Five hours of flowers.

Liz and family were in Oregon to celebrate her grandmother's 90th birthday,
but they took a tiny detour to get some tattoo work first.
We had talked about a shoulder cap of flowers back in Minnesota,
and we ended up doing it 1500 miles away.
We stenciled some flowers on,
then drew some more,
looked at it the mirror,
drew more,
and then drew some more.
A little shoulder cap turned into a meandering meadow of flowers.
We integrated it into her waves chestpiece,
though I didn't get a photo of that part yet.
Hopefully, I'll get some healed photos emailed to me soon.






















It was cool having a Minnesota client visit me in Grants Pass,
I got to show off my sexy, new, (temporary) tattoo shop.

Today Amy, Jaime, Meryl, the dog and I are headed to the coast again.
We're on the lookout for lighthouses, dead birds, tide pools,
redwoods, moss and mushrooms.
They have to leave tomorrow morning,
so we're doing one last farewell outing.
Having them here has been amazing,
and it's going to be sad and quiet without them around.

But since we have more to do on Amy's sleeve,
I'm booking a guest spot out East for this summer.
I have a list of folks who want some tattoo time,
but spots will be super limited.
If you want in,
send me an email with your idea,
and I'll try to sort out all the details soon.

Cherry on a Spoon.

Cody and I have been working steadily on his MN leg sleeve,
and I look forward to unveiling it in the not-too-distant future.
We skip around a lot to avoid healing areas,
and today we worked on the bottom part;
Minneapolis' 'Spoonbridge and Cherry' art piece from the
Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.
We even did a little reflection of it in the pond below,
and I thought that was kinda cute,
so I snapped a little phone photo to end my lack of blogging as of late.






















You know what else I did today?
Bought my plane tickets for Portland, Oregon.
I'll be tattooing at Optic Nerve November 13-16th.
If you want to book some time with me while I'm out there,
let me know asap.
Four days fill up fast!

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.

People to see, Places to go.

My friends took good care of me the second my plane landed in Portland.
Elias picked me up from the airport,
we headed right to a vegan restaurant,
and met up with a bunch of old friends.
The next morning we were all together again,
eating brunch at some different vegan joint.
Portlandia, kids.
A magical place, and a vegan's delight.

Then Julie and Korel drove me the 4+ hours down to Grants Pass,
(with a quick detour in Eugene to stop at Sweet Life,
a bakery with tons and tons of vegan goodies)
It was about 250 miles,
and a beautiful drive through some serious mountains.

Today was my first day at my GogueArt guest spot,
and it was pretty awesome.
Jeff's not only super talented,
he also the nicest dude, ever.
We've never previously met,
but I already feel welcome and at home.

I worked most of the day on a sleeve for Julie,
pussy willows starting at the wrist,
plum branches from the shoulder,
and everything meeting near the elbow.
She sat for a brutal 6.5 hour session,
and we got really, really far on it.
I'll try and get some photos of it in the morning.























Korel was not only the photographer and professional hand holder,
she also got her first tattoo, and did great.
They leave early in the am tomorrow,
since they don't just have a long drive back to Olympia, WA,
but they both have to work tomorrow, too.
That's 7 hours in the car just to get to their jobs.
That's also some of the best kind friends you could ask for.
Thanks for the ride and the time kids,
have a safe trip home.

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.

400.

This is my four hundredth blog post.
Which sounds like a lot,
until I realized I've been writing since early 2007.
And then I just felt lazy.
Ha.

Casey had the big wedding this weekend,
and all the family came out from everywhere for it.
It was on a riverboat on the Mississippi,
and everything was really nice.
I found out that there's a kind of pretend lighthouse
hanging out on the shore of the river in MPLS.
I mean, it's real, and has a light,
but if you need it for navigational purposes,
you should probably not be driving. anything. (ever)

Here's Meryl looking all matron-of-honory,
and timed just right for the lighthouse.



Also, the next guest spot at Off the Map has been set!
January 2nd-7th, 2011
I'll be starting to take appointments this week,
but I'm booking it slightly differently this time.

If you want to get tattooed,
email me your idea with all relevant info:
size, black and grey or color, body area, etc.
Preference will be given to tattoos that best fit my style,
and I'd like to work in 4-6 hour blocks of time.
Once we set a date,
you'll have to call OTM and give them a deposit.

I just realized I didn't book my stay at Maynard House yet,

so I'm off to do that.

email me if you want in.

shawnhebrank@gmail.com

Under the Water and Off the Map.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my good buddy Amy B in Northampton today!!!
I hope the Maynard House is full of birthday cards and presents and vegan cupcakes that someone else made you.
Meryl and I send you lots of well wishes for this next year of your life.




I don't know what kind of jellyfish this is.
I wanted to use color reference, but I forgot to get some nice pictures ahead of time, and the shop computer only prints in black and white.

It's a colorful addition to Chef Jeff's otherwise muted water creature sleeve.


Also,
It's time for booking my next visit at Off the Map Tattoo.
I won't be working there until November, but now's the time to pick your day and get your deposits in.

