10th October

I was off on tuesday, my ‘flexi time’ as Mark calls it, where I work longer on my days in Edinburgh to make up a day off every three weeks, to have more time for artwork.
I did paint all day on tuesday, which was bliss, and I’m nearly done with the 6th sin, gluttony. I’ll post a photo of it when It’s done, then it’s just ‘wrath’ to go and the framing, and the 7 Deadly Sins will be ready! They will be exhibited before the tattoo convention, at the St Margaret’s art’s complex’s ‘Tenant’s Christmas Exhibition’ in early december (but wont be for sale of course). I’ll post the details closer to the time, there will be an opening night, too, which should be a blast, as there are so many different people involved. And free booze. that always helps haha!
Invitation to follow…

I thought I’d post some of the wee drawings I’ve been doing of my tribe colleagues, they are just quick pencil sketches from photos I’ve appropriated from their fb pages, and then messed around with on photoshop. I hope to do one of everyone at some stage; it’s a bit of fun, I give myself an hour max to do the whole thing, and I like the sketchy, rough quality of them. Some are also a bit tongue in cheek  

Erik

Laura (for some reason wordpress is elongating this one a bit, not sure how to stop them from doing that with the odd picture)

Nik

Mark

Tim

Raffi

and Bru 

and then on wednesday I was in Glasgow, tattooing, first up was Robert. We are in the process of covering/layering over/incorporating some old lasered work, letting some of the old tattoo shine through to give some texture and mystery to the new piece, so it’s more of a journey than a single concept. It’s hard to describe, but the effect is really pleasing, and we are both enjoying the new approach. Today’s session was mostly colour, the two lotuses and we outlined some simple flower shapes to go underneath the ld tribal piece.

also in, with a completely blank arm for me to get stuck into, was darren, he wants a japanese sleeve with two koi, done in a more delicate way, more like a pencil drawing than a japanese block print for example. I will have to hold back on the heavy black shading, maybe the best thing to do would be to hide my bottle of black for that session!

2nd + 3rd october

Roz, Alex, the italian girls and me were at the london Tattoo convention at the weekend, we had fun and as usual enjoyed perusing other artist’s portfolio, the trade stall, the books for sale and of course the clothes!
Bumped in to some old friends and caught up, gossiping, or ‘networking’ as it’s called nowadays, is crucial part of these events  

For you celebrity tattooists’ fans out there, I took some pictures of Ami James and Tim Hendriks. There were others from the ‘ink’ series, but they usually had a crowd around them and I didn’t fancy getting to the front to take snaps.

I liked the oriental artists and their work the most as usual, and I always look forward to seeing if anyone has come up with something new

this year there was an artist Called [url=http://www.michaelhussar.biz/]Michael Hussar[/url] at the convention, he isn’t a tattooist, but an oil painter, I love his stuff and stood and watched him do an entire portrait from start to finish. It only took him 1 1/2 hours to be fair, as his style is lose and energetic. I love it.

Here he is with the model and the finished painting.

on tuesday I was back at work, first off I finished Roz’s leg, it now matches the other one we did a while ago. I’m not trying to fob you off with the same photo flipped horizontally!

also in was William, we are working on a Horiyoshi III warrior, I followed the original black and white design reasonably closely, but now I get to add colour, lots of fun!

the next day Emma made a start on some Tibetan script and seal prints, we will be adding waves and flowers once all the script is in place

and dave was in to get the bottom of his sleeve finished, we are bringing some more mechanical and technical elements into the piece, more detail and potentially something completely new and a bit bonkers in one of the larger gaps. Dave is still working on that one 

25th, 26th + 28th september

bumper blog! I’m cramming three days into one blog, as I’m off this saturday and decided to have one 3 dayer rather than two and one. I’m sure you know what I mean, err..

Yep, off to the London tattoo convention this weekend, it’s probably the biggest event on the calendar conventionwise (well, in Northern Europe, anyway) so we’re not going to miss it. Roz and me are going down and we’ll be meeting Alex and the italian girls there, they went yesterday already. It should be fun, and I’ve also got a mission.
I’m recruiting a new tattooist for Tribe 1, as Rob is leaving us to move to the bright lights of Kirriemuir…. So, I’m looking for the best person i can find for the job, and it’s not easy. I’ve had a few applications and I’m going to meet a young polish guy in London to see if i think he’d fit the bill. I’m going to be very picky, because i only want someone who will be able to do great work, fit in the the existing crew, is a good people person and a great team player. Not asking much then!  Wish me luck!

On tuesday I had Brian in, for 7 hours!! We had the whole day and got stuck into a dragon sleeve and chest panel. Brian has been getting some old work lasered and is really looking forward to being proud of his tattoos for once, after years of hiding them. This sleeve should do the trick, it’s going to be colourful and dynamic

the next day In glasgow i had another dragon sleeve in, Alan had been in twice before and we are getting there with the shading.

and Bobby got his music sleeve finished! yey!
here it is, and also a picture of Bobby himself, wearing the tattoo  

back to the dragon sleeves, Holly’s one isn’t quite a sleeve to be fair, but it does go right over onto her back… it’s an altogether more feminine affair, with puffy clouds and soft shading, the dragon will be in pure colours to keep it light

and another dragon, this one is Billy’s, and it’s completely different again. this fiery one is less of a japanese dragon, and more a western lizard type of creature, with wings. We made a start on the green scales today

and last but certainly not least, gerald’s shishi/ foo dog got some colour and some rocks to jump over and connect it to the backpiece. (Which is a dragon, seeing as we’re on a bit of a dragon roll here!)

