Meet Valentina Trentini | Sign Painter & Gilder

We had the good fortune of connecting with Valentina Trentini and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Valentina, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
When the pandemic forced many people to work from home, I decided that it was time for me to reinvent myself and put everything I knew and worked so hard for together. I wanted to be able to split my time between my family and what I decided it was my dream job, but I wanted to be able to own my time and making sure I was taking care or myself too. I knew I just wanted to paint the whole time, without having anyone telling me how to do my job anymore, which is what happens when you have a 9-5 job.
As I was saying, during the pandemic, my first daughter was a little over a year old and I needed to be able to work from home and still take care of her, but create a job that I could run full time when the pandemic was over and she could go back to school. That’s when I opened Brushetta Signs.
Starting to work at an early age for my aunt’s clothing store in Italy, gave me the structure I needed to be self-employed… It not easy at all, it requires a lot of dedication and commitment and, most of all, sacrifice. I have to admit, fear has always been my best friend (lol) but I tried to transform it into the desire and hunger to learn and get better and better everyday.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
The more I paint, the more I start to find my style and what I really want to paint…which turns out to be vintage cars! I have the opportunity to work with two amazing car shops here in Los Angeles for Porsche (Emory Shop) and Alfa Romeo (Santo’s Car Service) and paint their restored cars/racing cars. There is something about painting a restored car that was brought back to life, it’s like giving them a second chance to shine. Painting on them makes you part of the history of that vehicle for life.
It was not easy to get where I am today, and it’s still difficult because I’m still far away from where I want to be. I would say the biggest challenge I had to overcome was finding the way to the path I’m taking right now. Before discovering Sign Painting I was kind of lost, I had no idea what I wanted to do, and this career gave me the opportunity to put together everything I knew and studied while I was in Italy (design, graphic, art, communication). I still struggle with daily motivation, but I have the feeling that any creative person is going through the same problem. Luckily, when I get jobs that don’t really require a lot of creativity, then big creative jobs come right after! And if I still struggle, I take some time for myself, I go to a museum or a library and I do some research, I recharge my creativity and… I’m back!
I’m hungry for learning new techniques, meet new painters along the way and always find something that gives me butterflies in my stomach when I paint it. I’m always on the move

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
My brother came visit us from Italy last summer and I started our tour with a coffee at my favorite place in Culver City, the “Village Book Store”. It’s our local bookstore, they have an amazing selection on books for adults but especially for kids, and the coffee is seriously good. For lunch I took him to “The Window” in Venice which, for me, makes the best hamburgers of all LA! Their kale salad is to die for (I know, Kale salad doesn’t sound that appealing, but trust me on this one!)
While in Venice I always like to walk on Abbot Kinney, even if it changed a lot during the years, but it’s always nice to walk up and down that street, since LA is not really a walkable city.
Since my brother is a huge baseball fan, we went to the Dodgers Stadium to see a baseball game…if you never been, I highly recommend to go see one. It’s SO MUCH FUN!…but, of course, you need to pick the right game!?
The place I love the most in LA is the Getty museum, and I always take him there… it’s free and you just need to pay for parking. It’s full of amazing art from all over the world, the architecture of that place is incredible and the garden is a very peaceful place. You can bring your own food (which I recommend because the café serves very, very bad food unfortunately) and you can have a pic-nic on the grass…such a beautiful place.
Since LA is so close to Palm Springs, I would spend a weekend there. Rent a house with some friends, chill in the pool and enjoy the hot weather 🙂

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
It goes without saying that, If I am where I am today in my professional carrier, it’s because of all the the other Sign Painters around the world that showed me the way, took the time to teach me and shared their “secrets” because they wanted this trade to continue to thrive. Sign Painting is a very niche trade and the people who are part of it are unbelievably amazing.
Every single person that I met along the way is always been very supporting, whether they are in Australia, in the US or in Europe…we are all connected by one single denominator, the love for this trade.
The first person who showed me how to love and be passionate about Sign Painting is Mike Meyer, an amazing Sign painter from Mazeppa in Minnesota. Mike went above and beyond to help me succeed, he has always being supportive and encouraging even when my brush strokes where, let’s say, not even close to be good…!? His approach changed the way I looked at sharing anything in my life and, from that moment, I always try to help others if I have the knowledge to do so.
My teacher and friend who unfortunately passed away last year, Doc Guthrie, had a huge impact in my life and the way I look at Sign Painting now, which is to have fun and being grateful I get to do a job I love and I really enjoy.
But THE most important person, the one who always believes in me without any reservations is my husband Jake. He pushed me to get myself out there when I was too scared to do so, helped me price out my work and be more confident, and always gave me absolute great advice on how to run my own business.
My style is always evolving, and I’m slowly getting where I want to be, and a big thanks is to the H.C. Martin book “1000 Practical Show Card Layouts and color sketches”, my favorite book of all time from 1930.
The mix of all these amazing people and the tools of this trade are helping me navigate this crazy dream job that I love so dearly.

Website: https://brushettasigns.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brushettasigns/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valentinatrentini/

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/brushetta-signs-los-angeles

Other: Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/819601965

Image Credits
All images by Brushetta Signs