Monday November 07th 2011, 3:37 pm
Filed under: News
Yes, it is indeed time for a new post, wouldn’t you agree?
Man there has been a lot going on since the last post… As you might have noticed, the galleries are down… I decided not to renew the license with SlideshowPro because A) the galleries don’t really work the way I want them to, and B) the new website won’t utilize SSP so there is no need to pay for a new license that I will not be using, you know? So all you can see right now is the stuff in the blog section and until the new site is ready (which is my own fault for lagging the updates). There’s been so much to do these past weeks that I have just been lazy with the updates but that is all about to change… I know i say that a lot, but with the new studio, there will be updates every week…
Did I say new studio?
Why yes, yes I did…. The NEW Left Hand Black studio will be opening early next year (shooting for January) and will be open to the public! No more private studio for me! I am sick of not seeing the sun, I am sick of not letting people come in whenever they want, and did I mention I am sick of not seeing the sun!? For those of you that don’t know, my studio now is inside a multi-use building and has no windows to the outside world… I feel like Tom Hanks in Joe Vs. the Volcano with his brain-cloud thing, hahaha… Great movie by the way…
Anyway, the new 1300sqft studio will be a full custom tattoo studio and art gallery… As for other artists, there will be 2 to 3 other artists depending on who I hire and we’ll also have a booth for traveling artists so my friends from all over the world can come to San Diego and tattoo and see what the west coast is all about! The gallery side of the business will be ran by my old lady and she plans on having art shows every month or two and will have exclusive prints from other artists and original art pieces for sale as well…
This is a pretty big deal… The studio will be in San Diego proper… No more north county business. You will be able to come by and see the books, see the weird shit I collect in person, see fantastic art from artists all over the world, and get awesome tattoos! What more could you ask for!?!?
I’ll post the address and the details on the grand opening when I get closer to opening… Right now it’s all about gutting the place and starting over… polishing the concrete floors… painting… wall-papering… creeperizing… hahaha… you know the drill.
In other news Crystal and I went to Orlando, Florida with some friends from PA, and TX… And one from DC… 13 of us all up in DisneyWorlds ass for a few days… and 1 day of Universal Studios… All in all it was a great trip but I have to say, getting 13 people all on one time schedule proved to be quite the task! Everyone on different pee schedules, different eat schedules, sleep schedules, showers… Definitely stressful, but fun as all hell! DisneyWorld is way different than Disneyland… It’s broken into a bunch of parks that are all connected but separate… Magic Kingdom was cool and was the most like our regular Disneyland but some of the rides are in other parks… I am not gonna spend all the time talking about how different each park was because it could go on forever… Here is my brief synapses… Magic Kingdom, awesome. Hollywood Studios, awesome. Animal Kingdom, fantastic. Epcot Center, bullshit. Hahahaha. Epcot was supposed to be all futuristic when they made it in the 70′s but it’s all shit that already happened in the 80′s… Just super out-dated is all… The golf-ball thing was rad to see in person though… And I guess they were having their food and wine celebration so they had all these kiosks set up with food and drink from all the different countries that you would walk past… Some pretty great stuff there but I have to say, Germany definitely won… Bratwursts and German beer… How could you go wrong?
Crystal and I on day one of the trip…. Lazy Hasili in the background there…
Mike hangin’ with his kind…
The DisneyWorld haunted mansion is way crazier looking than ours…
Their Magic Castle is like 5 times the size of ours as well…
I planked a speeder…
Unfortunately this is how it ended up…
My favorite part about the east coast…
Mike is waiting to cuddle…
Just one of the pics of us waiting in line… Reject peeking over like a creeper…
John and his creepy doll hand with a dino-head on it…
Elvis and I touching wieners in the German side of Epcot… So delicious.
Elvis comparing his tiger stripes to Tiggers… I think Pooh doesn’t feel good.
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Universal Studios was awesome, too… The rides are obviously way better than anything that Disney had but they also had a whole Dr. Suess land and the Harry Potter land… Which, I have to say… I don’t really care for the Harry Potter movies or anything like that, but that Harry Potter ride was insane! Definitely one of the best rides I have ever been on! Not a roller coaster at all, you’re on like a servo-arm thing that swings you around through different areas and then in front of giant screens and stuff… Hard to describe but trust me that was amazing! The wait time is gnar but there is a lot to see and do and watch while you wait so it goes by really fast… I highly recommend it, even if you don’t like Harry Potter… Just to see how the new rides are…
Hogwart’s Castle… Harry Potter land is nuts, man… A full atmosphere, it’s amazing!
John was so thrilled to be in Harry Potter land he was speechless the entire time… Jake, didn’t seem to care… haha
Elvis can’t fit the safety belt around himself on the caro-suess-sel in Dr. Suess Land… I don’t think it was the ride’s fault…
Crystal enjoying the carousel while Jake and Reject seem to have way more fun than they should!
I got to ride the carousel as well… I look like a homeless man, hahahaha…
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We took a little bit of time in Florida to go shoot guns as well… If there are guns, I want to shoot them…
John firing the FNH .45 acp. Caught it right as he fired…
Mike shooting the AR-15…
Crystal shooting the Coonan .357 M1911… An amazing gun! I want one!
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Coming home we spent some time decorating our engagement party invites and envelopes… I had a painting to do for the EVERYTHING WENT BLACK art show… A tribute to Black Flag. I did a piece titled “REVENGE” for the show… 62″x24″ on haggly garage wood… took about 3 solid nights of painting, but I am pretty happy with it!
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Went to a Halloween party at my buddy Shea’s house… I went as Princess Leia, and Crystal went as Obi Wan Kenobi… Pretty disgusting, hahahaha… I won “scariest costume” hahaha… How did that happen?
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Crystal and I went to the 9th annual Montreal Art & Tattoo Expo that I do every year… Had a blast as usual! What is it about Montreal that kicks so much ass!?!? Of course, I shared the booth with the magical and fantabulous Adam Hathorn which always makes any trip even more amazing! We opened up the dividers and had Rus Laich, Scott Althen, and Ron Henry Wells all in one big panel of awesomeness! It was a fantastic time! I didn’t win any “tattoo of the day” contests, unfortunately, but I did win an award for “best sleeve” for the zombie virgin mary sleeve I did on Crystal! So that was a nice bonus! We had a great time with all the TattooMania guys and Simon showed us his amazing hospitality as always! I can’t imagine ever not doing that show! I love it! I’ll be doing one of the posters for next year’s convention as well so keep your eye open for that! They’re gonna have 3 artists do a poster for their 10th anniversary convention… A Euro guy, a Quebec guy, and an American… I get to be the American!!! I am so stoked!!! I have never been asked to do a convention poster before!!! I hope I make them proud!
Did this awesome thigh piece at the convention all in one shot on Glenn Underwood… He sat like a CHAMP!!! He was definitely dying by the end of it, hahaha. Can you blame him? That last section was all up in his goodness… Looks good man! Hope you made it home safe! See you next year!