21st + 22nd september

Andy was in again to get more work done to his dragon sleeve, we got a fair bit of the background done.
The strange lighting effect in the photos is from the sun. Take a good look at it, you might not see anything like it for a few months, while the sun leaves us for our hibernation period…except we don’t get to hibernate..

and Susan got a start on her spirally water and flower piece, the calendula and the cherry blossoms got done, but the aster will happen next time

the next day in Glasgow I did Debbie’s first tattoo, and I’m quite jealous. Why didn’t I think of such a cool piece?? Love it!

and also very very cool is mary’s half backpiece idea.We started this ages ago, but she has since moved away and it took her a while to come back to Glasgow to get more done. I think we are planning to continue it when I’m working at the Tattoo Tea party in Manchester next year, as it’s closer to where she lives now.

19th September

I had tuesday off, it was one of my accrued painting days 
And paint I did, I’ve finished one of the 7 deadly sins (Lust) and started on Gluttony.
For the Lust sin I chose a stripper kitty

and the gluttony one is going to be a party kitty, bunting, streamers, champagne, wine, cake etc to follow.this will be great fun, but i bet I’ll be hungry for cake and wine while I’m painting it!!

and i painted a wee landscape, just for fun, nothing to do with the sin series. I’m experimenting with acrylics, but I find them quite sticky and chalky compared to oils, so i don’t think I’ll be tempted to switch.

on wednesday i was in Glasgow of course, and John and his backpiece were getting some more work done, poor john was feeling it today. Some days are just better then others, for no apparent reason, even for seasoned tattooees like john.

Bru also got more done to her backpiece, she was feeling less fragile than John today, so we got it finished, well, finished until we extend it up the way

11th + 12th september

Kevin has chosen blue for his dragon, so we got stuck in with some nice electric shades 

Christopher’s sleeve is taking shape, it’s a collage of images that are meaningful to him, and we are putting them together in a way that works on his arm. this one will come into it’s own closer to completion, as it’s a combination of the various different design elements that make this work

the next day in Glasgow i had gareth in, I normally see him in edinburgh to work on his tattoos, but Wednesday is a good day for him to take off work, so we arranged it for one of my weegie wednesdays. Seems a bit odd for both of us to travel through to Glasgow from edinburgh, but that’s just the way things work out sometimes..

and bobby is nearly there with his sleeve! (well, apart from the lyrics that will go in the scrolls, that’s something for a later date)
We are just adding wee bits here and there, like the skull plectrum on his wrist and other little corners that need shading and or brought out a bit more. One more session and we will have done what we set out to do. It’s been a long journey!

I’m still in love with the wee clown on the back of his arm. It sets me off every time 

7th + 8th september

We finished Katherine’s thistle and petunia backpiece 

and got some more of John’s dragon half sleeve coloured. This is to be a very colourful piece, with quite a traditional chinese dragon, something a bit different!

and in Glasgow the next day I worked on neil’s dragon and koi sleeve, adding colour and finishing off grey shading as we worked our way up the arm until we ran out of time. One more session to finish this off

Maggie has been covering for Mark all week on reception, and she did a fantastic job, yey for wee Maggie! 

4th + 5th september

I usually only tattoo my own artwork, and most of what I do is freehand, but for some artists I gladly make an exception. One of these is Horiyoshi III, the japanese tattooist and artist. His detailed warriors are a special favourite of mine, and here is the start of a sleeve based on one of his warrior pieces. I’ve changed a few wee bits here and there to make it fit the arm but apart from that it’s a direct transcription.
We just did lines today, there will be plenty of shading and of course the rest of the sleeve

Steven had some tattoos done by another artist and now wanted the whole sleeve done, so we are busy adding water and flowers to the gaps left by the original pieces. I try to match the new sections to the look of the older ones so that it doesn’t appear too much like the gaps were filled later

some more shading to go around the elbow etc

the next day I had Melissa in to get more flowers added to her leg piece. It’s a bad photo of it, but there will be more flowers added so we will hopefully get better pictures at some point.
So far we have gladiola, aster and narcissus, there will be poppies and sweetpea, going all the way up to the waist 

31st august +1st september

Kerry Ann got some colour put in the piece we started a couple of weeks ago, we’re doing this in short sessions as it’s her first tattoo and she’s chosen a fairly painful place for it

and Andy got a sleeve outlined, it’s a dragon with some lotus flowers in water, sorry about the blurry photos..

On saturday we finished Gordon’s hanya mask, for now anyway, we might decide to put more colour in once it’s healed

and jennifer finally got her roses finished, I’ve just remembered I should have taken portrait shots of gordon and jennifer, according to the new blog rules! Oops!

28th + 29th august

poor Roz has been waiting for years to get the last bits of her leg piece added, we used to get her tattooing done at conventions, but now that I’ve cut back on them we hardly get round to it. So today we connected the thigh piece that jason did a long time ago, to the calf section, finally!

next i nearly finished katherines backpiece, just need a bit more time to finish the petunias

and another flower piece in the making, Louise’s asters are taking shape, there will be background shading and some butterflies going up her back

in Glasgow the next day I had sean in, he got a piece that was based on the decoration of an antique opium pipe from Vietnam on his arm a couple of years ago. he’d always wanted to add clouds to the background, so today we made a start on that. The background clouds will fade to a pale grey once they are settled

and John got more colour added to his backpiece, the koi this time