Tony's Hand

This post is sort of a mash up in the timeline of events. We'd started this tattoo - on Hell or High Water's distinguished owner, Tony Barton's hand - one day, before both of our appointments showed up, but then kept getting interrupted by people coming in, deliveries, etc. Just like how the commas kept interrupting the smooth flow of that last sentence. Haha. So anyway, I'd wanted to do one single photo spread so I waited a few weeks later till we actually finished it. Enjoy!

The design is a complimentary scene to go along with his other hand, done by Donn Davis several years ago, of an eyeball, a wing, and a broken pencil. Here we have a paintbrush and an eye, with waves to go with the sleeve background and some scales and leaves for effect.

This is where we'd stopped the first time...  and of course no time for breaks, right to work we both went.

And then a few weeks later, touch ups here and there, and presto - here it is complete!

Lefty to bat

Well, I've been meaning to post on here since it happened, but found myself drawn into other things... namely how to generate income, and then also how to enjoy the silence. About three weeks ago I broke a bone in my wrist - actually it's my radius so it's part of my arm - and haven't been able to tattoo or draw since! Well that's not exactly true. I mean I can't tattoo, but I've been drawing and painting with my left hand. And I've been making lamps! Things are looking bright.

So typing is a bit of a pain too. Which is also why I've neglected a post or two. This one's a bit wordy and there's no photos (but there will be later!).

But painting has been... eye opening in a sense. To go from not doing ANY painting for a year to only painting with your Non-Dominant hand - it's daunting at first to say the least. But I am more and more pleased with the results. So there may be more of them in the future! With the right hand! Or both!

I'll be posting some peeks at the work in a few days - I'll also be having a show of these valuable monstrosities before my arm gets out of the cast (you can laugh). If I sell anything it is going towards my bills... and food...

What's been telling in doing these paintings is that I regained something of a voice that I'd lost with painting. I ran out of things to say so I put down the brush. Tattooing everyday and drawing for my appointments kept me more than preoccupied and I guess I was more conceptually drained than I thought... but my broken arm has given me time to replenished some of that extra energy I suppose. Part of me is really grateful for this opportunity, though it's unfortunate that it is also costing me a bunch of money in medical bills.

As an update, I've pretty much booked April solid with my appointments that were previously scheduled in March... sorry guys! I'm more than surprised and thankful that all my clients, who have taken the news of my broken arm with more understanding than I ever expected, are successfully rescheduled. It's very humbling. I tried to organize everyone bearing in mind that it may be difficult to jump right in to the longer sessions. So if you were wondering, that's what I was trying to figure out. Thanks to all of you for your patience and support!!

Peacock swoop

Here's a quick post. On Monday I started a large peacock on Virginia, a local bartender. It was a marathon session - 5 hours just on the outline! But she's tough. Definitely one of the more patient clients out there. It was a really fun drawing, a bit of a challenge in terms of placement, but that's fun for me too. Of course, it's going to be vivid and colorful in true peacock fashion.

And she's got a lllooot of work lined up! Not only is she getting the peacock, but she's also getting her other shoulder/back redone by Chris Black, who used I used to work with in Kenner, but who now works at Eyecandy Tattoos. He and a few others left Electric Expressions in the beginning of January, and Chris settled there. It's good to see him (almost) as often, since he's right up the street from us. Chris has a blog as well - http://chrisblacktattoo.com/ - check it out!

 Ok - So here's them:

New Orleans Noah's Ark

I just realized I never posted this photo of Jeremy's arm - it's a  New Orleans themed Noah's Ark tattoo! The ark is made from an upside down umbrella, with the dove holding the olive branch as the handle. A shotgun house (typical New Orleans style home) is the center structure of the ark, and in the background is the flooded city. You can kind of see a hint of the city in the last rotation, but there's a little more there that isn't shown. Also,  Noah is the name of his newborn son. 

This was a ton of fun to draw and execute. Jeremy came to me with just the idea of the Noah's ark, and then gave me a bunch of freedom with the design and all the elements. People often ask me if I have a favorite tattoo that I've done. I really don't have one favorite, but many of the pieces I am most proud of are the ones where I'm given a basic idea or theme and a ton of freedom to design and develop concepts. So this 'NOLAs Ark' tattoo definitely fits in that category.

Try the wine?

My good friend Seth came to New Orleans from Baltimore, MD, to get this tattoo finished. We'd started it at the Baltimore Tattoo Museum in September, when I was doing my east coast guest spots. It's an epic piece... A dinner scene...

