Long time....

Damn.
I think that's the longest stretch of not-blog-posting I've done in years.
See, my computer is in the guest room out here,
and we've had guests upon guests.
Piling up and spilling over.
Three weeks straight and counting.
So I've been doing all my computery things from my phone;
which is NOT the same thing,
and almost impossible to blog on.
But if you have Instagram, you've been seeing all kids of updates,
and even Facebook has been seeing some stuff.

But the guest room is almost empty,
and I'll be blogging it up once again.
For now, here's a progress photo of Korel's sleeve,
and a sample of my March "drawing-a-day" project,
Rot and a Ribbon.
This one is light on the "rot" aspect,
but I'm pretty sure if I got chicken fetus-juice in my bloodstream,
I'd chop my hand off.
I really am doing them every day,
but so far only for Instagram.
I can't help it, I love that thing.
Anyway.
I saw the Pacific Ocean again today,
and it was cold and rainy and grey,
and beautiful as ever.

More Peafowling

Korel came down to Grants Pass from Olympia, WA,
and we did some shading on her peacock sleeve.
We have three appointments planned in March, too,
and we're hoping to get pretty close to done with those.
We had started this back in November at Optic Nerve in PDX.
I'm super excited about it,
and thrilled she's able to travel all the way down here.
(6ish hours each way)
She read about Handsome Adam's visit,
and tried to out-awesome him by bringing us coffee and veggies and treats.

Good thing we're pros at having guests,
because Amy and Jaime arrive tonight.
They're taking the long(er) way down here,
so there's time to wash the bedsheets in between visitors,
and they get to see the sexy Oregon coastline.

Speaking of being social,
who else is on Instagram?
Come find me: @hebrank

A little bit of Portland.

After working/traveling/working 18 days in a row,

I was really looking forward to my first couple days off.

I was going to write this Portland blog post then,

but it was the worst weekend ever.

I should have just kept working.

No kidding, I even got into a minor car accident.

But don't worry,

I went back to work right away,

and pretended it didn't happen.

Anyway, Portland was awesome.

My people out there are the best.

I got to hang out with Elias and his housemates,

and it just so happened that everyone swung into town that week.

Optic Nerve Tattoo is a super great shop,

but almost everyone was on vacation or away while I was there.

(maybe they called my references)

A big thank you to them for hosting me.

Korel came down from Olympia to start her peahen/peacock tattoo.

We're sleeving her right arm,

and got the outline mostly taken care of the first day.

I had a few cancelations,
so when Summer came in Day 2 for her 41rst birthday tattoo,

I was happy to accommodate.

We drew on a big phoenix in sharpie,

changed the head,

and tattooed for a couple hours.

But, since I don't live nearby,

and a half-finished chest piece is hardly a way to celebrate,

Summer came back in the next day,

and we finished it up.

For reals, kids.

They don't make many this tough.

I did my best to incorporate all her other tattoos,

cleaned up parts, covered others.

Happy Birthday, Summer.

Portland is amazing,

once you see past some of the hipsterdom.

There's beautiful things and amazing people everywhere,

and a sign that says 'vegan' in every place you go.

I'm sure come January,

Meryl and I will be spending lots of time there,

and I know a little basement bedroom that's just perfect.

Thanks again to everyone that got tattooed,

showed me around,

gave me a ride,

and let me share their space.