All Settled In.

Meryl and I made it to Grants Pass, Oregon without any hitches.

I mean, it was a 3 day ordeal totaling some 36ish driving hours,

with a packed car, a dog in the backseat,

and a bike strapped to the back,

but we did eventually arrive at our new (though temporary) home.

It's definitely an amazing opportunity to be out here

and working at Jeff Gogue's shop.

Without anything else to do,

I am being brutally self-indulgent,

and filling all of my time with tattooing and art making.

At the studio I have an easel set up,

and can paint on any of my down time.

In town there's the Southern Oregon Art Academy,

and they have been kind enough to let me sit in on their figure drawing sessions.

So what used to be Naked Mondays will now be renamed Naked Tuesdays for the next few months.

I am happy to get back to drawing from life again.

Here's two 5 minute poses.

I am super grateful to Jeff, his family,

and the shop for making me feel so at home.

I couldn't be more excited to be here.

I plan on making the absolute most of this time,

and having lots to show for it.

And, of course,

I am avoiding the Minnesotan winter this year.

Awesome.

Last day of Fall (and Maple Grove).

Oh man.

I'm done with Identity Tattoo for a little while.

Don't expect to see me back there till April.

It's been an awesome 4.5 years,

and I look forward to more fun when I get back.

But for the next few months,

I'm very excited to be working out at Jeff Gogue's shop in Oregon.

My last day there was spent working on Manda's strange animal sleeve.

We colored in a lot of poppies around an antlered squirrel,

did some background,

and tried to tie everything together.

Up top is the (antlered) blue footed booby,

and the sheepgoat under that,

and then some squirrels playing in a poppy field.

(i didn't do the blue armband thing)

It was also Handsome Adam's last day,

and he's leaving for the west coast, too.

So after packing and cleaning up,

we smashed our coffee mugs and released a couple floating lanterns.

Adam's such a good dude,

and it's been a pleasure working with him for the past year.

So it's just Todd and Ben at the shop for a few months.

Do me a favor, and check up on them every once in a while.

Stop in and be loud for a minute,

just so they don't forget about me.

I'm afraid they might get soft while I'm away.

(i can almost hear Maple Grove collectively breathing a sigh of relief)

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...

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....

Too many words...

...no room for photos.



Plans.

I've made some serious plans for the rest of 2011,

and the first few months of 2012.

I'll start with the new year plans and work backward.



In January, Meryl and I will be headed West.

Back to Grants Pass, but this time we'll stay for 3 months!

We'll be living out there,

and I'll be working at GogueArt,

Jeff Gogue's tattoo shop and art gallery.

I'm beyond excited,

and I feel like the luckiest,

most fortunate tattoo artist in the world right now.

Jeff is such an amazing and inspiring person,

and I look forward to four months of growth in both tattooing and painting.

Obviously, I don't have a Grants Pass clientele,

so I might be doing some guest spots occasionally in Portland,

but otherwise, that's where you'll be able to find me.

Then, in April, we'll be moving back to Minneapolis.



So with that departure date in mind,

I have committed to only two (tattooing) travel plans for the rest of 2011.

In September (15th-18th) I'll be doing the Paradise Tattoo Gathering at Jiminy Peak in MA,

and in November (13th-16th) I'll be at Optic Nerve in Portland, OR.



I will also be doing a big tattoo project the first 11 days of November.

I'll be doing one 5 hour(ish) tattoo each day,

starting November 1rst,

and ending November 11th.

(11/11/11)

I'm almost done with the 11 drawings for that,

and will have them at the shop for viewing and booking soon.

If you already know you need one,

contact me for more details,

and to save your spot.

And then after November 11th,

I'm thinking of printing up a little art zine

with the drawings and finished tattoos in it.

.

.

.

Aside from all of that,

if you're working on some tattoo projects

(that you want finished before January),

come by Identity Tattoo and have Handsome Adam book a series of appointments.

The rest of August is booked,

and September is filling up, too.

And if you're unable to come into the shop to leave a deposit

(let's say you don't live in MN),

I can take paypal deposits now, too.

Just email me.



That's pretty much everything.

Minneapolis and both coasts,

tattooing and moving and all of that.

Pyrotechnics in Powderhorn

Man, it's been a minute since Painting Mondays were in effect.
But hopefully they are back on track, now,
after getting re-inspired out at Jeff Gogue's shop last week.
I started this one out there,
and finished(?) it this afternoon.
I used a photo that Meryl had texted me that morning as reference,
which you can see it on the "i love dead birds" blog here.
And if you're into that kind of thing,
check out Zadora's addition today.

Oil 8x8

















Some friends came over for a picnic style dinner tonight,
then we met up with our neighbors,
and walked across the street to the fireworks.
Powderhorn celebrates only the best holidays,
and Powderhorn Park is one of three spots to see fireworks in Minneapolis.
I love this neighborhood.

We brought a few blankets,
enough sparklers to share with everyone,
and had ourselves a time.
Meryl has a fancy new camera,
and snapped some shots of everything.


































