New work Hawaii #1 "Between Interruptions"

I have been living in Maui Hawaii for 5 years now.  The majority of my time has been spent tattooing, spearfishing, surfing, and enjoying my life with Athena and our dogs. I have been clearing my mind in preparation for a major compositional oil painting.  This is the first study for the work.

This winter I started a new oil paining.  Nothing too serious, I simply had an idea to work out.  I worked on the painting when I was not tattooing; which is mostly never being that I have been almost booked solid for a few years now.

My life here on Maui is so very different than what it was in Minneapolis.  I have found that the ocean is everything to me.  All I want to do is play in it as often as I can.  With this new painting I decided not put too much academic thought into painting it, and simply paint. I work on it as I have time and at my leasure.  Everything is improvisational as I am only reacting to the work as I do it.

"Between interruptions" 2017

More to come as I finish them. 

Aloha...

Polynesian Fishhook

This Polynesian Fishhook tattoo was not my best of the day but it was my favorite.  It was really, really busy today.  It looks like I have built a reputation here on Maui finally.  My clients come back every few months, some come back every year to see me.  I have regulars who come in every few months and get a little tattoo or build onto what we did the time before.  I am pretty happy about that.  I feel like all I need to do now is just work my 6 days a week.

Maybe it is time to start the formal work on my “Peloponnesus War” painting.

Mahalo.

Polynesian Turtle

I make a lot of Polynesian turtle tattoos.  This was the best of the day today.

Mahalo.

Polynesian Turtle

This was fun.  It is always strange to put color into a Polynesian tattoo.  The client wanted the color to represent a member of their family.  

Mahalo.

Space Lion

This was very far out of my normal.  If I can do a good job with the tattoo I will give it a shot.  The client had an example that she wanted me to work from, and since I was not directly copying I went for it.  It was a really busy day, I didn’t really need the work, but she was a really fun and happy person who asked for me to tattoo her a few months in advance so I felt why not go outside the box and see what I can do.  It turned out great and she was very happy.

Mahalo.

Aloha Sunday

Athena crashed and gouged her board on some rocks.
It is some pretty huge damage, looks like we are headed to the repair shop.

Aloha.

Polynesian Turtle

This was fun.

Mahalo.

Polynesian turtle and Orchid

A popular Maui tattoo is a tribal turtle with either a Plumeria or Hibiscus flower in the composition.  I have tattooed a few hundred of these types of tattoos.  I was asked to do it with an orchid flower today.  Nice change to the trend.

Mahalo.

Polynesian Fishhook

I had a busy day.  I am exhausted, and this was my favorite tattoo of the day.  A Polynesian fishhook.

Mahalo.

Polynesian Turtle and a Rose

I like working on American Traditional tattoos, and I like tribal turtles.
Being able to do both at the same time was exactly what I want to do.

Mahalo.

Aloha Sunday

Beach day!

Look who just joined my family!

I love this dog!
This is Ahsoka Tano.  (She is named for a Star Wars character).
She is currently 9 weeks old and 9 pounds.  She is from Maui Humane Society.  Her true breed is unknown, but we think she's a Lab/ Pit (or Amstaff) mix.

Polynesian Tribal Turtle

Again, I had a very busy day.  This Polynesian turtle is my favorite of the day.

Mahalo.

Tribal Feather

This was a fun walk-in today.  A Polynesian tribal feather.

Mahalo.

Puppy Training

Ahsoka is officially training for paddle board!

Ahsoka will become a great water dog.