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well, got some bug tattoos and made the paper: photo by Shaughn Butts, Edmonton Journal

Got this Shishi Lion from Alix Ge at the London convention yesterday (pic nicked from her instagram): When I arrived, Alix was still drawing. She told me we couldn't put the tattoo on the side of my thigh like I had asked for because for that I would have to lie down and she only had a chair. Well, alright then. When I came back from a short tour around the convention she had obviously done another drawing which was much bigger than the first. She thought the animal had to be rather large to be nice, good with me. But she didn't think we could fit peonies as well, would I be happy with cherry blossoms instead...? Bummer...what? Noooo...! Oh well, so we agreed to put on the lion stencil and see then. Stencil went on, peonies were added freehand. No problem, all fitted on there nicely....but...that was gonna be a looong session. If I was a strong woman, she asked. Ermmmmm, well, I bl**dy hoped so...what else could I say? She looked at me particularly sceptical after she found out it was only my second tattoo.... Obviously, we made it, yippie!!! Six hours on a folding chair with two breaks. Even though I got some odd looks and remarks for running around with a pillow under my arm, I was well glad I had brought it because it made the chair way more comfortable! Apart from that, getting tattooed at the convention was actually surprisingly good as there was so much to watch and get distracted by. I could openly stare at all the tattoos walking by and quite a few people gave me encouraging smiles and words. That was really cool. Alix is super lovely and I kinda felt a little bad for her having to sit on her small suitcase for hours. Towards the end she told me that she wouldn't be able to do what I did and that she'd never get a tattoo that takes more than one hour herself. I doubt that's actually true, but it was a sweet thing to say anyway. Suffice to say I'm super chuffed but also glad it's over! And this morning my 3 1/2 year old greeted me excitedly with "Mummy, I have a tattoo, too!". Turns out the entire family has tattoos now, some of them of the temporary type, some rather not ;-)

We took our 7 year old daughter to a jr. roller derby practice on Weds to see if she might like it. She is so crazy about it she can't wait a whole week to go back. Will take her again tomorrow morning, before ballet class. So psyched the Derby Dolls moved into our neighborhood! Between this and her Friday after school program "Rock Star" where she's learning to play electric guitar, bass, keyboard, and drums, she's doing much cooler stuff than I did at her age.

Managed to sneak in a small appointment with Paul Dobleman later on this afternoon :-) a little banner with my sons name, to celebrate 5 weeks of having him in our life's! Looking forward to plenty more sleepless nights to come!

Thank you, yes, we have to get that book! I wish I'd done it, too. When I saw her going out onto the floor, I wanted to jump in. They moved earlier this year. It's a great space. This kid is ready to rumble:

I just accepted a new job. I will be moving to Dallas in mid October, family will be staying in Indiana for a while. It is going to be a huge change but it something that has needed to happen for a while. '

Steve byrne Rock of Ages austin tx

My lady and I just got a pet bird, he's a fancy green cheeked conure and he's just about 12 weeks old. Since we're both tattoo nerds and because puns are irresistible, his name is Oliver Peck. Haha. Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

Mine is @ItsNewport My instagram is kinda fucked for now as my camera is unable to focus, but you can check out the Viking skull i got from Tony Hundahl on his instagram - it's the one with the red lightning running through it

Dealing with my dying father these last few months. I took a major break from all things online in order to focus on getting through this. Its been a very rough patch, and I've been going from acute care facilities to job interviews and trying to keep above water. I apologize for leaving so abruptly.

@TrixieFaux, wait! What? Derby Dolls are no longer in Filipino Town? When did that happen? Oh and your daughter is so much more cooler than I will ever be!

So cool! She's probably a bit young for it, but there's a great kids graphic novel that just came out called "Roller Girl" about a girl who becomes obsessed with roller derby just as she gets to that age when best friends start to grow apart. I wish I'd done jr. derby growing up!

Hello fellow europian. Would you like to share your tattoos with us? im quite interested in what u got

@omeletta's lion just made my jaw drop. You have been getting some of the coolest tattoos!

@Boiled Dove = you'll have some good tattooists to choose from there :)

Thanks! I am madly in love with it and get this heart-smile whenever I look at it. - - - Updated - - - Thank you! Yes - I love that her fuzzy white belly is the rice. I was almost certain that he would use a shrimp for her orange coloration - it was such a match. - - - Updated - - - Thanks - yes, he did a wonderful job. I had described to Molly how sweet my kitty was, and Tomo put her in a halo. Wow. - - - Updated - - - Thanks! I am glad it finally happened. I had a screen shot of your Monmon and of you and furry Tomo on my phone but I forgot to show him! Rats.

Finally got to visit State of Grace and get my Molly Monmon Cat from Horitomo! He did an amazing job. Just spectacular. I sent several pictures of her and some descriptions of her favorite things, her personality and her character. She *loved* shrimp sushi and got an entire order for her 16th birthday, right before we lost her to cancer. Horitomo created a picture of her in heaven with a halo and surrounded by her favorite things - including that she is surrounded by catnip! The face is perfect. I gave him a decent size square footage and told him he could expand beyond the cat and add other elements. Her face is perfect. When he showed me the sketch, my eyes just teared up. It was neat to be tattooed on the platform in the shop. It is a little sanctuary with neat drawings, books and items on shelves. He is a quiet gentle soul. I tried tebori for the whites and I probably would not do it again. For many areas, I didn't even feel the first 4-5 pokes. It just felt like a shoving pressure but there was *no* pain. Then the last several shoves were painful. But around my hip was bad all around. I'm glad I did it, though. Crashing out now holed up in the hotel with mom. <3 <3 <3