Here’s a sweet zombie pig I did on a foot at the Montreal convention… One shot one kill… Definitely a fun one to do! Next year we are going to do the other foot, a zombie rooster! Kind of a new zombie twist on the old pig and rooster foot piece…
A quick little freehand one-shot tattoo on the inside of an arm… I wish I could remember the guy’s name he’s kind of a big deal graffiti artist/artist in Montreal… Oh well, this blog is about me, not him, hahaha!
Here’s a rad thigh piece I did on the last day of the convention! “The Wichin’ Hour” which is a rad triple-decker sammich with a pickle and tomato and cheese and meats and awesomeness!!! All in one shot, as is customary for conventions… Gotta get that shit done! She sat like a champ and because of that, we got it all done and looking good!!! Might do the other thigh next year… That’s the rumor anyway… We’ll see how that goes?
Here’s a quick little rib piece I did in Montreal at TattooMania after the convention… Definitely a fun one! Took a little longer than I expected but it was worth it! I didn’t do that sweet tribal piece though, unfortunately…
I forgot to add that I won 1st Place in the “Best Sleeve” competition!!! The zombie virgin mary sleeve that I did on my lovely fiancee Crystal went up against about 30 or more sleeves and took the gold! Super stoked to win that one and I am honored to recieve it! Good work, Crystal, on winning that one without showing the judges your boobs like I asked you to, hahaha!
Here is the TattooMania tattoo that I got from the owner of the studio, Pierre… This is a tattoo that you earn… I am honored to have it, and I will proudly flip it out when I need to (it’s on my middle finger, haha). Seriously though, I am stoked to be part of the extended TattooMania family and I can’t wait to come back!
Last picture from the Montreal section… These are my new babies! Jealous much!? hahaha… I don’t think spending 1100 bucks on machines that weekend made my old lady happy, but it had to be done…
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Shit man, what else… Went caming up in Cuyamaca and got snowed in and froze my ass off with my old lady and some close friends… That was fun… Did a bunch of tattoos that you haven’t seen yet unless you follow me on Instagram… If you don’t, look me up under @lefthandblack and see what you have been missing, haha… I like Instagram… easy to post and there are a ton of awesome tattoo artists on there so we get to see what everyone is doing! Definitely my favorite app of the year…
Here’s some other tattoo pics you might have missed…
Here’s a big ole thigh piece I did on my assistant Rachael… Gonna add some background stuff soon.
Start of a zombie lower half sleeve…
A sleever that I am STILL working on… 2 hours at a time… It will get finished eventually.
Here’s a rad hand tatter I did… I colored it recently, but the pic was kinda washed out so I will post better shots when it is healed…
Here’s a big ass owl half-sleever I started a few months ago… Looking forward to coloring that beast in when she gets back from Thailand…
Check out this gnarly sandwich I got over at the WichWich… 5 meats, 3 cheeses, olives, cheese-whiz, jalepenos… Or should I just say HEAVEN… Yeah, that’s more like it.
Super washed out pic of a painting I did for my buddy Geoff’s birthday… He’s a teacher, thus, the apple… A math teacher, thus, the faulty equation… A Bad Religion fan at that, thus, the 1+1=5… Do you know the lyric?
This is a half sleever I started on my buddy Josh… Been a while since we started this guy, but Josh is always on tour so it’s hard to get our schedules in line… We do have another appointment lined up, so I guess you’ll get to see more sooner than later…
Lastly, we have a demon cupcake eating a bagel… This piece is on my fiancee Crystal and was thought up on a whim… We were flying to Washington state to visit family and Crystal was telling me random things to draw and this was one of them! Other drawings include a duck with a turtle-neck sweater and pipe, a demon leprechaun, a zombie bunny, a philanthropist whale, and plenty of others I can’t recall at the moment… I love random requests, so feel free to throw some at me!
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I don’t really know what else to write other than, keep an eye out for the new updates on the new studio and please keep checking in anyway as the new HTML5 site will be up and running soon and it’s gonna be rad! I promise, new updates, more frequently…
Tuesday September 20th 2011, 2:27 pm
Filed under: News
Sorry about that, guys… SkyNet became self aware and the server was down for a few days. Probably due to the power outage we had in Southern California while I was gone in Montreal… Which was a blast by the way! Lots to talk about and update when I get to that in a few days (probably Thursday).
This is just a quick note to let you guys know I am still alive and a new post is on the way! Pictures of food and tattoos and tattoos of food are on the horizon, friends!
Here’s a little teaser pic:
Oink oink!
See you soon! I’m off to Necromance in Hollywood to buy more goodies!
Wednesday June 29th 2011, 8:51 am
Filed under: News
So this post will be some goodies from June and a few pics from last month as well… You know the drill, hahaha. There’s been a few big pieces started this month and a whole bunch of new clients coming through so be sure to check back and see some new tattoo and drawing pics in the blog! I did some sweet work over at Steel City in PA and got to hang out with some good friends! I always have a blast when i go out there!
Anyway, on with the photos!
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So this is one that I started a while back but never posted a pic of for some reason… a broken grandfather clock with a candle holder and a burning candle… The roman numerals are falling out and are a bit cracked as well… Definitely a fun one! Looking forward to color!
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Anybody ever read “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark”? Well this is a tattoo of “The Bride” which is one of the short stories… Not necessarily the scariest of images, but what IS scary is the fact that this is in his ARMPIT!!! I’ve only ever done one set of armpits before… Came close on some rib panels but never really full on designs in the pit… But this one came out fantastic, and Marc… You sat like a champ buddy!
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Here’s the sketch I did for an inner arm tattoo….
And this is the tattoo that followed… A sweet tribute tattoo with no names or dates… Simply, a tattoo that reminds the owner of his father without having to advertise to the world that he’s gone or have to tell the story over and over… A great idea and a clean and colorful tattoo… One and done… 3 hours I think?
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Here is a really shitty photo of a really cool tattoo I did when I was in PA at Steel City Tattoo… Did this one on a wrist between some other tattoos so we had to squeeze it in… I think it fit pretty well in there… Unfortunately this is the best pic I got with my phone. When I update the galleries (been waiting for the new website, Shea….) you will see better shots of this one…
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This is a rad owl I did on a forearm while i was at Steel City… An owl, rested on a stack of books, with burning candles, and a drippy doom moon in the back… Oh yeah and there’s a skull face in the belly, in case you missed that, hahaha. You can’t see the candles in this pic because I didn’t want to show all the angles. I have too many pics to post…
Ah screw it… The candles are awesome… You definitely had to see it… Plus you get to see the wing and stuff. I posted this on Facebook and got a “like” by Seth Ciferri which gave me a total tattoo nerd boner… That guy is one of the industry’s finest in tattooing and machine building so a nod from him definitely made me happy! Seth, if you ever look at my blog, you’ll be happy to know that i used one of your machines to line this… Maybe you could tell?
