I lived in Torquay UK for 12 years or so...Moved there at 17 on my own...I remember at 21 going for an interview at a local Awning company that specialised in signwriting...They made vinyl and canvas Awnings for shop facias with signwriting which were sent all over the world and at the time I was just looking for a job in some form of artwork...We made signs and even some yacht lettering...Their signwriter was Dave Smith, a young enthusiastic signwriter straight from college...I spent a couple years working with Dave who had studied this art and put me on to a couple of books on the subject...I also went to evening classes to study signwriting and gold leafing once a week...Those 2 years in the studio with Dave where memorable and I learned a lot...although I didn't realise at the time...Eventually Dave left the company and shortly so did I...Dave moved on to another local signwriting company before setting up his own company and then studying glass cutting in California...I moved on to shelf stacking at the local supermarket...
In later years I managed to secure work as an artist/muralist with a London company but Dave's tricks of the trade and enthusiasm stayed with me and are still valid today...There's not a job goes by I don't use some of the skills in brushwork he showed me from those days...A couple years ago I went back to Torquay and went to find him...Nothings changed...He was still the same nutty joker and we talked like we were still those youngsters that found a gag in everything we said which made our days very short in those days...Dave's moved on professionally a bit since then...Dave is 3 years younger than I but even back then you could see he was meant for greater things...His dedication and work ethic was something I hadn't seen before and is quite special...
Dave spends some of his time in the USA tutoring this traditional art which has become his passion...
I thought maybe some of you artists would like to see some of his work...and for me its just nice to show off some of his work and see him doing so well...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_A._Smith_(designer)
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