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  "description": "The New York vernacular, brush care, DIY directionals, Barcelona painters, and more from the field.",
  "path": "/fieldnotes/field-notes-from-blag-may-2026/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-14T13:00:37.000Z",
  "site": "https://bl.ag",
  "tags": [
    "Field Notes",
    "member-only email",
    "the sticker album",
    "Crow Nine Signs",
    "Station Studios",
    "the recent post about my sticker collection",
    "Agustin McCool’s diary/blog",
    "Part One",
    "Part Two",
    "Raul Morin",
    "48-26-02",
    "barn 48-42-04",
    "48-18-03",
    "these three Mail Pouch barns have been added to the National Register of Historic Places",
    "the museum’s book",
    "The Barn Painter by Harley E. Warrick",
    "Voices in Type Assembly",
    "the last ‘Field Notes’",
    "Aneesh Bhoopathy",
    "Subscribe now"
  ],
  "textContent": "Welcome back to Field Notes, my periodic member-only email with things of interest that I come across in my research and meanderings on the worldwide web. You can share your own discoveries for future issues via email to sam@bl.ag.\n\n## Contents\n\nIn this edition:\n\n  1. Stickers reprise.\n  2. Veteran LA sign painter Eddie Morin.\n  3. Recognition for Mail Pouch barns.\n  4. More Mamdani, featuring BLAG.\n  5. Featured films: New York’s vernacular signage and Beverly Sign Co.’s sketches.\n  6. Japanese sign painters.\n  7. Press Gang, featuring Ales Santos, Alina Kiliwa, the craft in Catalonia, and more.\n  8. The return of Richard Gregory.\n  9. Brush care and brush making.\n  10. Sundries.\n\n\n\n* * *\n\n## Field Notes: May 2026\n\n### Stickers Reprise\n\nFour more pages in the sticker album filled with a selection from Crow Nine Signs and Station Studios\n\nFollowing the recent post about my sticker collection, Bryan at Crow Nine Signs got in touch and sent me a fat pack from him and his ‘Church of Signtology’ partner Dean at Station Studios in Saskatoon, Canada.\n\nThank you Bryan!\n\n* * *\n\n### Eddie Morin: Veteran LA Sign Painter\n\nComic book-inspired humour from the hand of Eddie Morin.\n\nAgustin McCool’s diary/blog recently featured a wonderful two-part interview with veteran Los Angeles sign painter Eddie Morin. I recommend sitting down with a hot (or cold) drink and enjoying Morin’s stories via Part One and Part Two.\n\n> “When he didn’t have a shop truck, he’d have a ladder and he and an assistant would get on a streetcar. He’d hand one end to his assistant and then he’d go inside and would lift up the ladder and they’d go that way to a jobsite on the streetcar with a ladder.” — Morin talking about his father, Raul Morin.\n\n> “The most successful sign businesses, they’re run by guys that aren’t that great. The true craftsmen are too busy with their craft to really get involved that much more.” — Morin on the business of signs.\n\n* * *\n\n### Ghost Sign Corner: Mail Pouch Barns\n\nFrom left (photographer): barn 48-26-02 (Earl Leatherberry); barn 48-42-04 (unknown); and barn 48-18-03 (Kenneth Cunningham).\n\nGood news comes from West Virginia where these three Mail Pouch barns have been added to the National Register of Historic Places. While this doesn’t give them outright protection, it does recognise their historic significance, which can help with fundraising for maintenance costs.\n\nFor more Mail Pouch, check out the piece about the authentic original at the American Sign Museum in the museum’s book, and also The Barn Painter by Harley E. Warrick, the last painter of Mail Pouch barns.\n\n* * *\n\n### More Mamdani, featuring BLAG\n\nAneesh Bhoopathy presenting at the Voices in Type Assembly in Breda, the Netherland, 31 March 2026.\n\nIn the last ‘Field Notes’ I referenced a couple of articles taking deep dives into the election campaign for New York mayor Zohran Mamdani. So I was bowled over to hear that BLAG gets a shout-out in presentations about the work from graphic designer Aneesh Bhoopathy:\n\n> “Our signs were referential to the sign painting tradition and I gained so much respect with regard to that discipline. As we needed more signs as the campaign wore on, I needed to expand my vocabulary and incorporate new styles. I really fell in love with this publication — Better Letters Magazine — which gave me a deep appreciation for how international this discipline is and how varied the styles are.”\n\n### This post is for subscribers only\n\nBecome a member to get access to all content\n\nSubscribe now",
  "title": "Field Notes from BLAG: May 2026",
  "updatedAt": "2026-05-14T13:00:40.040Z"
}