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Here’s another grandfather clock I did but with some roses and a skully crossbones guy at the bottom… Started it a while back when i did a guest spot at Mercury in February and now I finally colored it… Super stoked on this piece… Too bad it’s on such a piece of shit… hahaha… Fuck you Reject.
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Here’s a rad one shot anchor i did on the back of an arm… 3 hours… The drawing was based on the one he brought in and drew himself… Although this is my interpretation of his drawing (which was actually pretty good) I would like to give credit for the initial design to Drew, the collector.
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Here’s a sweet compass I did with a sextant and a burned up map… One and done in approximately 3 hours…
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Here’s a rose I did on a bicep. Just a quick one shot… Simple and effective. I don’t remember how long this one took…
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Here’s an upper back piece I started a while back… It’s a fire phoenix clutching a banner that reads “Watch Over Me”. It’s a tribute to his son… This is just the line-work for now… Shading to come soon… This thing is going to be an explosion of color!!! Looking forward to another session!
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This is called a Naga… It is very symbolic in Buddhism and is very symbolic to the collector, Ron… You can read up on the Naga and their meanings HERE. I think posting all of that would be a bit too much and hard for me to explain since I am not a Buddhist. Just the lines so far… believe me this thing has a TON of line work! You can’t see the 5 cobras over it’s head, as this is just a teaser shot… Guess you’ll have to wait for better pics…
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Here’s a drawing I did when I was at Steel City in Bethlehem, PA… Just another zombie chick… Drew it from scratch with no reference which, I thought was cool. I like sitting down and busting out drawings for no reason. I feel like I never get to do that because I’m always drawing for someone else, you know? Anyway, this was a fun one…
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This is a cheesesteak and fries from Carl’s Corner down in Bethlehem, PA… I gotta say, it was one of the best I’d had in a LONG time. Double meat double cheese and they put some red sauce on there that I don’t really know what it is but it is fantastic… If you’re ever out that way I highly recommend it!
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Here’s a little 6×10 painting I did for my friend Landon’s birthday present… I couldn’t think of what to get the guy since he’s into motard bikes and stuff that I really couldn’t just guess that he likes…But I know he likes art!! So I painted him this little birthday severed zombie head on a piece of wood from the garage… I took this pic with my iPhone so it’s not really showing all the detail around the eyes and the stark contrasts of the slate background with the red blood spatter… But you get the idea…
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My old lady and I went to the Del Mar Fair and rode some spin-n-barf machines… that was a blast! Didn’t really eat too much of the fried foods because I wasn’t really up to shitting myself at the fair… Call me old fashioned… This is just one of the shots I took when i was there… I thought it looked cool enough to share…
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Spent a few days in Vegas with some close friends for my buddy Sean’s bachelor party… This was a cool shot of the video poker machines I took… I didn’t take too many pics in the casino. I’m always worried that the pit-bosses and security are gonna freak out that I am trying to cheat or spy or whatever… Maybe it’s neurotic, but I know you can take pictures at the Black-Jack table… Tried that one once…. Once… Also met a fellow tattoo artist Jared Cofield in Vegas when I was down on Freemont Street. He works at Original Tattoo in San Pedro, California. Definitely cool to be spotted by him and I checked out his work and it’s awesome! Good work Jared!! It was great to meet you dude! You can see his work on his shop’s Facebook by clicking the link HERE.
That’s pretty much wraps up this post…. Sorry it took so long! Been painting a lot for birthdays (I’ve been giving paintings as presents) and cranking out new drawings and such… Gonna put together a sketchbook collection of the drawings I have been doing for the last year or so… I’ll keep you posted on that. The new website should be coming soon?? I paid for part of it, I just haven’t seen too much of it yet… Or at all? My web dude is the shit and is super busy so I know I’m not as important as some of the “high end” guys. Don’t worry though, when it’s ready it will be awesome and will work on all smart-phones and everything! Even the galleries!
Ok, off to the airport. I am getting yelled at that it’s time to leave so we can make our flight to Alaska! Stay tuned for pictures from that trip in the next post! Until then…..
so it’s that time again… time for another huge update because i never keep up with the weekly updates like i always say i will. but hey, i’m a busy man dammit! i had a pretty big month in march…
i got engaged! that’s obviously the biggest news! after a few years of on again off again bullshit (my fault) she finally made an honest woman out of me, hahaha… i wanted to make sure that’s the first part of this post since it is the most important thing i have to report… the most important thing in my life.
what happened in scotland!?!?
remember a few posts back when i mentioned going to the scottish tattoo convention? well here’s the thing about that… apparently some other american artist came through and got busted at customs for one thing or another (too hard to explain it all without exposing a few secrets about conventions) but basically this american artist screwed everyone else coming to the show. long story short, i was detained, photographed, fingerprinted, and had my passport confiscated. initially they weren’t going to allow us to enter at all but my old lady turned on the water-works and brought up that our hotel was already paid for and that we were planning on being in scotland for 8 days… we offered to let them keep my equipment as insurance that i would not work and violate their laws but they didn’t need to do all that. i guess they showed a little compassion and allowed us to stay for 72 hours but they kept my passport to ensure that i would be back on time otherwise i would not be able to leave without being arrested. anyway, the trip was awesome, for three days… visited the grand lodge of scotland… a few museums… edinburgh castle… ate haggis… scotch scotch scotch… it was alright by me!
i visited the convention on one of the days and everyone that i thought wasn’t gonna be there totally was… apparently i am the only one who took the orders from customs seriously, hahaha. honestly though, i feel like i did the right thing. had i disobeyed customs and been arrested i would have had quite a fiasco coming home and that could jeopardize my future travel plans to all the other conventions i go to. with that in mind, it just wasn’t worth it, really.
anyway, here’s a few pics from scotland and then off to the tattoos…
a shot from the graveyard looking up at edinburgh castle…
the chapel in the graveyard…
a masons grave…
beauty and the beast…
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now for the tattoos…
this tattoo isn’t as old as some of the ones on this update but they’re all in weird order and i grabbed this one first, so whatever… this is a thigh piece i started on my assistant Rachel… if you ever become one of my clients you will have the pleasure of meeting her and having her call you ahead of time to remind you of your upcoming appointments… this one was originally an entirely different flapper girl design that was intended for an entirely different client that pulled a 180 with her design idea so i told her to beat it… Rachel loved the design and decided to get it as long as we made a few changes… but i redrew the entire piece and came up with this beauty instead… it was really a great change from the original and a great way to replace all the negativity that was attached to the original artwork via that looney client…
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a rad owl i did on an old friend/client… only black yellow and purple… all in one shot on the inside arm… he sat like a champ!
