done London. It is special to me because I drew the original design five years ago, that became the print you see above, and the shutter was painted in early 2013. It’s great to see that the design has stayed so popular!

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I will be back with a lot more updates in 2017, my website is also due for an update with lots of unseen paintings. However, you can also keep up to date with what we are doing at Toucan Signs by following our Instagram or visiting our Website!

Happy New Year, see you in 2017!!

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Messing about with some leftover spray paint and emulsion on a cold Saturday not too long ago!

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Joby Carter, showman and signwriter, runs Carters Steam Fair. Due to his touring schedule has never been able to attend a Letterheads event before, but that didn’t stop him from deciding to host one last month. Egged on by Mike Meyer, Ash Bishop and various others that fancied getting let loose with brushes and paint in his famous Maidenhead yard, the result was Abnormal Letterheads. The November weekender was attended by 77 guests, including Joby’s original teacher, Stan Wilkinson, and others from as far afield as the Netherlands, Singapore, the USA and Germany.

Most of the work produced across the weekend was auctioned off at the end. This, and proceeds from the bar, raised over £6,300 the Teenage Cancer Trust. Apparently Joby is so fired up after hosting his first meet that he’s already planning another for November 2017.

Unfortunately I didn’t take many photos, but I did manage to capture a good image of the United Kingdom vs. United States debate of ‘mahl stick’ or ‘pinky down’ between Joby Carter (left) and Mike Meyer (right). Sam Roberts (centre) was acting as referee and adjudicator!

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I realise I haven’t put much of my own work on here for a while as the last few months have been taken up with the commercial work we do at Toucan Signs. 

This is one of the reasons why it was so nice to spend the weekend in Maidenhead at Joby Carter’s Yard for the Abnormal Letterheads event. Over 70 sign painters let loose with brushes and paint and working shoulder to shoulder, I very quickly lost any nerves I had and got lost in the paint. 

Most of the work was auction off in the charity auction of the Sunday evening, and I managed to pick up a beauty of a sign by Dan Luckin. In the photograph, the top panel was painted by me on the first day of the event, the bottom panel was painted by Dan - they make a good pair I think! 

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Some beautiful hand painted signage I spotted on a recent trip up north to visit friends. The first photo was taken during a WWII reenactment day at Grosmont Railway Station. The second two are from a visit to the National Railway at Shildon, where a range of railway restoration and conservation projects are undertaken - including repainting the signage on old locomotives. I especially liked the unusual highlights on the 3D, a nice touch i can’t recall seeing before.

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35mm photos from a recent trip to Grosmont Railway Station to see the old steam locomotives running on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.

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These photos are from the second Better Letters workshop I attended, entitled the Lettering Effects Workshop, it focused on adding different shadows, bevels, trick lettering and colour fading. I forgot to take my camera with me on both days, so these photos come from Anja Riese who came all the way from Hamburg to Attend. Many thanks to Mike Meyer for his knowledge and guidence, and to Sam Roberts for doing an excellent job in organising the event!

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I recently picked up a roll of B&W 35mm film I had developed. I found these photos of Sean and I painting the fascia for the new Four Hundred Rabbits pizzeria in Nunhead, South East London.