A LIFELONG love of arts and crafts, along with a chance meeting at a festival 12 years ago, is what set Charlotte Hopwood on her signwriting journey. Alice Elgie reports…
Charlotte shares with me: “I was at Moira Canal Festival helping in the crafty kids tent, but also at the festival was Martyn King, of Vimart Signs. He had a stall where you could have a go at signwriting the number seven with his guidance, so a very nervous me tried it – and wanted to know more. I was looking for a summer job while studying fine art at univer-sity and I found out his partner, Sally, also did boat painting and that she could potentially take me on.”
Invited to experience being at a marina for a day, Charlotte absolutely loved it and decided to stay for a few months, living in a caravan on-site. “I learnt so much about painting and signwriting that summer, and I also spent the evenings and weekends boating on the his-toric tar boat Spey.” These experiences ignited a deep interest in the history of the canals, boats, and the traditions surrounding them, and so a plan began to form for Charlotte: “I didn’t know what I was going to do after completing my degree, but everything began to fall into place.”
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In the end, Charlotte wrote her dissertation on canal art, signwriting, and the history of the canals. Upon leaving uni, she moved onto a narrowboat and started working full-time for Martyn and Sally. “I was very lucky to have a job after uni in which I used some of my skills; plus, still got to paint every day.”
Working there for about five years, Charlotte was able to build on the artistic skills gath-ered throughout her whole life. Citing her mum as a huge influence, she tells me: “My mum paints and makes things and so we had a go at all sorts when I was a kid… drawing, paint-ing, paper making and cards.” This childhood nurturing of creativity, along with her fine art degree, as well as Martyn teaching her everything she needed to know, meant there was no need to attend any specific signwriting courses. “You learn a lot by doing, every day picking up something new and working on it,” she says.
Charlotte doesn’t zone in on one particular style, instead being inspired by whatever ideas are thrown at her. “There are such varied designs on boats nowadays; one day I can be doing a very traditional style, the next a very modern design.” Charlotte certainly demon-strated this artistic versatility when she worked on narrowboat Vampirate this year. Built by Norton Canes, it was awarded Favourite Boat In Show at Crick 2025 and Charlotte was responsible for all the skeleton pirates. She followed this with The Jolly Roger, which had a pirate image on the side, and her passion for these more surprising boat projects shines out when we talk: “Every narrowboat has different imagery and style and I enjoy painting the ones that have something unusual about them. Another one that comes to mind is Lu-nar, a wide beam with a very graphic style of bold text and intricate birth charts. It was in-teresting to do and I was really pleased with the result.”
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Unphased by the responsibility of adding the finishing touches to boaters’ pride and joy, Charlotte is dedicated to working with people to reach a design everyone is happy with. Her training with Martyn certainly pays dividends when having these conversations: “Martyn is very knowledgeable on every aspect of signwriting, not just canal boats, and he has inspired me so much.” Not only that, but Charlotte regularly meets up with fellow signwriters through a Letterheads meet, a place to share knowledge and ideas.
After spending six years working on boats across the network, in September this year Charlotte decided to set up a static workshop at Smithwood Narrowboats, Crick Wharf. “I’m trying to keep my work local now but people will hopefully be able to bring their boats to me. Plus, I will have an undercover facility, which means I’m not reliant on perfect weather.”
While Charlotte will miss the travelling lifestyle and meeting people out on the waterways, she will undoubtedly enjoy being able to spend more time with her children, but she still re-mains committed to continuing the traditions that have been passed down to her. “I enjoy working on boats as I get to put my mark on a bit of history, as well as maintain it for future generations.”
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Alice Elgie is a wandering writer who shares words about her lifestyle through podcasts and real hold-in-the-hand letters: aliceelgie.com
Facebook: @seawoodsignwriting
Instagram: @seawoodsignwriting
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