Meditating in your flesh

Endless knots are great tattoos to execute due to the technical challenges and the concentration required. It's all very zen, in my opinion. This knot is a very ancient symbol and it's always a pleasure to be a very small part of it's history and existence. Etching it in skin makes the symbol permanent yet not infinite. After all the wearer shall pass at some point. There's an interesting duality at work there that's rather intriguing. Enough of the transcendental thought for now....

Grinnin' In Your Face-

There'll be tattoo related posts sometime in the next several days, in the meantime however I would rather go on a small tirade about contemporary music-

This stagnant, soulless whore machine which is referred to as contemporary music is heinous. We exist in a world where MTV is a product or style, where both online and printed correspondence believe that little transvestite Bieber's hair and music is newsworthy, so much so there's a movie about the boy/girl? The radio waves are choked with blonde after blonde pop tarts who sing songs which were written by someone else to music who was composed by someone else while sporting an image and persona developed for them by someone else. The term artist is thrown around so recklessly to the point where it has lost its gravitas. All you need is some glitter and prosthetic shoulder pads and your a ground breaking visionary.

However, there are true musicians among us still, you just have to dig through the shit. We still have Jack white making music with the Raconteurs and his numerous side projects. John Frusciante will always make brilliant independent solo albums, his album Curtains is great and always stands out in my mind. We are quite fortunate that Mumford and Sons came out of obscurity to save us from ourselves.  I have strayed from my intentions.

The point of this post is to share this...  Son House performing Grinnin' in your face...

Soul my friends, soul. Everything great and pure about music and no fucking instruments, yet everything is conveyed. All the fancy bullshit, the smoke and mirrors, back up dancers, designer clothes, and eyeliner. All gone and stripped bare to reveal only the elements which matter.

spider skull and watercolors

Here's a quick and simple spider-skull I did on an ever so loyal client of mine, nice tattoo on a helluva nice guy.  I've been tattooing a great deal of skulls lately.  Not that I'm complaining they're always a great bold image and there's nearly an infinite number of ways to execute them.

And a pair of recently completed watercolors. Please forgive the quality of the images, my scanner won't accommodate the 11 x 14 inch format so digital photos were my only option and the quality is less the ideal.

momento mori

It's been a few since I last posted and I'm nearly certain it's of no consequence to the universe and all that's contained within. None the less, here are a pair of images to distract those who are in need of a distraction.

First, a traditional skull on a gentlemen's neck. As a general principle I attempt to avoid tattooing the necks of individuals whom have ample room elsewhere on their bodies, alas, I enjoy tattooing skulls far too much to decline, as well as the fact the person in question is a fairly regular client of mine so I obliged.

In the realm of non flesh based arts, I have recently completed this small oil on canvas painting of skulls and chrysanthemums. I believe it to be quite successful, particularly the lighting and overall ambiance. The reflected light from the camera's flash has washed it out slightly but here it is none the less.