Spot Of Sign Painting - Daniel's Cafe, Ilkley

Over summer, I was contacted by a friend opening a new coffee shop on Ilkley highstreet, which was in need of a sign painting on 2 sides of the shop. I was asked because of my artistic know how and access to printing facilities, but also because it'd be a great opportunity to get some work in a creative field (and obviously the payment.)

I exchanged a few emails with the shop owner about the dimensions/colours/textures of the sign. Preparing the stencil was quite a nerve wracking process as I had not been to Ilkley prior to painting the sign, so my stencil had to fit perfectly on to the beam or else my first trip to Ilkley would've been a wasted journey.

The sign in the end was spray painted on, but because of the material I printed the stencil onto, it made a bit of a mess, so the real work was actually in touching it up, amounting to about 4 hours stood on top of a ladder with some paint stripper (not that fun, scared of heights). The second sign was fairly easy as I'd learnt from the previous mistakes and did everything possible in order to stick the sign down fully. 

Driving past, a few weeks after I'd painted the sign

Overall the experience was a valuable one, also prompting me to think about how much my time is worth. As a student and a non professional, doing work for a just starting out family business, my original price was unfortunately knocked back as it had not been agreed prior to making the sign (Big mistake I know) - however I was able to get all prices for my materials and travel etc, and make a little something for myself. I was slightly disappointed with my payment, however it was my mistake for not agreeing a price before, something I have definitely learnt from.