Polynesian Turtle Beach

Client was a super fun, really cool guy.  He loves Maui, and really it was a pleasure to work with someone just so positive about life.

Mahalo.

A Heart for a Friend

Monica was in town again.  Her work is fucking awesome.  She comes to the shop, does a few tattoos, goes to the beach, and at the end of her time we tattoo each other.  It’s fun as hell.  I made this for her.

Come back and tattoo more!

Yoshi

This was fun.  I love Nintendo.

Mahalo.

Polynesian Shark

My client today saw me tattoo a shark yesterday and wanted one for himself.
Pretty fun, drawn on with a sharpie.

Mahalo.

Polynesian Shark

This was fun.

Mahalo.

Polynesian Sigil

I like this sigil.  It is powerful, and it finds usefulness with nearly anyone.

Mahalo.

Hibiscus Flower

I like this Hibiscus tattoo.

Mahalo.

Sigil Flash Painting

I will just let this sit here and do its job.

Mahalo.

Plumeria Flower

Things come in pairs this week.  These were their first tattoos.

Mahalo.

Turtle Plumeria

A popular tattoo on Maui is a tribal turtle with a flower inside the shell.  I tattooed an entire family today, and these two were fun.  They wanted a very simple turtle with Hawaiian flowers floating in the center.

Mahalo.

Hawaii #5 “Valley of the Ghost Hand Puppet”

I was finally able to finish a painting.  The last seven months have been very busy tattooing.  I am still working toward my formal composition painting with each of these minor works.  I like the direction this is headed, however I am not prepared to take on the character yet.  I have the construct built, I do not have the liberty to become it yet.  Soon I will be set up where I can remove myself from the daily grind and get to work on the formal composition.

Hawaii #5 “Valley of the Ghost Hand Puppet”

I had a really good time painting this.  It reminds me of snorkeling, floating in the water, peering down beneath rocks and reef, and periodically looking at the mountains reaching deeply into the valley.  There’s more to it than that, but this painting was simply fun.  At one point I felt like the painting itself had failed and I had to rescue it from itself. 

I have been so crazy busy doing tattoos at the shop that I’ve just had no time to really finish this piece.  Which I believe was good because it gave me time to contemplate how I was going to rescue this painting.  It desperately needed to be rescued from the poor compositional choices I made early.

Below are a couple photos of the stages. 

This was really fun and I’m glad to have completed my fifth painting in the series. I am not sure how many of these I have inside me until the series is complete, but I will make the attempt to just keep going.  Everything is heading towards my formal composition “The Peloponnesian War” oil painting.  

2018 was the best year of my life, and I am looking forward to producing more work in 2019 as time allows. 

 Mahalo

Parrot Fish

I worked on the second session, adding color to my friends parrot fish tattoo.  One small session to go for a bit more color and then tightening up anything it needs.

Mahalo.