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this one is a rad tribute to a fallen kitty “zero” that apparently used to go outside and poop then go running like hell and climb his favorite tree… this is a black and gray vignette (with green eyes like the kitty had) and a perfect tribute to an awesome kitty!
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this is another tribute tattoo. this time for the clients parents, luckily they are still around to enjoy it… the father, a carpenter… the mother, an artist… so naturally the components are self explanatory… and the “eternally grateful” says it all…
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here’s a tree frog and venus fly-traps tattoo we started a little bit ago… it’s all filling in between an existing tattoo that we will be working on as well and trying to tie it all together into a sleeve… this was one session and so far it’s looking good!
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how about another tribute?? hahaha… this time a tribute to our great country! this is a one shot, black and gray flag and feathers tattoo we did with the old-school 13 star flag… this tattoo was not at all easy… all the stripes… making sure they’re all there and in line with the others and keeping the flow right… man… it looks so simple… but this one was really hard! i’m happy with it though! and she couldn’t be happier with it, and that’s all that matters!
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are you tired of day of the dead “skulls”? well could i interest you in a day of the dead fucking ELEPHANT!? yeah that’s right, i said elephant… how awesome is that!? all these day of the dead women and skulls… but elephant? call it a first! that’s right, you saw it here first and it blew your mind!!! hope you were ready for that…
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more progress on the samurai backpiece… it’s only our 4th session and we’re trucking right along… 2 more and i’d say the shading will be done and we’ll move right into color…
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that’s what i’m talking about… more fucking zombies!!! here we have a zombie elvis in front of a rotting Welcome to Vegas sign… just two sessions so far but it will be a whole lower sleeve connecting to an upper half-sleeve he already has started.. behind elvis will be a decrepit and run down vegas featuring the Glitter Gulch Gal and some other old signage and poker chips and cards and etc… so far so good!
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a close up cross section of a HUGE lower half-sleeve i lined out the other day… we’ll be adding more to the upper part pf the arm to make it a full sleeve, but i thought just showing you a teaser would be way more fun… plus, it’s all just lines… so it would be tough to see it all if i showed you the whole thing… so for know, you get only a section of the angel defending…
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here’s a sweet one i did on my buddy and fellow tattooer Tim Shelton… we started it a while back and finally got a chance to finish it and i am stoked! two kids playing ouija in a graveyard and they conjure up a ghost!!! i’ll post some healed pics when i get a chance… oh and go check out Tim’s work by clicking HERE…
a close up of the calla lilies on the sides of Tim’s piece… you can’t really see them on the other photo…
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here’s a sweet one and done we did on Friday the 13th of an ink bottle with the No.13 written on the label in honor of Friday the 13th, feather quill pen, and letter with a subtle “goodbye” written on the paper… the paper erodes away into a scribbled heart… it fits in with the other piece we did on the other side and next time we’ll be tying them both together… sorry the pics are so washed out but i promise to post healed pics when she comes back in…
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this is the other Friday the 13th piece i did that day… we didn’t get a chance to finish the whole thing due to time restrictions but we got all the lines in and shaded the whole thing and we’ll color it in soon i am sure… i love the design! it’s an old victorian style hand delivering a death tarot card with the number XIII on it… in honor of Friday the 13th… can’t wait to finish this one!
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so that pretty much wraps it up… sorry it took so long but like i said, there’s been a ton going on… there will be a new facelift to the website in the coming month that will be 100% viewable by smartphones and way better galleries with bigger photos and all that… my facebook is gonna be a personal page only now and i will be getting a “page” thing that i guess allows me to accept more than the 5k limit that i am already at… i’m working on a few new art projects and paintings… gonna be working on some machines possibly in the near future… new shirts and stickers and swag… i’m about to be a busy busy man…
oh, and Tattoo Energy #70 has a killer interview with yours truly… they really did a great job with it and had some great questions that i had a fun time answering! look for it on the shelves!
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oh and there’s a painting of mine in the CRANIAL VISIONS book by MIKE DEVRIES… some of the worlds top artists and tattooists (and me, i guess) come together to share their interpretation of all things “skull”… i highly recommend you get a copy of this book, i think it is one of the best compilations of artists i have seen in a long time! plus, it’s skulls! how can you go wrong?
YOU CAN’T!
so click the links up there, or HERE if you’re lazy, and get a copy today!
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that’s it for me, guys.
off to bed…
thanks for looking, and check back soon for the new LHBLK!
so i know i haven’t posted in a few months and as i was preparing for quite a big post, i got wind that my zombie Blink-182 tattoo is blowing up all over their Facebook and Twitter accounts… so i thought i would post it here so you guys know that i was the one that did it and know that you are in the right place! i did this little jammer on my buddy Marc right in his armpit almost… right above his FSAS rib tattoo! he’s a huge blink fan! he sat like a champ even though we both know it hurt like hell! anyway, enjoy!
thanks for coming to my site!! a new update will be coming soon and don’t forget to check out the tattoo gallery!
Thursday February 03rd 2011, 4:26 pm
Filed under: News
so it’s been a while, again… haha. i haven’t updated since Belgium so there is a lot to cover in this post. my girlfriend and i went to Ireland for the holidays and that was amazing! we started in Galway, then Killarney, then we stopped in Cork, and Waterford, and ended in Dublin for a few days and had our new years countdown in an Irish pub with a traditional folk band playing! it was amazing but it was COOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLD!! hahahaha. i ate tons of traditional Irish breakfasts and stews and had plenty of Guinness and Beamish and Murphys and only a little bit of Jameson because i’m not too much for whiskey… shit makes me crazy. it was definitely a bummer coming home after being in such a beautiful country where everyone says hello when they walk past you and there’s trees and waterfalls and castles and what not… but i love me some USA and i missed my kitties and my own bed… so alas, we returned.
coming home, i had a lot of work to jump right back into and was a little bit behind in some art but i put my nose to the grindstone and got it all caught up… drew out a huge backpiece and a bunch of smaller pieces (not small small but like, half sleeves, chest panels, stuff like that) and tattooed a bunch this month!
so here are the photo’s…
airplane food on transatlantic flights is so good! they give you all kinds of goodness!
um…. this is the first graffiti we came across in Ireland… so… yes?
on christmas day in Galway… an amazing cathedral…
mmmmmm…. Irish breakfast…. potatoes, tomatoes, eggs back bacon, sausage, black pudding, toast, and beans…. what i meant to say was, HEAVEN!
a beautiful shot of the streets in Killarney…
Crystal and i on my birthday at a pub in Killarney… shit was awesome! an old guy sang me a song on told me i looked like a lumberjack!! how do you put a bow on that?
bangers and mash!
the Muckross House… so damn beautiful… it was closed inside but just walking the grounds was amazing!
this is the Torc waterfall… it was so amazing and beautiful but it started raining really bad so we couldn’t finish the rest of the hike… but we took the trail from the Muckross house to here and that was amazing all its own…
Blarney Castle… and yes, we kissed the Blarney Stone…
a cool shot of a cathedral in county Cork.
went and visited the Guinness factory… as you can see, it was fantastic…
St. Patricks Cathedral…
and here i am TRASHED on new years eve with two guys (their girlfriends are off camera) from Norway… Guinness all up in my mustache hahaha… these guys were hilarious! if i can find out how to upload the videos we took during these shenanigans i will most certainly share them!! Crystal took this shot and i don’t even remember it… i was 4rnkh… those of you who received texts from me that night already knew that, haha…
the trip was amazing!
