Halloween! (part 2)

In the real spirit of Halloween, I am apparently cursed this whole week.

Maybe it's because Todd usually gets hit with the majority of hilariously bad luck, but since he's not here this week, it falls into my lap instead.
It's way funnier when it's happening to someone else, so please hurry back Todd.

I did do this Halloween themed tattoo today:



Tomorrow, Ann is hosting a scary movie night, and hopefully I can hand off my hex to one of the other attendees, and be done with it.

She responded earlier this week to the "Aircraft Safety Card" blog post by sending me a picture of one that caught her attention.
What is up with that purple tuxed out charachter?



I do hope that you all did better than I did for Halloween.
Meryl said we even ran out of candy for the trick-or-treaters early.
Man...

Halloween!

Oh my goodness.
Yesterday, Mischief Night, (which should be a National Holiday, but is pretty much just a East Coast thing, I guess) kicked my ass.

I had two customers cancel their appointments fifteen minutes before they were supposed to show up. A lot of sitting around was done after that.
Then, I went home and got served legal papers, saying that someone else held the rights to the title of our house, and that I had to go to court, or else.
What?
I know.

Pumpkin carving?
Not last night.
Getting together a costume for Halloween?
Nope.

However, when I woke up today and started trying to get answers and figure stuff out, things started getting better.
Turns out, there was a big mistake at some law firm, and a misplaced number made a big mess out of everything, and we're actually free of all legal action now, since it wasn't even our property that was ever in question.
Mischief indeed.

I was so distracted, though.
My Halloween kind of fell apart.
I'm not wearing a costume, or even the tie for "Not Casual Friday".

The good news today, though, is that the little dead squirrel's ghost is haunting our yard, and still chewing up the pumpkin.

Happy Halloween!

For Your Safety

Adam flies a lot.
Russia, Iceland, Hawaii, Japan.
141 nights this year (so far) all in the same kind of hotel.

When you spend that much time on a plane, you actually read (and get into) the "aircraft safety card".
Some people collect them.
After spending days looking for the perfect one, I can definitely appreciate whatever illustration subgenre they might fit into, and had a lot of fun on this tattoo.

Just burn away the cold.

I know, I know.
It's been a while.
Things have been kind of hectic lately.


But currently we have Adam in town from NYC, and we've been having a great time.
He's been here a few times or more, knows his way around town, and even showed me a couple dope spots.
We decided tonight that since it was a Monday night and only 35 degrees outside, we should probably invite a few of our mutual MPLS friends over for a fire, vegan cookies, apple cider, and dog bites.



It was only Friday night Steve told me he didn't believe me Shamira was a monster.
Monday night, he was convinced.



Dear dead little Squirrel,
Oh You,
Who until recently lightly nibbled on just one of my pumpkins daily,
Left nuts in my mailbox,
and taunted both my wife and my dog by hanging onto the window screens.
Was it was the upcoming winter,
or the fact that I removed the screens in Meryl's room and replaced them with storm windows?
I gave you a proper garbage can burial and know that Thursday,
which is pick up day,
you will go to a Squirrel Heaven of sorts.
There will be others, of course, but none quite like you.

Vasantham Central

Hello Everyone !!

Immortal Tattoos, Singapore will be featured on Vasantham Central on the 23rd October 2008 @ 10PM

This is the first ever appearance on the media (Locally) by Immortal Tattoos, Singapore.

Do check it out !!

And you can send me dead flowers every morning

October 7th I posted a sketch of dying flowers and mentioned how I wasn't exactly overwhelmed with dope projects lately.

Today, I did that very sketch on Camden as a tattoo, and I was almost overwhelmed by all the dope projects thrown at me.




We had some of Identity Tattoo's favorites walking through the door today, starting before we opened, and ending only well after we closed.
I did consultations and drawing-on sessions, tattoos and even a touch-up.

The timing was key.
I needed an influx of awesomeness today.
I was not in the mood for any awesome-sucking shit leeches.

FaceBook Group !!

Hello all !!

Immortal Tattoos, Singapore has now launched a group on Facebook.com

Do join in the fun !!

Click here : Immortal Tattoos, Singapore

Pumpkin. Pumpkin. Pumpkin

My sister snuck a picture of me walking off with a pumpkin from our outting on Sunday... I did a pumpkin sketch on Monday.... and I did a rotting pumpkin tattoo today.
Now, I don't know about tomorrow, but I have another pumpkin tattoo to do on Friday.

Wikipedia tells us that the "traditional American pumpkin is the Connecticut Field variety".
So good.

