Unfinished Business.

This tattoo was supposed to be an all-dayer,
but that didn't happen.
Tattoos hurt, kids.
Problem is, Eric-Pete lives everywhere but Minnesota,
so we're hoping, hoping, hoping we figure out a way to finish it up before 2012.
Maybe Portland in November?
Or MN in December?
Otherwise it's Grants Pass, Oregon from January to April.

Anyway, it's a raven choking out an owl.
No kidding.
His idea, and we were all a little jealous.
I wish I finished, and had the whole thing to post,
but just a little peek for now....





















I did tons of painting all weekend,
and I'll have plenty to post soon.
Two different shows are happening in October that I have pieces in,
one here in MPLS,
and one in Connecticut.
Busy work weeks,
and busier weekends.
Don't forget to enjoy the outside,
it'll be winter before we know it.

Think of a place I would go...

Finished this hawk tattoo up yesterday.
It was a pretty big project,
and done in two sessions with only two weeks in between.
I had a lot of fun doing it,
and learned a few things, too.
(mainly, don't take photos of your tattoos
against a tie-dye shirt background)






















....I'm daydreaming.
If I'm not at home here in the Louderhorn Inn,
Maynard House in Northampton is the next best thing.
And I've never wanted to be there so much as I did last night.
A DarkDarkDark sleepover party?
Damn.
I am one jealous dude.
I know it went well,
because Amy is the best.
It's good to have rad friends.

Ball Bashtabula

I had this lovely post all typed out about my little detour to Ashtabula, OH,
to visit FX Tattoos, the Tubbs Family,
and to see the Ashtabula Lighthouse.
But Miss Mandi dropped a little comment on my blog before I published it,
so I erased it and decided to dedicate this to her, instead.
Mandi is the biggest ball buster in all of Ohio.
For real.
I'm no match for her abilities.
And she takes it to amazing lengths.
She keeps trying to get me to go out there and tattoo her,
but ever time I do,
she gets pregnant just to mess with me.
(pregnant women shouldn't get tattoos,
for any of those who didn't know)
So I still haven't tattooed her,
and she's working on her fourth kid.
ha.

















Here's Jr on the beach with me,
trying to find some "sea" glass.
It's amazing being on the great lakes,
because they seem just like an ocean,
but they are missing that salt water smell.
They still do have some top notch lighthouses, though.

The guys of FX Tattoos are super rad,
and I was given a sexy deer skull gift when I arrived.
I tried to tie it to the grill of my Yaris,
but it had to ride shotgun to MA instead.

I DID get a photo of me with my likeness on Dustin's leg.
(the portrait tattoo of me that JR did to win the Antler/Crutch War of 2008)
Yup, that's me, with antlers,
a Dr Pepper can (a little outdated, eh?),
some acorns/leaves,
and a banner that says "shawnhebrank.com".
I'm not sure why he's grabbing his balls in the photo.
I think over the years he's developed a fetish or something,
since every time his wiener is out,
my face is right there, too.
Yeah, I know, gross.
How do you think I feel?
I'm invited to every party in Dustin's pants,
and attendance is mandatory.






















All joking aside,
the Tubbs are an amazing family,
with wonderful kids,
and super sweet friends.
(except Dustin, he is actually a sexual deviant)
And it's nice knowing that I can make JR have another daughter whenever I want,
just by promising to visit.
And since it's always fun,
I'll plan on visiting every nine months or so.

I don't even exercise.

As Josh and I were working on his lion/deadbird tattoo,
he said I could do whatever I wanted with the rest of his arm.
No kidding.
I've had a few of those offers lately,
and I couldn't be more flattered.
(but sometimes it feels like:
"Oh good, my way. Thank you Vizzini... Which way's my way?")

So this is what got started on today;
an elephant shooting fire from it's trunk.
And flowers, of course,
though most of those are tucked under his arm.

It was a lot of outlining,
and since the next appointment isn't for a whole month,
I wanted to share the progress.
Click the photo to enlarge.