Here's how I'm doing it this time.
I'm working seven days straight, Monday through Sunday,
November 2nd - November 8th.
I'm splitting each day into 2 four hour sessions.
The first one is 12 noon to 4 pm, and the second is 5pm to 9pm.
Clients filling up a 4 hour session have priority over those seeking shorter time slots.
Of course, longer sessions are possible as well.

Please email me for availability, and once we have set a date, you will be required to call the shop and leave a deposit within a week.

There will be new shirts, of course.
New stickers, new art cards.

It's only an hour from Wallingford CT, so come visit even if you're not getting tattooed.

The Final Day

I think I tattooed for 9.5 hours today.
Michelle and I threw down some color in those flowers, and she took it like a champ.
Then Kristen sat through this peony on her shoulder for a couple hours.



When it was Mary's turn, I found myself tattooing next to some very nice tattoos done in a no-outline painterly manner, of which I almost never do.
But when in Rome......
She didn't look until we were completely finished.
I only took a couple of peeks myself.
(kidding)
I didn't get a decent photo, since it was dark outside (and inside), but she promises a photo by email soon.
I think I earned a few points.
Her and her boyfriend are super good people, and I wish them the best with everything.
Off the Map and all of the guest artists are so fortunate to have her.


It's now midnight.
In four hours I'm headed to the bus station.
Then to the airport.
And finally home.
I will probably sleep the rest of the day away,
but will be back at Identity Tattoo bright and not so early Tuesday.

1700 miles and 4 days later.

Damn.
I left Thursday for Ohio and arrived home Sunday night.
That's a 29 hour round trip road-trip.

Not much sleeping happened, but I did do some tattooing.
Thanks to JR, Mandi, Dustin, FX Tattoos and the entire Ashtabula posse for the warm welcome, the never ending supply of Dr Pepper, the paintings, flash, the ball busting and the fun.



Tanner said he was up for anything.
Jeremy answered the call for an animal with "Buffalo!", so that's what we did.



Dustin had wanted this 'Ode to Being 15' covered up with a big crow.
I sketched on his arm for a little while, ran through a few ideas, and we settled on this.
He said it was his longest tattoo sit ever.
It was certainly the most amount of ink caps he's ever seen used.
I even made him come in early to get it done.
Cockcrow in Ohio.





Here's Mr. JR Tubbs under his trophy from the once finished, now in limbo dreaded Antler Crutch War of 2008ish.
He's building an army out there, smoking cigarettes and armed with watercolors and dremel tools.
Right on.
(except for the smoking)



It's good to change up the scenery every so often.
Go to a different state, time zone and climate.
A different way of doing things, talking with clients, drawing, and doing art.
29 hours on the road is a lot of time to think.


It'll be a busy week.
The dudes shirts are being made.
More stickers.
Tattoos, mail art, painting, sending out the orders for the girls shirts and more.
And very little driving.

Back in the M.P.L.S

Oh man.
My very nice wife picked me up from the airport tonight, even though she was exhausted and had arrived hours earlier from the same place, with nothing but the bus (and cold) meeting her there.
She passed out before I got many stories told, even though I was talking faster than ever.
I'll be at the shop all week, with East Coastness pumping through my veins, and trying not to stumble over my words.

I got some of the tattoos from this week in decent photographic evidence.
Mostly because I didn't take most of them.

It's 1:38 am, I had a looooong day, and my bed is calling me, but I wanted to deposit some of the pictures up here.

Healing pics of the giant sperm whale on Rich's leg.
I got home to find the pictures in my email waiting for me, and looking way better than the ones I took after the 5 or 6 hour session the other day. It on an entire water sleeve, including the anchor on his foot.


Dan is another one of those long time clients that had plenty of embarrassing stories about me to tell the Off the Map crew. Jay and Tina drove up from CT to hang out, and it was a mini Wallingford reunion.

He even wore a dead bird shirt. Those two are the bestest and nicest, and I enjoyed the bunch of us going out to dinner that night, and even a bar or two. Here's a picture inside some weird tunnel bar of Northampton. Meryl and I will be staying with them in just three short weeks when we return East for more holidays.


Michelle and Aunt Tracy came up for Michelle's red-winged blackbird and poppy piece. We drew it on with Sharpie markers, and it got bigger and bigger than originally planned for, so we ran out of time and pain tolerance after a bunch of hours. But no matter, she's already visited Minnesota once for tattoos, and I have plans to return East. It won't be unfinished for long.


Amy's (mostly healed) book-carrying bird tattoo. Another one that was drawn on with markers, which seems to always come out way bigger than planned.


Yoda.
On Big Dean, on the same arm as the Stormtrooper. He was also nice enough to hang around while I packed up Sunday, and then he drove me to the bus station where I headed to Boston.

I got to stay with Randall Sunday night, which is always an absurd little adventure.

As expected, all of the girls' shirts got snatched up. Ada took lots of pictures during a late night dead bird session one night at Mike's house, and then drove me all the way back to the Maynard house at like 2:30 am. And she had to work a few hours later.
This seriously barbaric photo was in my email when I got home to MN.