A Carved Gold Leaf Sign with a Sculpted and Handpainted Brook Trout

This sign takes me back to my childhood. I have many recollections of fishing along the rivers here in Cape Neddick, Maine. As a teenager I always used worms and a bobber. The mystery of fishing was so compelling. Fly fishing didn’t exist in my exclusive world of my fancy spinning reel and a handful of like minded teenagers. We would ride our bikes deep into the woods until there were no paths and dump them on the pine needle forest floor. Then traipse in the most dominant downhill direction possible in hopes of coming to the river.

Carved gold letters and a hand sculpted and painted brook trout

Once we came upon the river our hopes would rise and soon after a cast or two our worms, all too ofte,n would dangle frantically from a low hanging branch just feet above the water. And then suddenly a splash of water. A fish! Wow, did you see that? Yeah, let’s go! Cutting the line free we would run in the direction of the rings and tie a new hook on without thought and cast a newly impaled worm as best one could. Sometimes we would catch a fish and sometimes even two or more. Other times we would just head down stream looking for newly fallen logs and other opportunities.

The sign above features carved 23k gold leaf letters and a cast resin fish that I originally carved an created a mold for. It can be painted as either a brook or brown trout. The trout is epoxied on the sign and hand pained. For reference I used a combination of photos. So, it is a compilation.

It is amazing that how when you look at a photo of a brook trout that two will never look the same. Even the same fish in different photos look like different fish. The only real experience is getting out there and catching one of these beauties yourself. Then you will see the fish the way nature intended. And once you see the fish explain it to me and I will paint it on a sign for you! Happy Fishing!

We are experiencing some unusually warm March weather here in Maine! It was 80°F yesterday. Wow. When I was growing up here in York, way back in the late 60′s and early 70′s our ski season atop Mt. Agamenticus was in full swing this time of year. Winters seemed endless and forever white. Now the leaves are bursting on our shrubs.

I recently created this carved redwood sign with a painted fish for some customers who like trout. They sent some photos which inspired the dramatic colors, characteristic of brook trout. This sign is 18 inches x 9 inches by 3/4 inches. The price is $225

Carved Redwood Sign with Painted Brook Trout

This sign gives me the urge to go fishing! There is a a little brook behind my home where the fish look just like this in the spring.

www.freemansign.com

207-363-1862

We are especially excited to have had the opportunity to create a sign for the new When Pigs Fly Breads and Pizzeria in Kittery, Maine. We have created many signs for owners, Ron and Andrew Siegel and always enjoy their enthusiasm and excitement about their ever growing business.

This sign was created for When Pigs Fly Breads and Pizzeria in Kittery, Maine

This project started when Andrew approached us and told us about his new endeavor, a pizzeria. When Pigs Fly Breads have a well established brand and are known for quality and great diversity and creativity in their products. Andrew told us he wanted a large sign and something that would be an icon. He envisioned the new restaurant and company store to be a destination point.

Concept Drawing for When Pigs Fly Sign

As almost all towns Kittery has strict sign ordinances. Initially we were able to find out we had 75 square feet to work with. This sounded like a lot. As I began doing some concepts I thought it would be suitable to create a supporting structure that would reflect the architecture of the building.

Also, Kittery allowed the area of the structure to be excluded from the square foot of the actual sign area. This was a bonus as creating a larger structure would allow for a much larger presence, almost doubling the size for the same square foot.

View of When Pigs Fly Sign and Building

Although we designed the sign and concept drawings for the structure the fabrication of the supporting structure was delegated to Houses and Barns by John Libby who was the General Contractor for the project. As we were able to see the excellent level of craftsmanship throughout the building as it was being constructed we were happy to work with project manager Glenn Foster on the details.

These two wall signs were carved and gilded with 23k gold leaf to help present an upscale look. (click image for a larger view)

We also created two signs on the building which direct customers to the preferred entrance. The building offers two choices, one for the pizzeria customers and the other for their company store featuring When Pigs Fly breads as well as other local artisan foods. It was the wish of the owners for these two signs to be carved and gilded with 23k gold leaf to reflect an upscale setting. We intentionally created these signs to be only as big as necessary (unlike the primary sign) in order not to detract from the architecture while still being effective.

This sign is carved and gilded with 23k gold leaf

Below are some photos of the process. Please contact me directly if you have any questions or would like to inquire about having a sign created. kevin@freemansign.com

Check out the pig getting striped on YouTube!!

Striping the When Pigs Fly pig

If you haven’t been to the pizzeria yet we can tell you that the food is very good. We especially enjoyed the watercress beet salad and Ron’s amazing hummus. The whole facility is wonderfully done with lots of parking. It is located just north of the Kittery outlets on Route One.