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now here’s some tattoos!!!!
zombie stoner jesus!!! hahaha… total hesher! his brains are exposed at the top with the three nails of crucifixion stabbed in there and blood and flies and all kinds of blasphemous goodness…
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here’s a floral cover-up on an upper right shoulder blade… underneath was a tattoo of a bi-plane… came out pretty good.
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this is arabic for INFIDEL… did this on a retired troop who had a few tours over in the middle east and came home with a few bullet holes and lived to talk about it…
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here’s a rad semi-color tattoo i did in one shot on a forearm… a skull as an art supply holder with some paint tubes at the base…
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a cool shot of me lining out a backpiece…
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and here is the backpiece… a samurai splitting into a demon gorilla samurai that stole his scroll. there’s a temple behind it and as you can see there is a pretty wicked cover-up to be done at the bottom… i don’t know why you would cover such a sweet tramp stamp, but oh well…
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here’s an awesome zombie wolf head i did that will be part of an even bigger lower half sleeve… this is just the lines and shading, obviously… color pics and additional pieces are a few weeks out…
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here’s some birds i did on a chest panel… again, just lines and shading for now, but the piece looks pretty awesome so far!!
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here’s the finished product of a rib piece i have been working on for a long time now… the guy lives in SF so sessions on it are few and far between… glad to finally get this one done and looking forward to the next piece!
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a rad tribute piece on my buddy Sam… he got it for his great uncle that always had a drink, loved to golf, had a cadillac, and always slipped him a $10 bill when he would come visit… color to come in a few weeks…
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here are Gabe Ruediger’s shorts that he’ll be wearing during UFC 126… notice the LHBLK logo?!? oh yeah he’s reppin the studio and after the fight he’s getting a sleeve done and many more to come! don’t judge me by what he already has, we couldn’t tattoo him before the fight due to training, so what you see now is NOT my work… any of the fights after will be mine! good luck Gabe!! you can see his website HERE.
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The only other thing worth mentioning right now is that i will be leaving tomorrow morning for Pennsylvania to work with Scott Bramble and Scott Althen at Mercury Tattoo in Glenside! I will be there for a week so hit them up if you are in the area and looking to get some tattoos! not too sure how booked up i am but if you call Mercury they can fill you in on how booked my trip is. hope to see you there!!
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also, i will be in Edinburgh Scotland on the 26th and 27th of March for the Scottish Tattoo Convention 2011! i might be working a few days at a shop there after the show so if i am already booked at the show, i could possibly get you in there… please email me directly about that… not facebook… i don’t check that often enough… email me at Turk@LHBLK.com
here’s Scotland show’s poster…
hope to see you there!!
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stay tuned for another update after my freezing ass trip to PA!
Sunday December 19th 2010, 11:26 pm
Filed under: News
so… it’s been a while, eh?
where do i start? after my last post i took a week off and went to Las Vegas with my old lady and some friends from Pennsylvania… that was a lot of fun!! went to the grand canyon… gambled a bunch… drank a bunch… ate way too much at the Bellagio buffet… stayed in a suite at the Bellagio that was the nicest room i have ever been in like, ever… hahaha. the highlight of that trip, however, was going to see Penn & Teller at the Rio and being called on stage to be a part of one of the tricks ON STAGE!!!! man i was nervous but that shit was awesome! i still have no idea how the trick happened!!! halloween in vegas is a trip man… so packed!
in november, Coop and I went out to Brussels Belgium for their first international tattoo convention! i’ll start with a bunch of pictures from that and pepper in a few pictures of recent tattoos… i leave for Ireland on the 23rd to spend my birthday and new years with my lady in a castle and getting drunk! what better way to end a long year of traveling all over the world and zapping out a bunch of tattoos than being on an island sipping Guinness on the other side of the world?
anyway, enough talk… here’s what you came here to see!
here’s some pics from my vegas trip…
here’s me with a SAW (squad automatic weapon) at the GUN STORE in las vegas… i also shot a Steyr AUG… that shit was awesome…
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a sweet shot of the Bellagio i took with the hipstamatic on my iPhone… on the last day, after the PA crew went home, my lady and i stayed in the cypress suite at the Bellagio which is in the middle column. 1200 square feet with panoramic windows surrounding the bed… his and hers bathrooms… its own livingroom… it even had one of those TV’s that rise out of the entertainment center in front of the bed… that shit was SWANK!!!!
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the hoover dam… that crap is super high!!! i had gnarly vertigo!
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Reject’s got John in a figure four leg lock across state lines… which begs the question… if John taps in arizona does the win count in nevada?
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oh and then there was the grand canyon…
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reject in the million dollar dream hold near the edge of the southern rim….
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john got reject in the walls of jericho…. haha we fucked with reject so much…
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yep… that’s me… trying not to spazz out on stage with Penn Jillette during their show at the Rio! my friends tried to get more pictures but security caught them… bummer! ask me in person about the trick! i still have no idea what happened…
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Penn and I after the show…
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Teller and I after the show… such an amazing time!!!
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this is Elvis Aaron Lewis… he is a arrtarded….. he tattoos at Steel City Tattoo in PA and is a damn good artist… he’s not normally in a wheelchair, but we found this at an antique shop in vegas… it was too funny to miss out on this photo op. sorry wobbly’s, no offense.
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drew a big triumphant cock on the stationary of the hotel/timeshare that we all stayed in… i always draw something on the stationary…
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me and my beautiful girlfriend on our last day in vegas right before we drove back home to san diego… we all had a blast in vegas and i can’t wait to see everyone again, wherever we decide to go…there are a TON of other photos but i want to keep it focused mainly on tattoos here…
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so now on to Belgium…
mmmm… beer….
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amazing architecture…
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another shot from the main square…
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i ate a horse… yep, that’s a horse steak… and it was pretty good. not amazing… but good. now i can say “i was so hungry i ate a horse”… can you say that?
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after some horse, a nice chug of beer to wash it all down…
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i found a dead bird…
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mmmmm…. belgian waffle…
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sugar skull and roses i did at the convention… drew it on the spot as well… i am realizing i didn’t take any pics of the convention… hahaha. you can click HERE to see shots of the convention and see what i missed…
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here’s a freehand skull i did on Nico from 25 to Life Tattoo… we just kinda drew it on and ran with it. i think it came out pretty sweet and he was pretty stoked on it. i couldn’t get a very good shot so this is all i have to show…
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here’s a zombie-ish yoda i did on a guy at the show… the guy only has 23 yoda tattoos and the rest are all star wars related… pretty trippy… kind of a creeper too… i did a sweet hourglass tattoo as well but the guy never came back after we finished to get a photo… i’ll get a shot someday and put it up.
