studious

turns out im moving to victoria for keeps. super stoked to return to the city on these terms, with my fiance, career, etc.. i feel like i left on such a shit note years ago. theres no doubt ill miss Courtenay and black rose lots, but this is one of those "opportunities" ive always heard about, you know the risky ones that if you dont do you regret for the rest of your life. its a huge trade off, and ill need to build a clientele in the new shop. reservations aside i know the gravity of this shop placement, and i couldnt be happier or more excited. looking for a place with my girl is going well, aside from being 3 hours away. i have every confidence things will not only work well, but end up being fucking awesome in no time at all. all this shit going on, and im tattooing my face off, being busy trying to square away large or in progress pieces, tattoo my regulars, and fit in lots of walk in's. beside that ive been trying to paint a lot, learn a lot i should say in watercolors. i wont say i think im getting too good a feel for them yet, but so fun a medium to use. im going through a big period of being very inspired by Swedish/eastern European tattoos/imagery. anyway, im off for now. ill post a link to the shop i will be moving to(im sure ive mentioned it before on here lately, the fucking sterling Government St. Tattoo of victoria)

russian originals photstream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcruelty/3289488218/sizes/l/in/photostream/

a few of the original pages of this encyclopedia are in this link. im unsure now of how do make a more direct link, ill figure it out

day in

under the weather today, going to try to use the time to paint. get at least something worthwhile done today. been re-working images from the russian tattoo encyclopedia, and watercoloring them. im super fascinated with these images and thier symbology. they can be funny, crude, and creative, but more often than not, they are wildly offensive. ill attach some links to originals, and then maybe even some of my re works of them. anyone interested should look for a documentary called "mark of caine"

new friends

to all my new friends! love yall!
also, savvy and me entered her leg in a tattoo competition (small colour) anyway didnt win, whatevs... so cool to have her up there showing her thang. love her crazily, so proud/lucky/happy

i aint even done yet

victorious convention

im back! victoria was a fucking blast, thanks to all our friends and rad clients i met and tattood along the way. the convention was BANANAS, way busier then i or anyone reckoned, and super fun with a hilarious victorian eclectic crowd. tattood my balls off, networked, generally did my best to kill it. got an awesome sign painted by the super talented and rad chris dobell, on way short notice to boot. tattooing in a convention is a veritable meat market, and everyone goes a little tattoo-crazy. its not for everyone certainly, but i fucking love it. really contagious vibes i think. my homie jonny murdoch and i (who shared a 40 foot long giant ass both) made a good combination i think, with him doing working almost consistently on big custom pieces, and me smashing out flash, lettering, and my hybrid mix of bowery-ish kinda colorful funny shit that i love. my lovely girl savvy and our mutual super-homie rude girl KILLED the front end of the booth, taking appointments, cash, business, and everything else that could possibly be killed. that literally made the convention for me, thanks again gals. also, big ups to nomi chi @ the fall tattooing who did some super neat tattoos on the both of em. my dude ryan gagne blessed a couple people with his ultra bold style traditional tattoos, and it was a blast showing him and his wife around in the short time he wasnt working his ass off. hes a machine that guy.
i return with a head full of ideas and creativity, with a renewed and rejuvenated drive to tattoo even harder and better than ever. i love my job and i feel so lucky to get to tattoo people. its the biggest honor i can imagine and im grateful. awhile ago, a man i look up to greatly, and in my mind is the archetype of a O.G. tattoo artist told me, "if you be good to tattooing, tattooing will be good to you".
this couldnt be truer, and i when i give apply myself to it, completely, i see the benefits more and more. anyway enough waxing poetic, im blogging it out too much over here.
gotta keep painting, tattooing, creating, got alot to do.
ill be doing a guestspot at government st. tattooing in victoria in the summer. fuck im beside myself with happiness, honor, and humility. im stoked ive been invited and realize the richness of the learning in my experience there.
im out!

rose tattoo from yesterday

big one on my lovely fiances thigh.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LONG ASS WEEKKEND

god im blowing it lately on the posting, ive been tattooin and painting like a madmen this week. tattood my girl tonight, a super fun, super colorful rose on her thigh. ill get pics up tomorow. for now here is some graff stuff thats been going on.
also getting ready for the convention in victoria, lots to do, getting stoked.
conventions are bananas usually to both tattoo in, and even be a looky-loo. ill be documenting as much as i can for the blog smash.

maaad decent

http://www.maddecent.com

ANOTHER SPACE JAM

me and my homie OPEN opend up another wall at the old mill. great day painting, helped by my score of thrift-store cassettes to keep the jams pumpin. birds chirped, classical music played, and i pretended i was artsy.
artsy or fartsy, i feel like OPEN fully burned me with those hands