be yourself
Devery’s awesome, awesome tattoo. Font invented by me just for her. (Dec 6, 2009)
some new, and some old.
Spent the day scanning things, drawing. And relisted a few things on etsy. And then planted out the garden, the rest of it.
I got a few images of healed tattoo work I’ve done from some clients I love very much. Here’s a few of those…
Here’s a few of the things for sale (originals)…I’ll have some new stuff coming too later this week!
rats win races, sloths succeed.
a reminder tattoo for a tattoo artist friend of mine. he wanted to remember to slow down, and do more focused work, instead of hurrying up and rushing himself. He is the kind of artist who feels a lot of pressure from his clients, he tends to feel so glad to be tattooing that he forgets that his work is valuable, that his BEST work is worthwhile…that people who want really good tattoos are willing to pay for them, and that he is capable of doing great tattoos, and therefore shouldn’t undervalue his time…
If you undercharge people, you start to feel rushed. it’s inevitable- you end up booked solid for months but barely making ends meet. hurrying up to get that tattoo done in time, in the small amount of time you quoted them for. it’s far better to quote high, to take your time, take that extra hour to do your VERY BEST work on people.
any rate- I love fucking sloths. And this one is particularly classy, too.
also,
nightshade/flaming heart sleeve in progress.
sketches for the nightshade tattoo.
the rest of the floral sketches, nightshade and bleeding/flaming hearts
placement/drawing
in progress!
cobra lily cover-up.
original before cover-up, done very well by Lisa Hill. It’s a pity such a nice, dark and creamy tattoo had to get covered- but that’s what happens when you get small pieces in big spaces; eventually you want to fill that canvas, and the smaller tattoos have to get fit in or covered somehow.
my sketch for this cover-up. we’ve finished his upper arm, this is a sleeve of oregon places, animals and plants. So today we’re adding a section of cobra lilies.
here you can see the cover-up under the stencil/drawing. luckily the shapes are pretty close, so I can use the black line from the previous tattoo to add dark areas in the right places.
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partially done. I used really bold lines in this piece.
the other part. oh yeah, and the beetle is one found on mt. hood.
we’ll finish the lichen, as well as start the back of his forearm, next time.
man daller.
peck and I have been discussing this piece for years, we finally got started on it.
This is only the beginning, we just barely got the linework roughed in during a four hour sitting.
big tree, work in progress!
- In clients, deep thoughts, pictures, tat zap wizard, Tattoo,
while working on my friend’s tree tonight he told me about his zen retreat experience.
the group meditates, all sitting in position. a monk creeps stealthily and calmly between the rows of silent people, carrying a long flat stick. when he notices someone out of position or obviously distracted, he taps them on the shoulder, then whacks them hard on each shoulder.
I’ve also been promised a link to a podcast that discusses the nature of pain and how to cope with it by staying in the moment.
I find that if I start paying attention to someone’s physical pain while tattooing them, it becomes more difficult to focus on the art itself, the technical aspects and creative aspect of the work. So I try my hardest to block it out or make a joke – I am far from a soothing nurse, in other words.
So maybe if I have access to a soothing podcast, I can throw headphones on my clients while I torture them.
Rib panel.
She sat like a rock.
The full poem quoted in the piece:
Don’t stand by my grave and weep,
for I am not there.
I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I’m the diamond’s glint on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn’s rain.
Don’t stand by my grave and cry.
I am not there. I did not die.
progression.
- In art, clients, female tattoo artist, flowers, pictures,
I’m posting a piece from scratch sketch to finished study for a tattoo.
I’m working on this art for a friend who lives quite far away; I probably won’t get to tattoo her, but wanted to make sure she was able to get some of my work anyway.
Calling magpie, marigolds, and roses.
blackwork sleeves, no, NOT tribal. Blackwork.
finally finished this set of awesome stripey arms tonight. This is my best friend by the way.
I feel like we worked on these foreeeever.
She had a straight, solid one-inch thick black line around each upper arm, done by someone else, to start with. And she wanted…”something besides just a band around each arm, something bad ass”
We’d already done a bunch of color work on her back (It’s still in progress- snakes and flowers) and so I asked her if she wanted to do something big and abstract, that would make the bands into something crazy awesome.
Since she is my best friend, she said, “HELL YEAH”
We finished her right arm a long time ago and have been working on her left (the more zig-zaggy one) for a while, tonight we finished it.
I might go back through once everything settles in and tighten up some points and edges here and there, and touch up any spots that have gotten skeeter bites over the years…but her sleeves are DONE.
(the color areas on her forearms were done by another great local artist, once I know it’s ok I’ll put up a link to his work here. Suffice to say he’s goddamn awesome too.)