Welcome to Paradise

I'd never been to the Paradise Tattoo Gathering before,
but this year I was convinced to go,
and it turned out a million times better than I expected.
It's way different than other conventions;
there's less public,
and it's mostly just filled with tattoo artists, aspiring tattoo artists,
and serious tattoo collectors.
There's seminars/panels all day every day on painting, tattooing, taxes, etc.
It's pretty nuts.
I took a Shawn Barber painting seminar,
met a bunch of awesome people,
did a few fun tattoos, etc.
But there were two things about the weekend that topped it all.
Amy and Jamie came out from Northampton to stay with me for the weekend,
and I got to share a double booth with Jeff Gogue, Mick Squires (of Australia), and Horien (of Japan).

I think the Amy and Jamie hangout time made everything so much better.
They brought batches of homemade vegan cookies,
and boxes of vegan chocolates.
They brought smiles, hugs, and laughs.
They are two of the best people I've ever met,
and I couldn't have been happier that they weekended with me.
They got along with everyone,
are brutally helpful,
and took a ton of wonderful photos for me.

Sharing a booth with Jeff Gogue and friends was pretty amazing.
Jeff was the keynote speaker of the convention,
and all of his art was on all of the promotional materials.
He is kind of the entire face of Paradise.
He is also one of the most inspiring people I have ever met,
and it was a huge honor to have been included in that booth.
Usually I come away from tattoo conventions with no voice,
tired, cranky, etc,
but this time I left hungrier than ever,
and full of drive.
I'm somehow even more excited to go out to Oregon in January for the extended guest spot.































I did two new tattoos during the convention.
This big leg addition is on Scout,
a fantastic artist and tattoo apprentice in Northampton, MA.
She already had the mermaid,
but we added some fish morphing into birds going up her leg.
We got all the black and grey work taken care of,
and next time we'll do the color.
She sat like a champ,
and a lot of fun to talk to.






















Todd H came and got tattooed,
and it was fun hanging out with him, too.
(as always)
He got a memorial tattoo for his friend I once met while tattooing him.
She died last year, and he wanted a piece based on her nickname,
"stubborn jungle man bad guy".
That's certainly the right way to remember the good times.

Thanks to everyone who helped made it a fantastic weekend,
especially the people at Off the Map/TattooNow who put it all on.
And for Miss Mary Bowen,
since she always looks out for me extra special...

Thumbs Up!

Miss Burgess and Jay filled the latter part of my Not-Casual-Friday
with matching "thumbs up" tattoos.
And banners reading "Yes, Please".
And to be honest,
I don't think I caught the whole story.
(but I think it's a little dirty)
Who knows?
We were too busy laughing too loudly to worry about backstory.
So make up your own questions to pose to Katie's ribs.

Taking Bill Murray to the beach...

This is kind of like a healed photo, right?
I'm promised more, bigger, better ones,
but i'll take what I can get.

What do I have to do to get 8 more people "following" this blog?
Contests/giveaways?
More photos of tattooed women on the beach?
Let me know,
and i'm on it.
I've been fixated on hitting 100 for a while now.
I don't even care if you read it ever again,
but that nice solid number is taunting me.

I am tattooing Miss Burgess again at Identity Tattoo today.
yup.
Cover your ears, kids,
the cackling will be deafening.
We can't help it.
There's a few people who bring out the best
(worst? loudest?)
in me,
and she's one of them.
I hope everyone else in the shop was bad last night,
because they're about to be punished.

Tested.

Really.
And with Blake as my witness, I stood my ground.
Not 13 hours after making the new rule concerning MN pride tattoos,
a very nice young lady came into the shop,
asking for me specifically,
and wanting a "minneapolis skyline tramp stamp".
But she'd only been to 5 states other than MN,
(not the now mandatory 10)
so I passed her off to Ben.
Rules are rules,
even if the ink that penned them isn't even dry yet.