Got this wicked draw-on zen spider from Jonny Murdoch from Government Street Tattoo (Victoria) who is in Edmonton for the week. Also this smug lil bumble bee too: the idea of which came to me in a dream 3 nights in a row...then i googled "angry bumble bee" and bam! clipart reference on the first hit. These toonie sized tatts are so much fun. Hooray for "recreational tattooing" lol. Jonny's hanging at Champion Tattoo, Shawn Hedley's new shop in town. Super dope shop, nice hospitality, guess they got a bunch of ringers guest spotting in the future...better leave some space ;) Great tattoo talk yesterday and I got to see a backpiece Filip Leu and Kurt Wiscombe tag teamed up close. Amazzzzzzzing

@hogg I think in these circumstances I am allowed to show off. @SStu Who are we kidding, by the time this kid is old enough to get tattoos they're going to be horribly out of fashion and he's going to be embarrassed by his dad who was tacky enough to get a large portion of his body covered in them. Until that point, however, I hope he views me as some kind of walking and talking story book.

@Graeme = now there's a baby picture the young fella won't be too embarrassed to show to some young girl a couple of decades from now . . .

Clever bird name! :D A year ago, I was out in the back yard with the dogs when I see a green parakeet land on the porch. The seed feeder was empty and he was looking for food. I managed to keep the dogs back when the chihuahua walks right up to it and the bird didn't fly off. I do the same and reach down. It hops on my hand! Obviously a hand fed pet that was released or escaped and will die outside, being so tame. I think the word has gotten out among animals that our house is a sanctuary (we have 5 adopted dogs and 3 cats). We bought him a female to keep him from getting lonely. He moved in on her right away, preening her face and playing Barry White records. Sadly, he no longer jumps on our hands and instead protects his woman.

@hogg That sounds okay, but I think I have you beat because I made this guy:

Ran a 5K.

it gets interesting when you go forearm which i did this summer onto both forearms - i wear short sleeves at work (school counselor at a primary school) and as i predicted the kids love them and the adults have a multitude of comments and questions which have mostly died down its funny as my overall coverage increases i get more comments and let me tell you it is quite a revealing experience in terms of the social skills defecits that many adults around me have i myself feel that i have quite good tact when speaking with others - understanding what topics or commentary are in good form or poor taste, etc - but those around me - wow "how much did that cost, how can you afford that?" "why would you do that to yourself?" "what do you think you'll look like when you're 80?" and of course "what does it mean, it must mean something?" but i have no regrets going below the elbow and i intend to add more :) its funny though - i'm telling my wife how so many times in conversations that peoples eyes dart around to my tattooed areas and how that feels weird - she said - "now you know what it's like to have cleavage"

Session 5, just another 3.5 hours, more detail and colour into the octopus...sitting @ 17.5 hours now so far.. Cheers all !

Second session with Kelly:

This was next to my step daughter's house in the very funky San Leon area, birthplace of the Bandidos MC. Mrs. T and I spoke with the other neighbors and realized that if we didn't do something, Marshall would continue to suffer and possible die if untreated (she's a nurse and I'm a retired firefighter/medic). It wasn't even a choice. This also keeps the step daughter out of the line of fire if the next door property/mule owner get pissed off since they will likely face a fine.

thank you for calling the SPCA

Granddaughter's 6th birthday party yesterday. We noticed that "Marshall" the mule next door was in distress. We found he had a 2 1/2" infected cut on his lower leg. The owners disappear for weeks at a time so we had to call the SPCA. The poor guy can barely walk and needs immediate medical care.

my brother got stationed locally and Lives down the block, Havnt really hung out with him in like 12 years. So I didnt do anything but still life dealt me a little awesome

Been getting my shit back together :) Back training just about everyday, eating clean. Fuck all drinking whiskey etc. Dropped close to 15kg. Oh, and motorcycles. Riding motorcycles of course :)

@Willhel All right! I think I'll try to couchsurf with this indian guy I know a bit out in the suburbs. Just got confirmed with Mike Rubendall by the way, super stoked!

I broke up with my girlfriend (or honestly: mostly she broke up with me) and then moved out of her 2 room central flat. Now I'm back into my friends' two stories, half-makeshift comune house, 30 minutes from the city by train. On the plus side I love this house, I like the neighbourhood and it's super great to live with four people again, two of them friends since roughly 10 years back. Live takes, and life gives.

I would say that technique aside I'd be really bummed if any of those were on me, but the truth is if you showed me your drawings I'd refuse to be tattooed by you so it's a moot point. @CultExciter offered you excellent advice above. Those people would be a lot better off with some simple Sailor Jerry flash because at least it would be drawn correctly. Trace classic flash. Take up drawing from life to understand how things work and go together. Always use reference. Traditional style should be about taking objects and distilling them down to their essence: look at Scott Sylvia's roses. They're simple but they fully capture the elegance and beauty of a rose. Work hard to draw like that.

Good for you for working it all out. To be quite honest, and I mean this in the nicest possible way, it looks like you're just starting to figure out some of the basics of drawing for tattoos. I'd spend some time tracing stuff. Seriously. That SJ rose you see on the wall. Trace it 100 times. That way you know it by heart. Repeat. On whatever subject matter you like. Nothing too big. Just things to get your understanding down. I would hesitate to do any of those as tattoos just yet. That whole crawl before you can walk thing. I started in the same place, and not too long ago at that. While I have a fine art background, learning to draw a panther, or oni, or rose, or swallow, or dragon, or whatever...it takes a lot of practice to do so correctly. I'm still figuring it all out...much like the rest of us.