Seth's an illustrator, and also an excellent cook. His request was for something dark and evil, but also whimsical, and maybe incorporate animals too. Those were his only stipulations. I was free to draw from my own hallucinogenic muses and it was awesome. I'm extremely pleased with this tattoo! It's bats crazy. And a lot of fun to draw, tattoo, and look at.

I'd never seen Clockwork Orange (I know). But Seth showed me this clip, and I'm still laughing every time I look at that crazy zombie cat.

Time Ravel

o0k. February is just about here, and it's been a while since I've posted... So let's just pick up where I left off, yes?

The month was December, the year: 2011. It was a crazy year. Lot's of crazy. And it was dirtier... the past is always dirtier... BUT! It was a good year, full of many cool projects and clients. I'm fortunate for that and appreciative.

Let's just start with a big one. First up is Norman. We finally finished the two humongous roses that take up half of his arm!

The idea was to make the roses so large that they became abstracted, and to push it a little further it's a progression from pristine on the upper shoulder to decaying on the lower. I really enjoyed the challenges presented in this piece. We completed it over several sessions, probably around 5 or 6, and finished it just in time for the new year.

The next one up is smaller, but waaay cool, I think. It's Angelique's magnolia seed pod! I've never really seen one of these tattooed, and had a ton of fun tattooing it. Lots of folk are getting magnolia flowers tattooed on them. The flowers have become something of an icon of the south. This particular tattoo is about life-size, a 1:1 ratio approximately, the bulb of which is slightly larger than, I don't know, two eggs next to each other, let's say. It took something like 2 hours to complete.

Here's Craig making another appearance. Continuing with his soon-to-be bodysuit! We have an angelic figure, hands outstretched, sending off a crucifix being carried by birds towards his heart in the center of his chest piece. The cross we borrowed from a Dali painting.

car- rayzie tatz

Got a couple of funzies here for this here post here.
And of course, why not begin with a customized dedication to the Wu?

The lines for the squid are a drawing by Jeremy Fish. Great artist, check him out. I rarely ever use another artist's drawing for a tattoo, but the client contacted Mr. Fish for permission. The client also has some Ashley Wood imagery on his leg.

And finally, a peak at a really crazy Rampage arcade leg piece! It's a phone photo so bear with me though.

Ryan came to me with an existing outline that he was unhappy with (for good reason) of a rampage theme on the front of his leg, and let me run with it. After many hours of rework and new work he's now the owner of a really awesome and intense leg piece! 

There will be better, more detailed photos of his leg in future updates. Just wanted to share! Next I'll be posting some drawings I think. Lots of fun tattoos in the werkss.ss.s.ss. .   

Ink n Needles art show

I'm going to try and stay on top of this blog, see if I can keep it up with some of the interesting things n such. Sooooo where to begin??
Last month, right after I got back from my tattoo residencies in Baltimore, MD and Doylestown, PA I began my transition from Electric Expressions where I'd been for 5 breathless years to working at Hell or High Water Tattoos on Magazine St - still in New Orleans, or it's actually in New Orleans, just uptown instead of by the airport where EE is located.

And THEN - the second week of October, also right when I got back, there was the opening of Ink N Needles, A Tattoo Exhibition at SLU (Southeastern University). I was asked to participate in the show and submitted a plethora of things, all different, so I was intrigued to see what Dale, the curator, chose to display.

I forgot my camera. So we will have to make do with our imaginiation for now, so like let's pretend like when we were kids and I'm telling a storytime. I may be able to get some photos from Dale or the university at a later point, but right now lettuce make believe... so of my stuff he mostly hung my process drawings and sketches, leading into the final drawing and then a photo of the finished tattoo work. There were also two of the finished drawings of some sleeves I have finished or begun - the shark/plane/squid/minisub and the superhero/cityscape. It was different from most of what everyone else presented. A majority of the work was hand-painted tattoo flash imagery, some enlarged photos of executed tattoos, and then some illustrative paintings by tattooers too. The contributing artists were from all across the country. Locally, Tattooagogo and Electric Ladyland had several artists showing work. It was a fun show - made me want to go home and draw!

Here's some of the promo material - the poster for the show (a tattoo by Donn Davis of Tattooagogo), and the catalogue, also flipped to the page featuring my work (the Nola's Ark halfsleeve).