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Coop and i took our day off and went to Paris!! we went to the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower… here’s a couple shots from that extravaganza…
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a sweet hipstamatic shot from the eiffel tower…
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the louvre….
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Venus de Milo…
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La Victoire de Samothrace…
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i got so many amazing pictures from the louvre… there’s no way i could show them all… i think i literally took over a thousand pictures in there… if you’re friends with me on facebook i guess you could see them there! if not, you’re fucked.
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here’s some tattoo shots of stuff i should have been posting…
this is a section of full leg sleeve i am working on… remember the piece of the angel slitting the demons throat on the thigh? well this is a cross section of the lower part of the that leg sleeve… more to come of course… you’ll need to see the thing that the demon is eating…
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this is a sweet, seven sorrows of mary, piece… this is also a first time tattoo and he sat like a champ! there’s actually color on it already but those pics came out like crap… so for now this is all you get… looking forward to finishing this one for sure!
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here’s a HUGE rib piece i have been working on… i believe this pic is from the third session… it’s a sugar skull cased in by sparrows with day of the dead decorations on them and some water… the water and the upcoming light have a meaning so they’re not as out of place as you might think… this one is gonna be color so stay tuned for more…
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this is a piece i finished on my buddy recently that consists of a scratched up book with an inverted cross and banners that read “think for yourself”… also, we added flowers that are native to the area that he is from. he said he got the idea when he stayed in a hotel and the bible in the drawer had fucking stab marks all over the cover… in fact, as a gift, he brought me that very bible…. and it sits in my studio to this day… come see it for yourself!
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saw this on “cash in the attic” on HGTV… hilarious!!!!!! personally, i would have thought a rusty trombone would be worth a bit more… hahahahahahahahahahaha
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domo arigato mister roboto!!!!! so many times i have used that joke for this piece… i am tired of it too… haha. the robot is colored as you can see and we have a few areas to color in and close it up to the existing upper half sleever… at some point, too, we are gonna add some more to the inner arm and fully complete the sleeve. almost done!!!
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here’s some shading on that half sleever i started a while back… gonna color it after the holidays… gotta go over the letters again as they healed kind of shitty because he didn’t follow my instructions, haha…. also, we added a key and some more curlies and shit… those pics were too awkward to show all the angles and shit because i took them weird but i’ll show you more when i color it… this sleeve is a long time comin!
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here is some gnarly lettering and scottish thistle and scottish flag i did on a shoulder blade all in one shot…sweet and fun one shot tattoo and i am glad he made it all the way to the end!! good work!
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here’s a cool ganesha tattoo that i did based on some noble art i saw (thanks)… i have maybe only ever done one of these one other time but i think it came out pretty fucking awesome! all in one shot about 3 and a half hours! great job!!! this is just black and gray so this is how it will look… i am pretty pumped!
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this is a rad black and gray inner arm piece that i did in one shot… obviously, it reads “family”, and the number of roses is symbolic to that… we did another on the other inner arm the next day which will be posted below. these were a ton of fun, man. i don’t get to do black and gray that often. i know i don’t really do it the same way other people do it, but i kinda like that. here’s the other one…
this one is “friends” and was done the very next day after the “family” one… sparrows are generally symbolic of travel and in this piece they are a reminder of fun travels with old friends and so on… these two pieces were drawn on the same layout to make sure that when you saw them together they would look similar in weight… to balance out the “friends” piece i added a budded rose. i thought that it could be perceived as a symbol of the blooming friendships… or more jokingly, its one of the buds, hahaha get it!?!?
oh yeah and i forgot to mention these too… we did these on the same guy that got the “family” and “friends” tattoos on the insides of his arms… in fact in this pic you can see them sticking out of his shirt, and still red from being so fresh… these are based off the Jim Croce song “rapid roy” in which there is a line that goes “he’s got a tattoo on his arm that say ‘baby’… he got another one that just say ‘hey!’” so we did them in a single pass simple old style tattoo way that would have been similar to the way it would have been done around the time in which the song was set… it’s an awesome song and i am pumped to have done it!! also, you should note that this guy got tattooed for almost 4 hours one day… almost 4 hours the next day… and THEN got two more!!! think of that next time you puss out! hahaha
Check out these amazing bottles of wine that were given to me by the guy who got the “family” and “friends” pieces… he owns his own winery where he blurs the line of fine wine and hot rod kulture… you can check it out HERE… these bottles are filled with an amazing hand crafted wine and don an amazing pinstripe design AND are a cross-promotion with the Roth family… you guys know BIG DADDY ROTH don’t you??? we’ll why don’t you go to his WEBSITE and get yourself a bottle or two!!
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also, check out this rad promo for SK8MAFIA that i was part of… the first minute is the promo where Jimmy Cao pays for his whole days worth of adventures with his awesome signature slips… he comes in and gets a SK8MAFIA tattoo across his stomach and pays with slippers… such a funny and rad idea! check it out…
funny part is, we shot that shit for like 2 hours… i went through all these steps to make sure it looked as real as humanly possible and all we got was a few seconds in the shot, hahaha…. it was a lot of fun though! Still waitin’ on my slips guys… size 13!
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that’s all i got for now… i know i keep saying i will update every week and i always try to make sure that i do… but i’ve been working on new art… new tattoos… another interview coming out soon… a sketchbook… flash… prints… new shirts… all that!! and i’ll be creating a new website for the band, we’ll be recording soon, putting out a record… stuff like that.
my girlfriend and i will be traveling to Ireland for the holidays… i will be in a fucking CASTLE on my birthday!! (day after christmas, in case you were unaware)… i won’t start working again til the 3rd of January so you might only see some rad pictures from Ireland in the meantime… check back every once in a while and see all the new stuff!
Thursday October 14th 2010, 1:32 pm
Filed under: News
Okay okay so it took a ton of time to update… but this should be worth it… Montreal, like every year, was a fucking BLAST!!
Did the convention with mister Adam Hathorn this year, without the company of Chico unfortunately. Apparently Little Chico thought it would be a good idea to get arrested for graffiti… the Canadian customs people don’t take too kindly to that kind of stuff so it’s a crapshoot if and when they might let him back in. What a dumb asshole, hahaha! Be sure to check out his website and support his retarded brown ass.