I hope everyone had a super loud,
and bright bright bright 4th of July weekend.
Back to work tomorrow,
but it looks like a full week of fun on the books.
Some old awesome clients I haven't seen in a long time came out of hiding,
and new ones appeared out of nowhere.
(sounds so good to me)
I hope they're ready,
I just got filled up with lemonade and blackpowder.

Back in Grants Pass

Mountains, kids.
Grants Pass has got them, in abundance.
Minnesota is so flat,
it's nice having a whole new kind of horizon for a week.

This trip so far has been awesome,
Jeff and his family are the nicest ever,
And Meryl was here for the first half of the guest spot.
We got to do a little exploring,
And I even started a new tattoo on her.





































My old buddy Craig from Connecticut made a trip up to Grants Pass
(from San Diego!) to get some work done,
and we tattooed the heck out of his chest for over 6 hours.
He's super rad, and it was beyond flattering for him to take a plane and rent a car just to get a tattoo from me.
You can check him out here,
and beg him to send you some of his rad stickers he makes.

I'm here tonight and tomorrow night,
then driving back to Portland early Saturday morning.
The rental car company messed up,
so I'm driving a white Mustang this week.
I feel more than a little out of place rolling around town it in,
with the windows down and playing HoneyHoney.
(go get yourself their First Rodeo album)

Grants Pass isn't sure what to make of me.
I'm not sure what to make of me, even.

A Little Souvenir

I post the tattoos I do a couple times a week,
but rarely ever post tattoos that I get.
As I've been talking about all week,
I was super fortunate to guest spot with Jeff Gogue.
And the last day there, he had a cancellation,
so I jumped at the chance to get tattooed by him.
I wanted my whole front tattooed,
and he really put together some hotness for me.





































It was really the perfect ending to such an amazing week.
And a serious way to guarantee that I'll be headed to Grants Pass a few more times in the future.
I'm headed back to MPLS will a head full of ideas, inspiration, and gratitude.

It was such a great time,
I almost don't mind sleeping on a couch tonight in a business lounge at the Helena Airport.
All good things come to an end,
I was just hoping to end it in my own bed tonight,
and not in Montana.
Oh well.

No Pressure

I've been oil painting for a little while now,
but I kind of use oil paints just like acrylics that dry slowly.
No mediums, no varnishes.
Nothing that makes them look good.
(just like acrylics)

So I was a little nervous to paint with Jeff Gogue today.
Just him and me, from 9am to 7:30 pm.
But since he's the nicest dude ever,
he actually gave me a basic rundown on oil painting techniques.
And then did a super hot painting step by step to show me in real life.
My own little personal art instruction.
So dope.

I had stopped by a used bookstore on the way to work today,
and bought a couple books for the still life I was going to paint.
Then I ripped some of the pages out.
And put a human skull on top.
(yeah, it's real)
This is it all set up in the beginning stages:













Here it is a little later,
and a lot farther along,
but STILL NOT DONE:























I also worked on two other paintings
while this one was drying,
and I'm hoping to finish all three before I leave Saturday night.
We'll see.
I have an all day flaming birdhouse on a ribcage tomorrow,
and then a portrait of Elias' stuffed animal on Saturday.
So I'll have to get to the shop earlier than early both those days
to get some extra painting time in.

But the best part of today was getting to see Jeff work.
He started 4 paintings from scratch,
and brought them each to near completion.
He's a machine,
and I'm forced to re-evaluate what I used to think of as "productive".

Days like this are priceless.
Now it's off to bed.
6 hours of sleeptime scheduled,
then back to the shop.
Goodnight.

out of this nettle, danger, we grasp this flower, safety

My days out here in Grants Pass are way different than back home.
I start walking to the shop at 8:40 am.
Today was the first time I've been outside when it hasn't been raining,
so I took some photos along the way.
Moss grows everywhere out here,
and makes for some interesting compositions.















I get to the shop by 9am,
and it opens at 10.
When I got there this morning,
Jeff was putting the finishing touches on his latest painting,
and then took it outside to photograph.













My good friend Johnny drove down from Eugene today,
and he got "Buddy Tattoos" of stinging nettle plants with his pal Ashley.
So I did two of these today,
and worked till 8 something.

Johnny's such a riot,
and we all had a lot of fun.
(except maybe Jeff,
since I kept making his client laugh with my dumb stories,
and that doesn't make tattooing a bazillion dragon scales any easier)























Tomorrow's a painting day,
and I'm super excited for it.
Hopefully I'll have something to show tomorrow night.

New Orleans, Part 2 (ish)

I know, it's been a little bit since NOLA.
But when Meryl and I lost the camera,
we lost some of the photos from the trip as well.
Luckily this tattoo was on Erica Flannes,
a rad tattoo artist in New Orleans,
and she was kind enough to send me a photo.

I added another guest spot to the travel plans section.

I'll be headed West this time.

I'll be in Grant's Pass, Oregon from February 14-19th,

and am starting to book up now.

It's actually an amazing opportunity that fell into my lap-

thanks to Off the Map's Mary Bowen.

(in case you didn't know, she's the best ever)

Gogue Art and Tattoo, Jeff Gogue's studio,

has kindly offered to have me guest spot there for the week,

and I couldn't possibly be more excited.

(he's so dope)

6 hours South of Olympia, and 4.5 from Portland.