Leaderboard

(Pardon my overly enthusiastic post but I've just recently started getting tattooed, and I've never been tattooed at a convention - this is all pretty new to me so I'm gushing a bit!) Not great pics, and no good clear ones of the tat yet, but am SO STOKED (and still a bit wonky) from my epic day yesterday with Darcy Nutt at the Richmond VA Tattoo Arts Convention. We emailed about ideas beforehand, but she decided not to draw anything up, wanting to meet me first and collaborate on something after we spoke in person. She had no other appointments, so my simple Japanese koi idea turned into my own freshwater angel fish from pics off my phone, and my beloved peonies. She freehanded it onto my arm, and including that part of it and one potty break, it was 6 hours in the chair. That is why I look a bit cross-eyed strung out by the last pic! I ate an omelet at 9 am and hubby tried to get me to eat along the way, but I could not do it - endorphins from pain suppress the appetite, I guess. I tried to stay hydrated, though, and found my happy place. It is all about breathing. I knew I'd be leaving with something wonderful that I'd enjoy forever, and it would be worth it. She won Tattoo of the Day (I guess I won too, but I didn't do anything but sit there), and that was pretty sweet! She finished at 9:25, the contest was at 9:30, and the pic was taken at about 10, at which point I didn't know my own name, lol. That is definitely a long session, I don't care who you are, but I had an opportunity that was not to be passed up, and Darcy is a genius. When I went up to the judges, they looked at each other, shaking their heads and grinning as they all exclaimed, "Fuckin' Darcy..." cuz they KNEW this tattoo was going to win, lol. Anybody who has the chance to get some work done by this sweet, wonderful, brilliant lady you should definitely do it. She made this design up on the fly, without ever having done this type of fish before. I'll post pics when I get the ones done by the photographer at the show, or the ones she'll post on her IG, showing the fish better towards the back of my arm. From Darcy's IG: https://www.instagram.com/p/-ZQEJVMdTl/

Time for color!!

Kore posted a picture so I thought I'd share it here Shou from 36 Ghost by Horiyoshi3 Made by Kore Flatmo About 30 hours so far

3 cats (1 monmon, 1 tiger, 1 small black silhouette) Come to think of it, yep, I need more cats. You probably need more owls. I have an owl too, btw! Just 1 though.

Redemption Tattoo in Cambridge MA.

I saw this piece by Mike Rubendall a few days ago and every time I see it it still floors me. I think the thing that catches me is the head of that snake. The purple is crazy...

First session from my long and humbling journey with Horitomo, in August. Ignorantly assumed that I'd be able to schedule within 90 days and was sadly mistaken. Won't have my next appointment until July. It's probably for the better, I needed to pump the brakes.

I believe so!

I miss you, LST! I have been busy not getting tattoos and instead getting/recovering from hip surgery on Nov. 9th (it went reaaaaally well and I am ditching the crutches and brace tomorrow, already!), and I can't wait to catch up on seeing what everybody's been getting. Now that the hip ordeal is over with, I get to look forward to a Dec. 16th consultation in Portland for my back. ^^

Both looking dope. Thumbs up!

4 fish 2 octopus 2 frogs 2 roses 2 lamps (lava and leg) ;)

The commuter rail goes to Plymouth, but I'm not sure where the shop is in relation to the station. You may need to take a cab once you get there.

pretty excited to have booked appointments for my GF and myself to have quite a bit of chair time with Freddy Corbin. This dude is such a standup guy. He answers my email, calls, etc... within hours. I have messaged many of the harder to schedule artist and have never heard from them in 2 years. Living in Portland, I am hoping to make one trip from Portland to Oakland, then going to my hometown and having Tim Hendricks due a piece all in the same weekend. But for now, Freddy is a lock.

Old left knee and new right knee from Chad Koeplinger. If feels good to finally have this shit out of the way.

sometime in december a traditional gipsy head by Mikael De Poissy, next february last session for my pharaohs' horses with Alix Ge and a week later my second (and last) knee with Valerie Vargas!

Im in the process of restoring this footage- originally shot on 8mm film in the 1970s, converted to VHS in the 80s where this rip comes from. Doing me best to color correct it, but the VHS is suffering digital rot. Shot at Ken Myers Kissimmee shop.

got this dietzel-birdie last week from the nice dude johann. https://instagram.com/sign_of_the_wolf/ healed - not settled.

Three days until I get the WW2 bomber pinup gal on my outer calf by a local artist, Waylon Hart (Chariot Tattoo). I haven't seen the artwork yet, but he'll be creating something loosely based on this:

I have not been able to post in the upcoming tattoo thread in a while. But thankfully in a couple weeks my dude Dave Regan will be adding onto my arm. I'm super pumped.

Jeff Zuck

Each first time I see this Jeff Srsic snake & peonies back piece, my jaw stays dropped.

Speaking of Gordon Combs...

I can't explain why this one had such an impact, but it really struck me. By Troy Trujillo

I'm a sucker for a well-executed munewari, and no one does them better than Horitoshi: And my jaw hits the floor pretty much every time Brian Kaneko posts anything. Example: Same goes for Drew Flores. The head he's working on is also a nice reminder that tattoos can still be shocking:

This O'Donnell back piece is still mind blowing in my eyes

I have the same feeling about any large piece by Calle at King Carlos tattoo in Stockholm. I mean, this is an inhuman level of talent: https://instagram.com/p/5mXWDoGJww/