About Me

Signwriter noun

: one that letters signs ( as for advertising )

G'Day! The name's Pete. I'm originally from Australia, where I successfully completed a 4 year apprenticeship in signwriting. Often referred to as a sign painter over here in the states, I'm sticking with signwriter as I am all about maintaining the traditional traits in this industry, that I learned from the legendary Stephen Bear, back in the late 90's. We didn't even own a computer. Everything was layed out by hand. Every dimensional letter, hand cut with a jigsaw. This was the perfect place for a bloke who was very passionate about being creative to be. We did a lot of work for Coca-Cola, which to me, was the ultimate, and soon enough, even this here apprentice signwriter, was hand painting and airbrushing cool Coca-Cola signs that we'd install all over town. I learned it all! Brush and roller painting, spray painting and airbrushing, gold leaf, hand drawn lettering ( no mass produced fonts here!) and I got given the jobs when detailed paintings from photos and characters were requested as my whole childhood was wrapped around drawing cartoons and technical drawing. I love and respect traditional signage, and even though I have remained in the sign industry my whole life, I have found that I still did everything... except be creative. I certainly excelled my spray painting abilities, but all that amazing, traditional stuff that I enjoyed so much, got lost in the past.

My 1st sign painted at home in the 1st year of my apprenticeship

For the last 23 years, I have been situated here in the Portland, Oregon area and what I noticed is that this city certainly has some talented artists out there doing what I love, and with all my years experience and passion for being creative... well, I want to put my skills to work in this area of the sign industry and help keep the character and style in the signage we have to see every day. I am very versatile and experienced in so much to do with paints, all paints, but my go to is 1-Shot enamel. Being a car enthusiast, I noticed that there were a lot of cool designs on hotrods over here. I came to find out that the Mack 00 pinstriping brush that I got in my brush collection, was able to do a whole lot more than just run a thin border around a sign, so I began creating freehand pinstripe designs that I can make work on any space , not just striping a trunk lid of a car. I have done many set of tins (tank and fenders) for motorcycles, not to mention helmets! I found this to be awesome because as my internet friends who live all over the country, loved seeing my latest work, I was too far away to pinstripe their bike or car. So, I would be sent parts to paint. What a great idea! Now my work is getting out there, thanks to being able to ship things back and forth.

I love doing wall art, and have for quite some time now. Another option where I can get my work out there to areas far from me. I make my own frames from reclaimed wood and have the abilities to do anything from another pinstripe panel, to reproductions of vintage signs. The possibilities are endless! In between making signs, I work on art projects, which hang on my wall when done because I paint what I like, but if you see anything on my wall and want it, I like to do a little thing called, "what's it worth to you?!" If I think it sounds fair dinkum, I'll get a quote on what shipping will be and if it works for you, my art makes it's way over to you. I will establish a page called "WET PAINT" where it will show my latest pieces. So keep an eye on that. And if you see things you like but want me to do someone more personal to you, all you have to do is ask. It's my absolute pleasure in painting something you just love!

As traditional as I am, I can dig technology. Hence me owning a digital tablet and stylus which lets me very quickly sketch out designs pre-paint. But what I also established is that I can take my digital art and make custom t-shirt graphics. I road tested materials to find a winning combo that looks great and lasts as long as any screen printed shirts I own. So thanks to this, I am able to add logo design, illustration and of course, cool T-shirts to what I have to offer.

So there we have it. A little bit about me and a handful of examples of what I can produce. I hope you get a kick out of my stuff and what I want you to know is... that you don't know if you don't ask. Nothing is too silly. So let me here your ideas. Let me create it for you so that you can see it come to life and it makes you smile. Thanks for taking a look at my page and I look forward to talking with you soon.

Pistol Pete.

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