Working with Hathorn is always a great time… that dude is hilarious and his work is so unique and inspiring! I also did a guest spot at Studio TattooMania in Montreal alongside amazing artists like Ron Henry Wells, Kore Flatmo, Ichibay, Tin Tin, Henrik, and the amazing in-house crew that already works there at TattooMania! It was pretty intense, man… Working with guys of that caliber definitely makes me want to rethink my tattoos and how I do them. Had a few great talks with Kore that were enlightening, for sure. Ron and I roomed together in the hotel and had many a talk about art, illustration, and a few other things that I am not at liberty to divulge, haha. Montreal is so much fun because it’s like a reunion with all my buddies and friends…
After Montreal I headed to Pennsylvania to work with the amazing Scott Bramble at Mercury Tattoo. I always have a great time with Scott and he and Holly are always gracious and hospitable hosts! Definitely stayed busy there, which is awesome! Finished a few that I had started last time i was out there, and started a few new ones… Pennsylvania is awesome, man… I think about moving there all the time but they don’t have In-N-Out… so I don’t see that shit happening any time soon, haha…
Scott and I flew to London after that where we shared a booth at the London Tattoo Convention, the biggest and most popular convention in the world… We got off to a bit of a bumpy start when we first got in… We got in a bit late and cab driver didn’t really know exactly where we were staying and to be honest neither did we, hahaha! We got there eventually and just in time for some late night pizza! The apartment we rented was super nice! Two levels, exposed brick, two big rooms (one with a big bed and its own bathroom and the other had three beds), three bathrooms, an outside patio… The place was SWANK! The best part is it was super close to a DLR station so getting around was super easy! Super pumped to meet Phil Holt while i was in London! Dudes art and tattoos are insane and we may have talked about me coming out to Florida to work with him and the Red Letter 1 crew for a spell… I cannot wait for that! I also set up a guest spot in Scotland, and fucking ICELAND! Stay tuned for the info on that!
Our friends Safwan (of Imago Tattoo in Montreal) and Jee (of Human Fly in Spain) met up with us a few days later at the apartment and we had many drawing sessions and explorations through the city and of course the convention as well… Safwan and Jee are awesome and amazing artists! You should definitely click their links and check out their work!
Coming home was a smooth flight… That was nice… I can never sleep during flights so I was tired as hell by the time we got back to PA and unfortunately I booked my flights weird and had to fly out the next day so I had to stay up and pack and get all my crap ready so by the time I got back to San Diego i was so damn tired!!! It was great to get home and eat In-N-Out and lay in bed with my lady and my kitties! I missed them so much! They were all over me, (the cats and the lady MEOW!!) it was awesome!
Anyway, here’s what you come here to see anyway… PHOTOS!!! Due to my long winded babble about the trip, and the amount of photos I’m updating, I’ll keep my descriptions short and concise… But man o’ man… There are a ton of pics… ENJOY!
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Before I even left for this epic trip I had committed to be in the BLOOD MONEY art show that was opening after I was already gone… Of course, I waited till the last minute, hahaha… I started this painting only two nights before I had to leave at 6PM and finished at 6AM hahaha!! Its 24″x36″ on an old haggly piece of wood I found in my garage. Complete with paint can ring, and screw holes, one of which still has a broken screw in it! I used house paint as my undercoat, and acrylic for the rest. Definitely my favorite painting I have done so far! This one definitely got me fired up about painting again!!! Click the BLOOD MONEY link to see shots from the opening!
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MONTREAL!!!!! What kind of post would this be without showcasing some of the local FOOD!!?? This is a Smoked Meat Club and Poutine Quebecois from Dunn’s in Montreal. It’s become a bit of a tradition to go there even though some of the guys don’t care for it too much (RHW). Personally, I love the place and will go there every year! Sure there are better places, but Dunn’s is close to the convention and the hotels and damn it man, it’s delicious!
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Here’s a pretty sweet little black and gray piece I did when i got to TattooMania… Just a quick little jammer and not at all related to anything Masonic… Just a fun little forearm piece…
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Here’s a fun leg piece i did at TattooMania as well… The guy spoke very little English so the language barrier was tricky figuring out what he wanted… I knew he wanted a skull, and he mentioned having it shooting itself… He basically said, just make it as crazy as possible… So somehow it became a skull with crossed pop-guns and bones, with wings and a bird bathing in its drink head thing? Hahahaha… I have no idea… Came out rad though!
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Here is Adam Hathorn, myself, and Pascal from Studio TattooMania at the pre-convention party… These pictures are about all i remember from that night… Well, and waking up in the shower the next day at 1:30PM with the water still running… I was so pruny and the condensation was so rich that i literally must have been in there for hours… but how many??
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Simon of Studio TattooMania with his teacher and my friend Francois… Simon, as you can see, is giving me the “we’re gonna get fucked up tonight” look… He has a whole mess of photo’s that we apparently took at his place later that night… Some of me on the ground after I fell off my stool… Some of him naked (don’t worry, he always ends up naked somehow when he’s drunk, haha)… And someone took a bite of a banana right through the peel and everything, hahaha. I wish i had that photo to post!
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Here’s the booth set up at the convention… As usual i had way too much stuff for the small table… Also as usual is Hathorn rubbing his belly and thinking about his next meal, hahaha…
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Midnight Rambler!!! This piece was done on Saturday at the convention and it ended up taking the Tattoo of the Day contest for that night! Can’t see the drippy blood moon too well, but when I add it to the gallery you will see all the angles. Pretty fun piece too as I don’t normally draw stuff like this… Hilary, the collector, is a tattoo artist herself but had nothing on her arms yet!! I got to be the first in what will surely be a downward spiral of getting covered in tattoos! Luckily i set the bar as high up in the mediocre range as my art allowed! hahaha….
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Typical day at the office…
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Here’s a sweet Day of the Dead woman I did as a chest panel… We tried to enter it as a Tattoo of the Day but we didn’t get it. We lost to an awesome piece by Toxyc at Last Rites… Congratulations! Although we didn’t win, I still think this is a fantastic piece and my hat’s off to Reid the collector… He sat like a fucking CHAMP!!!!
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Check out this gnarly burger and corndog-ish thing that Ron and I found while out scouting for a late night meal!! The burger itself was amazing and had all kinds of crazy stuff on it but that corndog thing, i think it was called a Kogo, was the top! Instead of corn mash as the batter this was made with flour and those are french fries that are hand placed before they fry it! I know it’s not the greatest idea to eat super late at night, but this meal made it totally worth it!!!
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When i landed in PA this was where i was waiting for Scott… at the D-Bag claim, hahahaha… How did they know???
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Here’s a grumpy little jack-o-lantern holding a jar of fireflies that i did at Mercury Tattoo… The idea was that the jack-o-lantern was trying to keep the fireflies away so that it could stay halloween longer… took a few tries at getting the face just right, but i think we captured it pretty good! What do you think?
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Started this one over at Mercury as well… Originally, it was supposed to be a foot tattoo but it grew so much in detail and design that we ended up starting it as a thigh piece instead… We lined and did a little bit of shading before we tapped out because it was getting really late. Can’t wait to work on this again! Oh, and the translation is “you cannot escape death”.
