Traditional Hibiscus

I love American Traditional tattoos.  When I am asked to mimic a Sailor Jerry tattoo, I am all over it.  This hibiscus is straight from the Sailor Jerry flash.  It is always an honor to work with my families original tattoos.  If life after death was a thing, I bet Jerry’s pissed as hell that his work is copied so many times by so many people after his death.  He created modern tattooing in my opinion, everyone else was just there.

Mahalo Jerry, deal with it.

Hibiscus

I don’t normally tattoo the inner lines with black with my hibiscus flowers.  I like it, maybe I will do this more.  I have been using a colored line in the inside of the petals for what seams like forever; time for a change.

Mahalo.

Polynesian Tribal

I made this for a woman who wanted to be very involved in the work.
It was really awesome to work with her.

Mahalo.

Sea Turtle and Flowers

The client wanted a green sea turtle with a hibiscus and a plumeria inside water and waves with the style of a thinner American traditional tattoo.  This was pretty fun.

Mahalo.

Polynesian Turtle

I am really into the direction of my turtles lately.  I will continue to refine it as I go.

Mahalo.

Hawaii #4 “Blue Moon over Ukumehame”

Hawaii #4  “Blue Moon over Ukumehame”

Oil on linen. 

My study of Hawaii continues down this compositional rabbit hole, and I am getting somewhere.
I can see elements of this within the formal painting.

This is an abstraction of my time surfing at 1000 peaks. 

I think this is the best study of Hawaii I have come up with yet.  I absolutely love this painting.  I am going to continue with this color form direction with the next study.  This just feels like surfing to me, and I think this one I will keep for a while before I sell it.

This was a enjoyable to paint, and surfing is wonderful. 

Aloha...

Yin Yang Turtle

So this is still a thing.

Mahalo.

Tiki

A tiki tattoo right off the flash sheet.  He wanted it black and grey, and I had a good time with him.  It was really nice to have a guy that is just pleasant to work with.

Mahalo.

Polynesian Hook

Today was a good day.  I drew this Polynesian fishhook on with a sharpie.  I like working from a stencil, when I have a walk in it's just fast and easy to draw right on the client.  

Mahalo.

Polynesian Turtle

I make a tribal turtle almost every day.  This is the direction I want to take my Polynesian tribal turtles toward.  I really like how the composition looks.

Mahalo.

Plumeria

This was a fun plumeria tattoo.

Mahalo.

Snake Rifle

It’s January 1st and that is supposed to mean something.  But all it means to me at the moment is how fucking stressful things have been lately.  I do not see an end to this insanity until I am completely in charge of everything I do.  2017 was really the most stressful year I have had since I was hit by the car in 2009.  We all go through it, we all have joy and suffering.

I am really working hard on the study for my formal composition painting.  It is going to be a while before I start the actual painting itself.

This is my first tattoo of the year.

Mahalo.