RIP Tommy

Found out this morning that another friend of mine passed away- Tommy Painter.  I met Tommy through Jamie, and now they're both gone- this year has really sucked.  Tommy was the owner of Body Art Tattoos in Berryville, Va.  I met Tommy some time around 96 or 97, at a convention (I don't even remember which one).  I was going to the convention and Jamie told me that his friend Tommy was gonna be there and I should say hello.  As soon as I told Tommy that I was friends with Jamie it was like Tommy and I had been friends for years.  He was one of, if not THE nicest guy in this business.  Every time I saw Tommy he would give me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek.  I learned a lot from Tommy about machine building, and any time Tommy was around, his good cheer was infectious.  It had been a couple of years since I had spoken to Tommy- mostly because I stopped working tattoo conventions.  I heard that Tommy was especially upset when he heard about Jamie's death, and I had been meaning to call him ever since, I just never got around to it- now it's too late.  I am not a religious person- I consider myself an Agnostic, so I really don't have any beliefs as far as some big fancy afterlife is concerned, but if there is something else, I know that Jamie and Tommy are laughing (probably at our expense) right now.  RIP Tommy Painter, you will be missed by many many people.

Tattooing, Freedom from Scumbags, Debate...

Here's a bunch of unrelated stuff.

Got a healed pic of another piece on Jeremy's Jaws leg:

Here's a little update to my Blog from 7/15 'If Ya Really Wanna Change Things':

I have pretty much become free from tattoo supply companies.  It took some work, but it's not too hard to do, and I have found just about everything I need to run my studio from suppliers that have nothing to do with the tattoo industry.  I'm also paying less for all of my supplies than I had been.  The only things I still need to get from scumbags are pigments and needles.  Of course, I know how to mix pigments and make needles, so I could cut them out of that also, but my stupid local health department won't allow us to use any pigments that we can't supply MSDS information for, and they also will not let us make our own needles.  For some reason they believe that pre-made, pre-sterilized needles are somehow more sterile than the ones I used to make and sterilize myself.  I always liked my own needles better- I could make 'em just the way I like 'em.  I'm also still searching for a place to buy ink caps from, but it'll be a few years before I run out of caps- a few years ago, I bought enough to last a long, long time.  So, if ya take the time and do a little research, you too can break away from the shitbag suppliers.

Watched the debate last night.  Pretty crappy- still not a fan of any of them other than Herman Cain.  The problem is that the media has already decided that Cain doesn't have a chance.  In fact they have decided that the only people we really need to hear from are Romney and Perry.  There are 8 people in the race, let us hear what they each have to say.  While I do agree with some of Ron Paul's points, he is a certifiable crazy person and most of his hardcore supporters are just as batshit crazy as he is.  Herman needs to drop this new 9-9-9 plan of his and come out as the FairTax candidate.  I know he's a conservative, but he needs to attract the Libertarian base if he wants to have any chance.

Here's a quick little painting I did recently- nothing special, just haven't made any art in a while:

Found this online yesterday, and I fucking love it.  This guy hits the nail right on the head.  And best of all, it was on liberal-ass MSNBC

Pushead tattoos

Over the years, I have done a number of Pushead tattoos.  I am a big fan of Pushead's work.  Maybe it's because as a punk rock kid I saw his stuff all over the records that I was buying, or maybe it's just because his stuff is really fuckin' cool.  If ya don't know who Pushead is, here's a little bit of info for ya from Wikipedia:

Pushead (a.k.a. Brian Schroeder) is an artist, record label owner, and writer within the hardcore punk and heavy metal field. He has created artwork for many bands, artists, and athletes including Metallica, the The Misfits, Dr. Dre, Travis Barker, and Craig Johnson. He has designed many record covers, T-shirts, skateboards, and a pair of Nike SB Dunks. His record label, Pusmort Records, has released albums by Negative Gain, Poison Idea and Final Conflict. He fronted the band Septic Death during the 1980s. 

Pretty much all of the Pushead tattoos that I have done have been on 2 customers of mine- Rick and Fanna Easter- they're cool people, and they're old punks like me.  So, here's some Pus tattoos I have done, including the one I just did on Rick this past Saturday.

Tattooing, Striping, Bitching....

Been a long time since I blogged last.  I'm sure you've all missed me terribly.

Got the shop all fixed up after the rain/flood disaster- only had to close for 3 days, so all in all it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

I was supposed to go out to Seattle for the tattoo convention- I love Seattle.  Had to cancel my trip due to the fact that my Dad ended up in the hospital having a pacemaker put in.  He's doing well, so again, nowhere near as bad as it could have been.

I'm still fed up with the government and our commie leader- nothing's changed there.

Finally finished up the benefit for Jamie's Mom- managed to raise a little over $7000, not too bad.  Big thanks to everyone that donated items/services and or bought stuff.  A big fuck you to a couple of people that didn't bother paying for the items they won- you know who you are.

I'm still disgusted with the tattoo industry and what we've allowed it to become.  I love what I do, but I'm at the point where I question whether or not I want to do it anymore- I just don't know what else I could do.  After 18 years of tattooing, you kinda become what you do.  Do any job long enough and it becomes what you are.  I'm a tattooer.
I'm pretty tired of listening to douchebags with big ass tattoo ideas.  All of these fuckholes come in my shop talking about the sleeves and back pieces they want and about how they want to get 'all tatted up'.  But ask 'em to leave a fuckin' deposit and they're out the door.  I'm not here to be your fuckin' friend and I'm not here to listen to your idiotic tattoo ideas- I'm trying to make a living, so if you're not serious about getting tattooed, then go fuckin' bother someone else and stop wasting my goddamn time.  There was a time when the people that came into the studio were there to get tattooed, now they're just talking shit and price shopping.  Only an hour into the day and I've already talked to 2 of these people today, and the first one was coked out of his mind and wouldn't shut the fuck up.

Did a little striping last week.  Painted this skate deck- wanted to do a very art nouveau kinda thing with it:

Got bored and striped my power unit at work:

Jason (Earl), got a pink helmet with some giant ass flake in it, so I did some sweet roses on it for him:

I have, of course, also been doing some tattooing (remember, it's what I do/am?)

***I wrote this blog entry yesterday, then never hit the publish button, so here it is a day late***