Connecticut. Short and Sweet.

I haven't painted with acrylics in a long time,
but as my last post mentioned,
I had a little extra time in MD than planned,
and cheap paint from the craft store.
Jay and Tina had bought a new house this summer,
and had asked me to do a painting for them/it.
That was way back in July.
I knew I'd be headed over there for poker night this week
(and coming empty handed isn't cool).
It's a super nice house.






















We really didn't have much time in CT,
(only three nights),
and now we're headed to Providence for New Years.
While we were here,
Meryl's Mom took us out snowshoeing,
(my first time)
and we went to the farm, too.
It went fast, but it was really nice.
Thanks, Connecticut.
See you again, sometime.

SLEIGHT OF HAND SKATEBOARDS - KNOX GODOY

SLEIGHT OF HAND SKATEBOARDS -

Started by Knox Godoy... LAUNCHING SOON so, get ready. For information; www.thesohseries.blogspot.com

THE WAY THINGS ARE DONE

Mark's preliminary drawings are unreal... but as tattoos, they are insanely and infinitely better.

It's hard to believe that there are clients that come in and actually say, "So, when I come down for my appointment, are you just gonna tattoo it without a drawing or will you draw something first?" REALLY!?

The bottom line is... tattooing is not a game of chance and it should never ever be. We don't put the needle in until the client ok's the image and the placement of the image. Preliminary drawings are usually done in most cases. The ones you see in this blog are just some examples. You will see black line, and some blue pencil.

Look how good these are, and they are only the lines... when they are color pieces or shaded pieces, they will look a million times better. Look how awesome these are already!

Aron has a good collection of prelims on the go.. sleeves, backs.. large pieces.

Drawings never show how the tattoo will actually look finished because it's impossible to get the same smoothness or textures when drawing with a pencil as you would tattooing on skin with sharp needle groupings which have way more versatility than a graphite pencil or colored pencil wearing down on a textured white piece of paper.

Sasha stashes all her drawings... only found a few on her work area. Great sh*t. Look at the giant t*ts on the warrior woman.. hot.

When it comes to specific images, stencils have to be used. If a client asks for a portrait, or a logo... it would be silly for ANY artist to try and draw their rendition of that image, freehand. That's why, when portraits or logos come in, we ask for clients to bring us laser copies of their images so we can trace over them on stencil paper to get all the subtle shades, lines, eyelashes... lip texture, wrinkles, shades in the eyes as well as highlights and not miss a thing.

It would suck to have a portrait of your loved one end up with crooked eyes! There is a scientific and and specific technique to achieving perfect portraits, it's never a crap shoot at the Funhouse.

Juan's mirror is covered with blanket of drawings!

Whether we draw on paper, or whether we draw directly on the skin with a pen, the results are always unbelievable. Everyone here is an incredible artist. So versatile and so accommodating. We still say "there is nothing we can't tattoo!"

Snowed Out.

It didn't snow much where my folks live in Maryland.
However, it snowed like crazy everywhere else on the East Coast,
so Meryl and I got stuck here for a few extra days.
We do like it here,
but when you make travel plans like us,
there's not an hour to spare (let alone 2 extra days).
We got places to go,
but no way to get there.
Megabus canceled our trip,
the airports all shut down,
and Budget rental car in Baltimore was sold out.
So it's some extra lounging around the house time for us.
I didn't know how to relax this hard,
so I went to an art store and bought some paint and brushes.

Xmas.
My family does gift giving so well.
Better than me, usually.
Every time I try to step up my game,
the've already wrapped up some extra hottness.
I got some really unique gifts this year.
How about the hottest pillow ever?
Yeah, my sister had that made for me,
and was told it was the weirdest request ever.
Dead Birds Are Sexy.
Merry Christmas.

Anthropomorphism is the Cat's Meow.

A blue point siamese cat, knitting.
I'd never seen this breed before,
and it was pretty weird to try and get right.
And since it was the client's pet cat,
it was even more specific than just any blue point siamese.
Muted colors and animals wearing clothes?
It was my kind of Saturday.

Wrapping up the year.

Only 3 more work days before I head East,
and after a bunch of family visiting,
I'll end up at Off the Map Tattoo the first week of January.
I'm booked to do so many awesome tattoo ideas while I'm there,
and I couldn't be more excited.

I colored in Adam M's alligator tattoo yesterday,
and luckily the shop was closing right as we were wrapping that part up,
so I didn't have to figure out what to do with the background/waves yet.
(phew)
I mashed two photos together to show off the whole thing
(and it also helps look more like a thigh now)
since it wraps around quite a bit.

Juniper berries.

Nice and cute for some ribs.
Her first color tattoo, even,
after quite a lot of black and grey work.
I think I could do animal and plant tattoos exclusively,
and never want for anything else.

Too much to handle.

I had an extra day off yesterday,
and I didn't even want it.
I couldn't even get my car out of the back alleyway.
All the news headlines sounded like extreme adult film titles.
20 Inches of Madness

And that's not even the scary part.
The worst is that the fence that holds back
Powderhorn's most vicious dog is no longer there.
I mean, I'm sure it's there, somewhere,
but i haven't seen it.
Shamira is no longer fenced in,
and free to bite any passerbys she wants.
(the good news is that anyone passing by right now
has two layers of pants under their snow pants,
so they might not even feel it)






















I've never worked harder and been more tired on my weekend before.
But tomorrow we've got a personal tour of some gross science-y stuff.
Flesh eating beetles, and that kind of thing.
So tonight we'll probably just settle for a quiet evening,
maybe a movie.
(just not that kind)

Losing Track

I keep getting surprised by how late in the day/month/year it is.
My bedtime keeps getting pushed later and later,
but I keep waking up at the same time.
And it keeps getting colder.
6 degrees Fahrenheit right now.
It makes you want to not leave the house.
(tomorrow will be an exception,
since Dark Dark Dark is back in town to play a show)

The dead bird painting is finished, dry, and photographed.
I've been working on a few other dead bird paintings lately,
but more still-lifey,
and not just floating deadness.






















I had a ton of fun working on this tattoo today.
"A pickle in a wheelchair. Hot rod flames."
There wasn't any big story to go along with it,
other than the client is friends with Chef Ryan.
The pickle is it's own story, I guess.

Busy Birdhouse Building

Never Quiet Never Soft has an art show in the works.
(I think I've hinted at it before)
It's going to be big.
I'm hard at work on it right now,
and it's not even happening till March.
I went to Ryan's today,
where we got to work on some power sawing,
staple shooting, and gorilla glueing.
Sawdust was in the air, and we set off multiple fire alarms.

It would have been a manly scene for sure,
but I'm super jumpy little baby when using the pneumatic staple gun.
That, and we were there to make birdhouses.
Big thanks to Ryan for all his help
(as always),
and for letting NQNS take over his basement for the next couple months.
I'm not sure he knows that's the plan,
but it's cool, I didn't just spill the beans.
He doesn't have internet in his new place yet.

Saturday I tattooed my butt off,
and one of the things I worked on was finishing this owl tattoo.
It's one of those awkward half healed, half fresh tattoo photos,

but I'll do that 'hoping for a better shot later' while I post this version.

I'm not sure where my weekend went,

but it's back to work tomorrow.

Well, tattoo shop work.

(every weekend is going to be a working weekend for a while....)