Two Hebranks, One State

My sister Kelly came out to Minnesota for a 3 day visit, and we packed it full of autumn-time fun.
On Sunday, we drove to Taylors falls, about an hour Northeast of the city. The colorfully dying leaves and amazingly warm temperature made for a perfect day trip.


There's not really any falls anymore, apparently.
There was a giant spinning root beer mug and a town library of roughly the same size.
We took a paddle steamer, Mark Twain style, down the St Croix a little ways, and then back.






We stopped at an apple orchard that had tasty apples, and very friendly goats.



We found this 15 acre lot that was full of pumpkins and a trailer parked out front that was letting you pick them. I'm still not convinced it was their pumpkins to sell. But we pulled a metal wagon into the lot and picked up some pumpkins for our house and Identity Tattoo.
At home we cooked up dinner and Meryl made two apple crisps from the days' spoils.

Some things never change at all...

Today as I left for work, I noticed the vines that cover my old fence really changed color in the past day or two.
And their leaves are falling off fast.
Two of them dropped just while I was standing there taking pictures.


Speaking of old, I went to go see "Overkill" tonight.
Not because I like eighties metal, but because my old boss from Turnpike Tattoo is on tour with them.
1980
That's when they formed as a band (and I formed as a fetus).


Here's me and Party Paul


In my head, there's a big pile of pretend things that I have almost no appreciation for, and metal is lumped up in there. Next to WWF wrestling, JRR Tolkien, and anything to do with Star Wars from the last 15 years.

At least with metal and wrestling, there's the understanding (for the most part) that the emperor is, in fact, naked. You can throw devil horns, play air guitar, and there's a sense of being ironical.
Everyone likes pretending they believe in Santa.

Filling up my Nights

The flower basket on my kitchen table dies a little more everyday.
I'm trying to keep up with the stages of withering.
Tonight I'll do another drawing, and I'll try to do one every night this week.
Saturday my sister comes, and I'll probably toss it in the compost then.

It seems that I've been more productive at night than during the day.
Tattooing is very reliant on other people, since they're supplying the skin.
There hasn't been very many big projects lately.
Or even medium sized ones.
The economy? Maybe.

Putting stickers up at night is a good idea.
Taking pictures at night, however, involves a flash, which usually ruins the photo, and makes you immediately the center of attention.
And when you're at a city bus stop at midnight and putting up stickers, calling attention to yourself is way less than ideal.
But I love this one:




Such an intimate shot of their conversation.
It's been a long day.
Hopefully they saved some lives.
What is there to say?
"I love dead birds."
The woman looks like she understands.

The art of digging up grass.

Sixty-five degrees outside today!
It was nice yesterday as well, so my weekend was pretty great.

I bought bulbs, trees, flowers, shrubs, and assorted plants.
And then today I spent the day outside putting them in the ground.

I also got in a fight with the gutter, and it's now aimed directly into the rain barrel.


The neighbor was leaving her house today while I was doing some gardening, and she asked what I was doing now.
"I'm saying, you had such a nice yard with healthy grass, but you're always out here, just digging it up."

I am going to make all the grass go away, although not before winter.
It's a big project, for sure.

So, my dear blog visitors, if you have any bulbs or cuttings of plants, or anything else you think I need in my yard, send them to me!

Tattoo Expo 09

The 2009 Biggest Tattoo Show on Earth in Las Vegas @ the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino!!

Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino

It's time again for Mario Barth's Starlight Tattoo's Biggest Tattoo Show on Earth, but this time pack your bags cause we are going to Las Vegas!!. We are working diligently to line up the hundreds of vendors and artists that will be attending this year; Competition, prizes, seminars and demonstrations. Our last show was a great success, with more than 400 artists attending.
The Biggest Tattoo Show on Earth is the premiere tattoo convention, showcasing the latest trends, fashions and techniques in the tattoo industry. Seminars and training as well as demonstrations will be scheduled, plus lots of music, food and fun for the entire family.

The show will be held October 2-4, 2009 in Las Vegas @ the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. Mark your calendar and make plans to attend the Biggest Tattoo Show on Earth. Weekend passes will be available. Vendors interested in attending this year should call 201-342-4446 to reserve a booth. Visit our website at www.starlighttattoolasvegas.com for current information, or email Rosetta Calascibett at rosetta@starlighttattoo.com for vendor packages.

If it weren't for the absurdity of it all....

This week was slow.
So slow.

I'm am going to make these two days off I have so dope it makes up for the pretty poopy week.

Speaking of poop, here's a #2 with moth wings and antennae that I did yesterday.