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!
we did the outline for this a while back. She already had the pink carnation near the top, so we built a bouquet of her favorite flowers all around it. I like drawing and tattooing floral mixes like this. I feel like I’m a florist arrangement maker or something!
I think it’s in Japan, that along with household skills like cooking and decorating- floral arrangement and music are among the things women are expected to know and do well at. I keep trying to make these arrangement look natural, sometimes that’s a real challenge.
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.
he’s got a white berry in his beak. This took about three or four hours, total. we did it all in one session because she is a tough cookie!
I had originally drawn this as a bird flying down, with loose leaves in the wind around it. she wanted to make the branch more prominent and loved the oak leaves in that drawing- and wanted the bird perched. This was the second round of drawings.
I really like using subdued colors right next to bright ones, like the yellow on the bird’s head among all the greys and browns in this piece.
more bird art from me is available here.
Thigh! White.
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.
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.
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.)
My friend Melissa came in today to get tattooed. We did a memorial piece for her Dad, who died recently, and was apparently an AWESOME guy, because he LOVED Aliens.
She sat like a champ- we joked and talked the whole time.
This is the cameo-alien-dad-memorial.
(I know her from an amazing website called regretsy, in case you were wondering. She’s one of my internet friends! This was the first tattoo I have done on my friends from that site, but I plan to work on a shitload of these guys on my trip!)
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We talked a lot about movies too- she told me to watch a movie whose name I forget, but it was because we were talking about the movie “Parents” with Randy Quaid.
Also I am amassing a VHS tape bin for her- since she likes crappy horror movies as much as I do (and I want my collection to go to someone who will love it, since I am clearing space and paring back my things)
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Then, right after that, I worked on my other friend Dottie, doing a Mom memorial tattoo. A tiny bit more classic, this one- a lotus with some swirls and text. The swirls are open and fade at the edges so that we can do more connecting flowers on her arm later.
She knew she wanted a floral piece, so we sat and talked about what flowers she likes, and then I asked her what her favorite colors are…blue, purple, and orange!
I need to get better photos of this. She had dry summer skin (Like I do!) and so it was still shiny in this photo.
SUPER fun, also!
I worked on a good friend today. I like spontaneous tattoos a lot.
There’s something to be said for the energy that builds up when you talk over an idea, do the art together, find reference, and then tattoo- all in one day. It’s my favorite way to work, really- with the client right there, hanging out the whole time.
This is Chicken’s cack.
Chicken is an old friend. He’s covered in no-nos, tattoos that are funny or offensive. He came in to get tattooed with no idea what we ought to work on (he is, like me, running out of space!) so we sat down and started throwing ideas around. He doesn’t have a cock tattoo, so noticing that the front of his leg below the knee was empty it was the first thing that popped into my mind – both as something that’d suit him, and something I’d really enjoy drawing. He asked me to make sure it was damn serious and kinda pissed, so I did.
We looked up a ton of photographs of the actual animal, so that I could get a good feel for the body structure and feather patterns on these guys. Our piercer, Tigger, showed me some photos of Aurmarca(spelling?) roosters, too- very simple and direct colors on these guys. Red, brownish-yellow, and a greeny-black iridescence.
All in all, a fun start for a big giddy tattoo.
I’ll be at the shop tomorrow too- it’s the tail end of the slow season here. Next month I will likely be busy tattooing, but for right now I have the time to work on some close friends and colleagues, which is a nice segue back to regular working hours from camping season!
(note, this cack is about halfway done. we still have to do the tail, wing, and background.)
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