Monday, October 26, 2009

Old art, Old Friends, and an Old Me

Since the London convention, things have continued to be busy and hectic as hell. I am certainly not complaining, but i will say I am happy to see the end of over a month of running around. It will be good to focus on simply tattooing again. If i can i plan to even get the kayak out in the river for some fall smallmouth/sauger fishing... a guy can dream cant he?

Just after returning from London Turk had a day to relax here in PA before returning to San Diego. The highlight there was going to the Brandywine River Museum. It was a quick visit, but it made me realize i need to go back there more often. An amazing collection of the Wyeth families work, as well as a solid collection of one of my favorite artists, Howard Pyle.


http://www.brandywinemuseum.org

After Turk returned home, I had less than a week to focus on work at the shop before leaving for a short trip to Portsmouth, New Hampshire with Holly and Hoss. Every year around my birthday we try to get up there to visit friends, do some tattoos, and just get away from home for a bit. This year was rushed, but i wasnt about to miss the chance to get up there. First stop was in Mass to see some dear old friends for a day of tattooing and relaxing. I didnt get the chance to get any photos but it was no less a grand time.
The next day we were off to Portsmouth to visit more friends and work out of Hobo's Tattoo Shop in town. Most of the time there was spent tattooing, but we did get out a bit to hang out and talk shop. The Tattoo Shop there is one of my favorite places to work, including my own place. Its a pretty amazing group of artists. Definitely worth checking out if you are ever in the area. Jason Scott owns Hobo's, and just opened a second shop in town called Congress St. Tattoo. Both shops support each other and compliment each other in town perfectly. I couldnt be happier for them!
http://www.boldwillhold.com/








 The reason it was a rushed trip to New England this year was a tattoo convention that was arranged aboard the Warship Olympia at Penn's Landing in Philadelphia. So Jason and his wife Kim returned home with Holly Hoss and I to attend the show. The concept of the show was pretty amazing, and the idea of working aboard an 1800's warship was too much to pass up. I am certainly grateful to Troy for inviting us to work it. In a time when conventions seem to be getting bigger and bigger, it was refreshing to be a part of a select group of folks where there were only 27 booths. Anymore it seems shows try to cram in hundreds of artists into a room all in the name of the mighty dollar.

All that said, the show was dead. It was a shame more folks didn't make it out. Between the weather that weekend, the Phillies playoffs (go  phils!) and simply little or no word out about the show made for a really quiet time. I was pretty busy as I had booked ahead of time, But many of the other artists were not so fortunate. It made for a chance to talk with other tattooers, and make some new friends so at least there was an upside. I would certainly try it again if it was to be put on again, simply to support the idea of a smaller show like that one. Not to mention the ship itself was Amazing!

Oh and by the way... The first day of the show, Fri 16th, was my birthday. A pretty rad place to spend your 36th birthday in my opinion. Sitting tattooing friends on the oldest steel-hulled American warship afloat, that served as Commodore George Dewey's flagship during the Battle of Manila Bay on May 1, 1898.



After the convention I had a the next week to prepare for the Pushing up Pumpkins art show we put on at Mercury each of the past 4 years. Between getting everyone's artwork together,  labeling it all, hanging it all, decorating the shop, finishing my own painting for it, and of course drawing and tattooing all my regular apointments... it was a brutal week. I will post a separate blog about the show when i get the photos from the opening. It was a great turnout! well worth all of the effort and expense to put it together. Holly of course was the one that really allowed it to come together. She decorated and cleaned the shop almost entirely by herself. I'm a pretty lucky fella indeed.
Here are some shots of the painting i worked out for the show..


And lastly here are a few pics from home. I was able to get out a bit and enjoy fall this year....it aint over yet, but with halloween this weekend, the fall is ending soon indeed.

Hoss loves the fall as much as Holly and I!


These shots are all from the house and yard...


 
 
















3 comments:

  1. I didn't even know about the convention on the ship. It sounds pretty amazing. Had I known, I would have been there. I'm heading up to NH come Friday. I'm jazzed. Hope all went well with pushing up pumpkins yesterday. I'll be seeing you next month for another sitting on the arm. We need to get this done so that I can be the hell up out of this state. Glad you're doing well. <3

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  2. i know this was a long entry and all, but come on mang, you could have put something small together in the past month

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  3. i didn't know about the show either, sounds rad. dave and i need to get in there to make appointments. we stopped in several weeks ago, but i think you were in london.
    ps. old man dog! and cute house, great back yard!

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