Dusting off Tattoo Machines

I took these bad boys out of the box today.

I will need to tune and clean them.

Two new Aaron Cain tattoo machines

I just received two new tattoo machines from Aaron Cain, and they are pretty good.

http://www.aaroncain.com 

I got a rino liner and shadder.

Both of these hit pretty hard, and I can see them piercing the skin like butter at the right speed.  I am going to have to play with them a bit to get used to them and to adjust them to my needs.  I like it when my machine hits like it wants to break cement at low speed.  If my machine can punch through with ease at a low speed then they keep up with me and I don't have to keep up with the machine.

I like it when I can just go over a line one time, slowly pulling the entire line.  I normally run my machines pretty slow; 7.5 volts on a critical to 8.5 volts.  

Now its time to have some fun with these, and if I like them I will buy more.

Memorial

I Like this tattoo.

Mahalo.

Adding Tattooing to this blog

I have been a professional artist since 1996.  So far my career has been mostly about painting.  I have worked on many different forms of painting before I decide to solely focus on compositional abstraction as expression.  I have sculpted wood, stone, metal, ceramic, and all or them were rewarding toward my career.  I have worked as a tattooer off and on for money my entire career, and now I have decided to focus solely on tattoo for a few years while I clean my mind and prepare for my next large painting "The Peloponnesian War."  

My series of works "BitTorrent" took everything out of me.  I need to clear my mind in order to be fully prepared for the stress of the The Peloponnesian War painting.  So Athena and I decided to move to Maui Hawaii to do just that.  I am going to tattoo and watercolor classically until I am ready for the coming oil painting.  It is going to be a few years, and more then likely it will be 5 or more years before I am ready.  

I know that 5 years is the longest time I have gone without touching my oil brushes in my entire life.  However, I am completely drained from my last series and the planned works will take everything out of me again.  To become what I need to become to make that painting is going to be difficult on every part of my life.  So Athena and I are gong to simply live and enjoy our work, each other, and see what happens.

We chose Maui simply because it is beautiful.  And I mean it is stunningly beautiful.  Perfect for us to prepare for the coming storm of my new work.

As to tattooing, well I am rusty as hell.  It is going to take some work to get back into the game.  We are at Sweet Trade Tattoo where my friend Trevor Kennedy has supported our move and our decisions.  Trevor opened this shop in 2009, and he has promised to sell the shop to me when I am ready.  I am not ready at the moment, and really it will be 2 years before I am.  

So now I am going to be adding tattooing to this blog.  This is going to be fun, and ridiculous, and the perfect way to clean my mind of the last personality I took on (personalities really, the last series was multi individual focused) and once again find the self or at the very least recreate the construct that I think is me.

Aloha, and here we go...

Nekita Loves Maui

She is here and loves the ocean.  Nekita made the long trip over the ocean last night.  I picked her up at the airport and then went to the camp ground to sleep.  We are camping on the beach until our apartment is finished.  

Mahalo.

Minneapolis, I am a Compositionalist - Goodby and thanks for the dreams.

Today I am leaving my adopted home town of Minneapolis, MN.  My beautiful wife Athena ( of Such Good Dogs :)  ) and I have decided to try and live our dreams.  Athena wanted to become a professional dog trainer, and I wanted to become a professional artist.  We are now the people we have always wanted to be, and knowing that, we understand how much more we can become.      


Both of us have had the pleasure of truly knowing some of the coolest people in this city.  We both would not be the people we are without the true friendships we have built here in Minneapolis.  We love you all, and we are very sad to leave you.  Albeit, we are family, and we will never simply leave you behind.  Our home is yours.

I moved to Minneapolis in the fall of 1996 to become an artist.
This is my last oil painting I will complete in Minneapolis.  It is meaningful to me if only for that reason.  During the last 17 years I taught myself how to oil paint anything I want, anything my mind can see.  I have total control of my medium, and with that I am able to truly use my philosophy to communicate through the aesthetics of composition.  Now I am going to speak my mind.

 My current paint pallet.

A portion of my current subject matter.

BitTorrent #13  "Penitent Magdelene"

Thanks Minneapolis, I have been able to live the life of interesting dreams.  For everything you have given me, I am continually grateful.  I should be arriving in Maui, Hawaii in a few hours.  Athena and I are going to build a beautiful life together...a life of happiness and productivity in our chosen fields.  

Minneapolis, I am a Compositionalist - Goodby and thanks for the dreams...

...Maui, Hawaii here we come, welcoming the challenge.

Pictures from a collector

I was sent these pics of two recent paintings from the new owner.  It always makes me happy when a client is excited about my paintings.   When I get an email with pictures of my work hanging in someone's home I feel proud, and thankful.

These two paintings are two of my newer works, both completed in 2011.

Thanks for the pics...

...they look great on your walls.  

Proteus Mag

Dustin parker at Proteus Mag was kind enough to feature me as on of his artist of the day.  I was featured in one of his earlier publications, Issue 2 of the magazine (summer of 2007).  Proteus Mag has evolved into a full-on blog daily featuring artists from around the world.  

There are an amazing amount of talented artists on Proteus Mag's blog.  It's definitely worth subscribing to his RSS feed.

After surfing through a few hundred artist of the day posts at Proteus Mag, I see even more that the pure abstract artist is few and far between.  There are so few artists today that work from a traditional abstraction, and I welcome that.  It gives me the social freedom to create whatever I desire without the fear of fitting into a groove of "ism."

After all, I am a Compositionalist with few contemporaries.

Check out Proteus Mag...

...Dustin features new artists daily.

The new Website has gone LIVE!

This last month has been very busy completing the last things for our move.  It is no small task to move your entire family off the continent.  Things are going well, and I will arrive in Maui, Hawaii on the 27th of this month.  

One of the big tasks to complete was my new website.  Thanks to Huck Tate, my web-designer who was able to fulfill all of my wishes for the site.  My goal was to make a site that was easy to navigate, could be viewed on a mobile device, and still retained the design elements for my old flash site.

We just uploaded the new website and it looks great.  

AdamConsidne.com

I will have the store running in about 3 to 4 months.  In the store you will be able to buy originals, prints, and other fun and useful products I have been working on.

Go surf the new website...

...let me know what you think.

Artwork of the Month: Broken Crow

I have know John Grider for fifteen years now, and as long as I can remember he has been working toward being an artist.  I am lucky to own a painting of his.

Last week we hung out at Athena and my going away party.  He showed me this new video he finished.  It's called 'The Bigger Picture Project' and it is amazing.  I can see how the last fifteen years of working hard has paid off for John.

The Bigger Picture Project. from Broken Crow on Vimeo.

John works with a partner, Mike Fitzsimmons, in a collaborative called Broken Crow.

Broken Crow has been creating works in minneapolis since 2003 and as a result there are Broken Crow murals everywhere in Minneapolis.  All of them are innovative.

I haven't said much about Mike, and I mean no disrespect to his work or to him.  I just don't know him very well and all that I can say is that I admire his work alone and as a part of Broken Crow.  

The Bigger Picture Project by Mike Fitzsimmons and John Grider is some of the most stunning work in Minneapolis.  Every muralist in town, every tagger wanting to be an artist copies these two.

I look forward to your next project like this.