Subway Art Canvas

Definition of typography, n. 1. the work of setting and arranging types and of printing from them. 2. the general appearance of printed matter.


I love all forms of typography. Anything with letters and numbers, yes please! Subway art is a very hot design trend right now. These signs take their cue from the scrolls used on subways and buses in the 50's and 60's to announce the next stop along the route. They traditionally have a black background with cream letters.




Last week I finally decided I needed to whip up a little subway art of my own. This one is for a very special person, my son Ryan. And it has a very special theme, his favorite places at Penn State. We are a family of Penn State grads and this is a place we hold near and dear to our hearts.


The only purchase I made for this project was a 24" x 36" artist's canvas (Michael's 50% off!). I do not have a fancy vinyl letter cutting machine, so I went old school and used a set of 2" stencils I already had in a very traditional font for subway art - helvetica. The first step was to paint the canvas black with good old acrylic paint.

I had already asked Ryan for a list of his favorite Penn State locations and I also included the addresses of where he lived while he was a student.

Because I'm very visual, I quickly penciled out the words on a roll of art paper to be sure I liked the order and spacing.

Then I used chalk to draw lines on the canvas so that everything would be straight. The chalk just rubs right off when you are finished, although I decided that it actually gave the canvas a nice aged look, so when I was completely finished, I did rub a bit of chalk over the entire canvas. I also discovered that good old black paint and a canvas make for a quick and easy chalkboard!

Then it was just a matter of stenciling the words, letter by letter.

So as not to smudge the wet paint, I moved around a bit from line to line.

And that was it - a personalized subway art sign with special meaning made just for Ryan!

Ryan lives in a very cool rowhouse in the historic neighborhood of Federal Hill in downtown Baltimore - picture brick walls and beautiful wide plank wood floors. Most of the art on his walls are photographs taken on his amazing hiking adventures with his Penn State friends. I think this piece will fit right in!

Happy 24th Birthday Ryan, with lots of love!

I hope you have a chance to relax on the roof today and enjoy the view!

And be sure to check out the Cottage Charm Giveaway Event going on during the month of May! I'm giving away one of my Burlap and Ruffles table runners!


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