Seven of the Elevens.

Oh man.

What a weird little project I'm in the middle of.

Today was the hardest day to fill.

I don't know if the rat (above) wasn't much of a crowd pleaser,

but no one wanted Monday, either.

Marshall was all set to stay a couple days later than planned,

and grab the rat right before he moved to New Orleans,

but then plans changed back,

and the rat was a free agent again.

So it looked like Handsome Adam was going to get one against his will,

(just kidding, he was brave and willing)

but then last minute Alleeshia said she'd take it,

but wasn't into the rat.

Somehow it turned into a dead bunny,

and since it was upside-down,

the candle went right-side-up.

And then grape vines and grapes happened.

(I don't know)

I do know that I enjoyed doing another mostly black and grey tattoo

with certain parts in color.

(kind of like this one)

I loved working on this piece,

and Alleeshia sat so well for the first 4 hours.

The 5th hour was a little iffy,

and everything past that I feared for my safety.

No kidding.

But aside from the death threats,

she was awesome,

and she even wore her NQNS shirt to the appointment.

I worked through my weekend,

but tomorrow it's back to working with the rest of the crew.

And Austin is coming in for the Japanese ghost thing.

Awesome.

Day 3 of the 11s.

This turtle/firefly tattoo was number 3 of the series,

and I believe is the only one of the 11 taken by a brand new client.

It's also the only drawing with another animal as the light source.

Chandos sat like a rock for 6ish hours,

and I couldn't have asked for a smoother session.

We made very few changes from the posted sketch to the final product:

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.

Headed West

I did this black and grey tree tattoo in December,
right before I headed out to my East Coast trip
(and Off the Map Tattoo guest spot).
And then we added to it yesterday,
right before I head to my Gogue Art guest spot.
We didn't finish, but I was happy with the progress,
and wanted to post.
And it's a good way to show
what a black and grey tattoo looks like healed vs fresh.






















In this abandoned shed addition,
you can see the little bit of tree in the bottom right.
We have a bunch more to do,
especially with all of the sky, horizon, clouds,
and we'll likely finish it off in March.






















Right now I'm headed off to the airport.
Next stop, Portlandia.