An owl and a Portrait

Here's a pair of recent tattoos. First, a fairly traditional owl, he's a little cuter than I would have like and I really would have liked to fill the eyes, make 'em glow yellow or some shit. However, the client... well she was quite particular (but a pleasant girl)with the look she was going for and it is what it is.

Since I'm somewhat on the subject I would like to take a few sentences to reflect and ponder what goes on in some peoples heads. When you hire a plumber do you tell him how to fix your toilet? A mechanic how to repair your vehicle? Do you tell a hooker how to provide her particular services? As a tattooer I don't make a living giving clients bad tattoos, I'm not secretly plotting in the dark hours of the night ways I can fuck up your tattoo. On the contrary, I have all intentions of supplying you, the client, with the finest piece of art I can give you. I don't want to hear the friend you brought along or your insecure, over protective boyfriend/girlfriend with the Ed Hardy shirt and Affliction jeans thinks that this should be blue or that should be like this. Have them do the fucking tattoo. I have in a few circumstances discussed this with the occasional client who's requests and desires fall on the far side of lunacy. There's a common denominator between all who behave in such away and that it they all say one or all of the following:
"It's my body, I have to live with it, it's permanent".

 Well that's some enlightening shit right there. I've been tattooing all these years and you say it's permanent, are you sure? It's your body? I thought it was your monosyllabic boyfriend's over there with the fine eye for fashion. Yes I know it's your body and that the ink I'm inserting into your flesh is indelible but you see I'm trying to prevent a disaster from occurring on your flesh with my name attached to it.

So ladies and gentlemen what I'm trying to say here is- give your tattooer creative freedom. In the end you'll have something great instead of average or worse.

Now with that tirade aside, here's the second tattoo.

I don't enjoy portraits, they're entirely to stressful. Nine times out of ten they're of a loved one who passed away and meant a great deal to the individual. I do traditional tattoos, bold thick outlines heavy shading, splash of color here and there. A proper portrait consists of zero lines and very delicate shading, the antithesis of how I work. I'm not sure how I ended doing this tattoo but I'm kinda glad I did. It's of the clients Grandfather who passed away fairly recently and they were close, etc... Im not insensitive but spare me the backstory, you're not on L.A. Ink, give me your arm and be still my friend.

Emerald Skull

Did a few photo worthy tattoos recently, however I couldn't get any decent pictures to post here, so that will have to wait until a later time. In the mean time here's a recent oil painting of a skull done in monochromatic green. I like my tattoos to look like tattoos and my paintings to look like paintings and I believe this demonstrates that well in all of it's brushy, dripping glory.

In a more tattoo related way here's a sampling of some flash sheets I've been working on occasionally. They contain images, elements and techniques that interest me. I'm fairly happy with them at the moment. Due to the size of my scanner I was unable to fit the images in their entirety.

Lastly, I did this lighthouse for no reason in particular, not  quite sure how I feel about it but I thought I'd share it.

Throat Carnation

Did this simplified and stylized carnation earlier today. She had a surgery scar and wished to obscure it using a carnation. I thought it would be a rather difficult session but I was proved completely wrong and she sat like a champ through out despite being right on her throat. She's a badass.

Skull and Dagger

Did the classically themed skull and dagger tattoo recently on a gentleman from california. Nice guy who gave me the opportunity to execute a nice tattoo.

He also requested that I covered up an older piece he had on the same arm. We decided upon a piece of flash that Bert Krak had created. I had to modify it a little here in there in order to cover the existing tattoo. Bert Krak works in Brooklyn, New York and is one of the finest artists working today, you should certainly check him out.

Luna Moth

I have a "thing" for moths, not some strange fetish or voyeuristic sort of thing and I don't mean those common brown moths you stumble upon upon in your Grandmother's closet(why are you in your grandma's closet anyway). The more exotic, flashy ones you rarely see are what I speak of.

One of the advantages of living in an area that's quite wooded:

Peanut Butter and Jelly Skull

Due to the palette choice I've affectionally named this the peanut butter and jelly painting. Skulls and ghost orchids, it just doesn't get much better than that. Sorry about the epic flash glare but it's heavily varnished.
Oil on Canvas.

Used a "Coop" Devil as a cover up. Initially I wasn't too confident in how successful it would be or if it would work but I was either up for the challenge or not thinking clearly at that particular moment and went at it anyway. I've been using a hand full of Fusion's inks for sometime now and am quite pleased, particularly with their reds. Their Really Red is really, well, ...red. Fortunately the tattoo that had to be covered was an older, faded piece he had gotten years ago from a shop next to some military post. It's a classic bold image very suitable for tattooing and worked well in the end.

This sunflowery like tattoo I did the other day has a lot of elements I like about a tattoo, bold line and minimalism at it's finest, no fancy bullshit.

Sugar Skulls

Here are two pairs of sugar skulls I had designed a while back.  Every so often I produce a limited run of these, these particular sets have been acquired for a private collection recently, but more will be available when I get the chance to put some time in. As with other items created for public consumption they will be available through my Etsy shop: The Human Relic. Thanks for Looking.

Some Filler For My Infantile Blog

I have to fill these pages with something if someone stumbles by or accidently clicks on the wrong link while searching for something or other on google.

Did these last week on a young kid looking for some Native American inspired work. I'm not terribly familiar or fluent in Native American style and art. My take on the genre, but fairly successful I believe particularly the wolf headdress.

Nippon

Occasionally I'll select a few items I've created and I post them for sale on Etsy. If you're unfamiliar with Etsy I suggest you take a moment and visit the site, there are many talented artists and artisans to be found here and they can certainly benefit from your patronage and support: www.etsy.com. About year ago I created a poster in celebration of and to pay homage to the classic Japanese Movie Monsters we all know and love. Japan has been a culture I have respected and loved for as long as I can remember so I feel the need to do something, no matter how small it may be, to help in some way. 100% of the proceeds will go to the Red Cross to help aid Japan in their time of great need.

$20 dollars plus $5 for shipping. The print is 8.5 inches by 14.5 inches on a fine high quality paper. The print is a limited run of 5, but if demand surpasses supply, then to the printers I shall go. Please visit my shop on Etsy: The Human Relic, or email me for details.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/58325273/japanese-giant-monster-movie-print

So this is a blog

One day not long ago I realized I was in need of some form of presence on the internet and it came to my attention that a great deal of artists and tattooers I respect and admire have blogs and so it began. To be quite honest I kinda thought blogs were a bit like masturbation for one's ego and I'm not certain I have anything worth saying or if my words and images have enough gravitas to keep readers coming back for more. Will anyone will even give a damn. So with doubts aside here we are, my first post. I can hear the trumpets sounding as I type. I'll try to keep this updated as often as possible and when I do it will more often than not pertain to tattoos, paintings, drawings that are accompanied by inconsequential banter.

The Matryoshka Doll, aka Russian Nesting Doll. This is one of my more favorite tattoos that I have done. Great subject matter and has all the elements I enjoy and what I think make a good tattoo: bold, simple and clean.