A pair of (unfinished) sugar skull beauties

This pair of ladies with painted faces were drawn by my client's friend. Jen brought them in, I prepared them for tattooing, and then we inked them. Jen's idea is to have this arm covered with black and grey images and then filling in the background with color; so, we'll see how that pans out. You'll notice that both of the girls have uncolored flowers in their hair; these will be colored later as well.

Stay tuned for more updates on Jen's arm at a later date.

Deer Skull and Antlers; First Tattoo

Vincent got his first tattoo today; a large, black and grey deer skull with full rack of antlers! Talk about taking the plunge! He even asked that the tips of the antlers peek just a little above the collar of a t-shirt; you know, a conversation starter!

Its always nice to work on someone who is excited about getting their ink and Vincent was one of these people! He arrived thirty minutes early with reference material, a deer skull with full rack, and a deer skull-cap with rack! That's what I'm talking about! On top of that, the deer that provided the skull he killed personally! And had buried the head to let nature and beetles clean the skull! Now that's dedication!

Thanks Vincent for a memorable tattoo experience; and thanks for choosing the best little tattoo studio in Greenbrier, Tennessee!

Full Moon Tattoo and Horror Festival; Part II of Some...

So, I'm tattooing a Predator head on my friend Jeff Sonn's ribs when...bam! Lights out! Personally, I find it very difficult to tattoo without electricity! I am a slave to its power! Without it I am nothing! Not to mention; its hard to see what you're doing without any lights! However, this is not true of everyone! One artist continued to tattoo! How? Without electricity? Without lights? Its true! He had a contraption (called a stylus) that held a cluster of needles. This allowed him to continue tattooing by hand poking! How did he see? A small group of people held their cell phones open and aimed at his subject; lighting his work area! Talk about ingenuity!

In the photo's above you see my man Jeff; bored out of his mind and also some other patrons milling around in the darkened ballroom; wandering from booth to booth trying in vain to see flash books and photo albums! It began to get warm inside...and boredom set in as you can see with the photo of Jeff...so; naturally, people began to wander outside to smoke, chat and get some air. That's all well and good; except that they were not allowed back in! Of course, this was done to keep the artist's belongings safe; but some found it irritating. I did not however; I simply sat and waited...for two hours!

Finally, the lights returned and the familiar buzz of machines making beauty resumed; much to the pain and delight of the clients. Putting needles to skin that is broken and raw....and has rested for two hours...is quite painful! But, everybody got through it and the day was still successful and fun; made even more interesting by this unfortunate loss of power.

Stay tuned for more adventures from your favorite little tattoo studio in Greenbrier, Tennessee; Artistic Ink!

Full Moon Tattoo and Horror Festival; part I of some.

Some of you may know already that we attended the Full Moon Tattoo and Horror Festival this past weekend at the Airport Marriott in Nashville, TN. Here you can see two of the shops favorite clients; the infamous "Will the Kill" and Nicki louhoo--sometimes called Nicki boohoo due to her crying fits when I tattoo her! Both of them are great clients and I'm lucky to also call them friends. The other pic is of our booth/work area...that's my back you see there as I work on a line drawing for my friend Jeff's Predator tattoo that we started that day. Stay tuned for more on that tattoo later!

Thank you to all who attended this year's show and made it successful for Wes and myself! We wouldn't be one of Nashville's best without you!

"Kill"; thanks for all the help with setup, teardown and everything else...you da bomb man!

Nicki; I'm contemplating that leg piece...can't wait!