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And then we flew to London… This was the meal on the way to it. Not bad at all, actually! Continental always has good food!
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The apartment we rented… Pretty swank for some bums like us!
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Here are some sketches I did while in the apartment. The rhino beetle one I was supposed to do but the guy never showed up… The skull on the book was a cool and classic idea, but I added the magnifying glass and DEATH thing… Though that would be a cool addition. The sugar skull and drumsticks is pretty self explanatory… The human heart and jawbone one was supposed to be bigger like a thigh or something… but it was because i misread the email! It was supposed to be a hand tattoo! So I redrew it pretty fast and tattooed it on a hand… you’ll see the pic below. The others don’t have pics because they aren’t done. I am finishing the skull/book and sugar skull when I am at the Milan show in February… Those guys are both from Italy, except for Hugo, the guy i did the hand piece on… He’s from France.
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In case you didn’t know…
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Here’s a shot of the cause of all London’s bedbugs, haha… That’s me on the left, Jee from Human Fly in Spain, Scott Bramble from Mercury Tattoo in Pennsylvania, and Safwan from Imago Tattoo in Montreal… Waiting for the train to take us into town…
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Bangers and mash…
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Here’s a cool little pocket watch and roses i did at the London convention… Drew this super fast and took it on because i was tired of waiting for the Italian guys… We knocked it out in about 2 and a half hours I think? pretty simple and tons of fun! I think we spent more time laughing and doing TrueBlood impressions than we did tattooing, hahaha!
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Hey kids look, Big Ben, Parliment…
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Here’s that sweet ass hand tattoo I was telling you about! It was about 3 hours I believe… Didn’t make the cut-off time for the contests but I hear it was getting a lot of attention and photographs for magazines so I look forward to seeing where it pops up!\
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A few beers as the trip winds to a close… Thank you London for always showing me a good time!!
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So that’s it for now… Back on schedule I promise as far as regular updates go… I have some good pictures of stuff I’ve done since I have been back but I will update them next week so as not to confuse them with the pics of the stuff I did while i was abroad… There are a TON of pictures I left out of this update because it would simply be too much to post! If you wanna see more, check out my Facebook and see the pictures there! And follow me on Twitter to see tattoo pics before I post them here and other random shit that I come across…
Thanks for bearing with me, and for checking out the site! I promise to keep updating new shit as often as possible so keep coming back! Also, the site will be getting a face lift pretty soon and we’ll be adding some sweet features that allow you to see where I am traveling and when, and a ton more… stay tuned!
Also, the Tattoo Handbook 2 is complete!! Tons of amazing paintings by amazing artists from all over the world!! This book has so many amazing interpretations and unique approaches to the hand tattoo… You should definitely check it out!! I will have a few copies for sale at my studio so let me know if you are interested in getting some!
Wednesday September 22nd 2010, 5:05 am
Filed under: News
Haha, well…. It’s only a 3 location tour but it’s for the whole month. Montreal was a blast! Won “Best Tattoo of the Day” on Saturday at the convention. Pennsylvania is always a good time! Even snuck a night of fishing in there…
Right now I am about to board for London but I wanted to post a quick note to let you guys know I will be updating tonight when I get to foggy London town.
I meant to update while I was in PA but I got bogged with work and so on. So stay tuned, tonight the magic will happen.
Wednesday September 01st 2010, 8:43 pm
Filed under: News
haha, dammit as hard as i tried i didn’t get to update yesterday to keep with the “tattoosday” thing….
there’s just so much going on before i bail for Montreal that i couldn’t do it yesterday… i still have to pack my clothes and all my gear and try and finish a few paintings i started before i go… on top of all that i gues a water main broke in my neighborhood that flooded into the sewage lines which then caused the sewage to rush up and out of relief valves… and there just so happens to be one right outside my back bedroom door…. yeah…. awesome? not so much, haha. it even started rising out of my bathtub downstairs… pretty crappy… get it? crappy? hahaha man i am hilarious….
to top that off, my mom called while i was working and she never does that unless something is wrong… and indeed there was… a sad day for the family as my uncle Joseph had a brain hemorrhage on friday and was on life support only to pass on sunday… such a bummer too because my last interaction with him wasn’t the best and we weren’t really as close as we used to be when i was younger… but still… my heart goes out to his kids and his wife and thanks to everyone that sent condolences when i posted the RIP on facebook… it’s always hard to lose a family member… makes me even more sad to hear my mom’s voice in distress… that was her brother, man… sucks…
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so here are the tattoos i did during my crappy week of crappiness… good tattoos, for sure… and i did my best to stay in a good mood… but there was definitely a dark cloud over my head the whole time…
here we have a sweet little traditional-ish cabbage rose-esque tattoo i did on the lower front bicep just above the ditch… modeled after a rose i did a few years back that the client was stoked on, i drew him another to sort of match that old one but a little but elaborated on and darker blues and reversed the shading from the original… came out sweet. 2 and a half hours i think?
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here’s an owl i did on a wrist/forearm area… pretty damn sweet and all done in one shot! i think this one was about 2 and a half hours as well… had to reference a few owl tattoos and some actual owls to get this one the way i liked it… hard to make it not look like a bite either so it was a bit tricky. in the end i was really happy with it! can’t wait to see it healed…
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here’s a Misfits tattoo i fixed up for one of my existing clients… this tattoo was pretty old but pretty easy to fix… cleaned up the lines, added some spots, used white to lighten a few blowouts, the cloak was all messy so i cleaned that up too… all in all i think it went pretty well… didn’t remember to get a before pic so i guess you’ll have to use your imagination… maybe squint a little when you look at this one to blur it up a bit? hahaha…
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here is another big hand tattoo i did the other day… this took about 3 hours or more and by the end his hand was swollen like a boxing glove, haha… um.. i mean, that sucks… haha anyway, this piece was a ton of fun (for me) and i did all that i could to make it NOT look like the other one i did a few months back… the rose near the webbing of the thumb and forefinger is a coverup of a skull and crossbones… you can kinda see a little bit of it, but i tried to confuse and obfuscate as much as i could. if i hadn’t told you it was a cover, would you have noticed? honestly?
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here is the shading on that robot vs. octopus lower half sleever i started a few weeks back… this was roughly 4 hours of shading and a lot of fun! the ditch parts and the inner part of the arm were not so fun for the client but he toughed it out like a champ! adding all the textures on the head of the octopus and the spots on its tentacles is what took most of the time but it was time well spent! the color sessions start just a week after i get back so be sure to keep a lookout for that!
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that’s it for what i have so far before i leave for the Montreal show, Pennsylvania, and London… be sure to check in and see pictures from the road… tattoos from abroad… and hopefully no drunken ramblings and photos… hahah i’ll save that for twitter!
now i’m off to play a bit of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2…