Blake was getting a start on his new Halloween half-sleeve,
a zombie scarecrow thing on his outer forearm.
I'm excited about the whole project,
we mapped it all out,
and got some of it outlined and shaded.
Here's the in-progress outline:






















I can't believe I leave so soon for the east coast
Tuesday I'll be getting in the car,
and driving insane amounts.
The first leg is 812 miles to Ashtabula, OH.
I'm stopping at FX Tattoos for some high fives and butt slaps,
and then driving the rest of the way wednesday.
I'm not even close to ready or prepared,
and more than a little bit stressed out,
but my good friend Amy Briggs will be there,
(with vegan cookies!)
so I know it'll all be ok.

I'm tattooing AND getting tattooed
while at the Paradise Tattoo Convention.
Jeff Gogue will be working on my big front piece on Friday.
If you're around, come visit.
I'll be mostly naked and crying,
and there will be a couple hundred people trying to watch.
I know, sounds like so much fun....

Land of 11,842 lakes.

Yeah, someone counted.

A start to a MN pride leg sleeve.
Big love for the sota, none of that mini shit.
And it's his first tattoo.
Ankle to upper thigh.
No kidding.
AND he's been to almost 30 states, so he can pick favorites.






















You know what drives me nuts?
The dudes who come in to get a little state outline,
and tell me how dope Minnesota is,
and how it's the best state,
and all of that.
Dudes, you don't have to convince me,
I moved here.
From some other state.
You were born here and have visited only South Dakota and Wisconsin.
(Duluth doesn't count as a separate state)

I'm enacting a new policy, right now.
You have to have been to at least ten states
in order to get a "MN Pride Tattoo".
(and I'm leaning toward only counting the Dakotas as one)
Even if (especially if?) it's only a little state outline.
And 15 states if you want it behind your ear.
Trust me, it's for your own good.
Some day, you'll visit Chicago,
(or somewhere REALLY crazy, like New York)
and your whole world will be blown.

Anyway, Cody's leg sleeve has it all,
except for Prince.
I thought he'd fit in perfectly riding the wolf,
especially if we were doing it in color,
and could use lots of 80's purple.
But black and grey is is,
so Prince was out.
Oh well.
I'm still having fun.

"This is the light that shines..

...and I can see the pines are dancing."

Handsome Adam got his full birthday present now,
since I spent part of my day off tattooing his second hand.
He got the moth almost a week ago,
and we finished it all up today with the mason jar lantern on his left hand.
(the left side of the jar isn't warped in real life, just in the photo)






















The strangest part of it all
(other than knowingly f'n up your friend's future)
was trying to work with what he already had.
Mr Todd Lambright had done both of Adam's existing sleeves,
and uses really saturated, vibrant colors
(and I usually do the complete opposite).
But we had to blend it all together,
so this lantern tattoo has a red background,
and the moth has a blue one to match what was already there.
Here's his naked hands to show where we started from.


















A few people turned me on to A.A. Bondy this week,
so here I am passing on the favor.
He'll be in town November 5th at the 7th St Entry.
I'll be doing one of my "elevens" tattoos that day,
but be sure I'll be attending this that evening.

A How To:*

How to Piss Off or Win Over your tattoo artist.



There's few things more infuriating than 'no call, no shows' at work,

especially when it's a full day appointment,

and I've done all the drawing for it ahead of time,

AND they confirm the day before the appointment that they are,

in fact, coming in.

It makes me go bananas.



But before I gave in to my homicidal urges,

Handsome Adam used his good hand to call Ms Broccoli Stegosaurus,

and see if she wanted to come in a few days early.

And did she?

yup.

Crisis(es) adverted.



I couldn't be any more excited about this moth-eaten hand-fan chest piece.

And now she's been added to my "favorite clients" list

for her willingness to not only get a tattoo I've been dying to do for a while,

but also to get into the tattoo chair at a moments notice.



She isn't exactly fond of her tattoo shop nickname,

(and that's usually set in stone)

but if anyone has earned the right to get a new one, it's her.

So, maybe by the time we show off the finished product,

we'll be referring to her by something else.

Something she believes suits her a little better.

We'll see.

* This post has been slightly reworded due to the misuse of specific terminology

that was misleading, wrong, and offensive.

For a more accurate definitions about list removal,

please go here.