Shawn O'Connor Tattoos

1.27.12

2012-01-27T21:40:00.000-07:00

...alright.... I'll update my blog.... It's really easy to assume that no one checks the blog, especially when the only people who comment are Simon and James... but I've received enough emails, text, messages, and clients telling me otherwise.

If you like reading the blog, then participate. It takes 2 seconds to sign up and follow, and even less time to post a comment every now and again. It's a two way street.... I only want to post if I think there are people reading... and when no one adds themselves to "follow" to blog or comment, I assume no one is there.... so get involved, participate.

Here's some of the last few weeks work

Done at SETCo in Vancouver

1.4.12

2012-01-04T16:08:00.000-07:00

Happy 2012 everyone!

I know people don't read long blog posts, because I don't, so I'll keep it short. I really don't even remember why I decided to try to update my blog once a day for a year, but that year is over. It's like any thing in life... there were good thing about it... there were bad things about it... For now, don't expect daily anymore. I don't know what the new format will be... maybe I'll only post when there's something worth posting, or maybe a recap once a week... who know at this point..

Anyways... Dasha came in today. Didn't get to do a huge session because she wasn't feeling 100%, but some is ALWAYS better than none.

12.29.11

2011-12-30T02:38:00.000-07:00

I did a really fun/funny small tattoo on my friend Steve this morning, but the photos were all out of focus and crap... Second appointment today was Lindsay's hot air balloons. A few touch ups and healed photos and we can call it done.

12.28.11

2011-12-28T22:10:00.001-07:00

Kurtis was the first Canadian to break the 8 minute mark in the 800 freestyle swim which was 7:58.63 back in 2003. Pretty cool... I can't say I've ever come close to setting a world record in any sporting discipline, and most likely never will...

12.27.11

2011-12-27T22:12:00.000-07:00

My friend Andrew was in town for the holiday season and wanted to book an appointment, so I tattooed this small memorial for one of his dogs today.

12.26.11

2011-12-27T00:24:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone had a good Christmas yesterday. According to my Instagram feed... I had a few drinks over the last few days... back to work tomorrow...

12.24.11

2011-12-24T22:57:00.002-07:00

(hopefully some of you know what this is from)

12.23.11

2011-12-23T22:28:00.000-07:00

Work is done for a few days. Teagan has started Christmas baking...

12.22.11

2011-12-22T22:00:00.000-07:00

Last day of work before Christmas break, worked on background and the anchor on Robyn's thigh for a few hours.

12.21.11

2011-12-21T21:51:00.002-07:00

First colour session on Tessa.

12.20.11

2011-12-20T21:30:00.001-07:00

David Ellis-

True Value (paint fukette) from joshualinergallery on Vimeo.

12.19.11

2011-12-19T22:30:00.000-07:00

Cat photos by Teagan

12.18.11

2011-12-18T22:15:00.000-07:00

Worked on the inside of Brian's arm today for a couple hours.

12.17.11

2011-12-17T22:09:00.002-07:00

Outlined Matt's sleeve today. Here's part of the bottom half.

12.16.11

2011-12-16T23:18:00.000-07:00

Worked on a really cool rose today... but the pictures are completely unusable.... so shinny....

After my appointment, we had a surprise visit from our good friend Mr Jesse Young. To add to the surprise, he brought me an early Christmas present. Thanks a bunch Jesse!

12.15.11

2011-12-15T22:10:00.000-07:00

Chicago Trip 2 via Instagram

12.11.11

2011-12-11T22:02:00.000-07:00

I'm not bringing a laptop to Chicago with me tomorrow, so I'll just post a bunch of photos when I'm back on Wednesday. Ribs, round 2...

12.10.11

2011-12-10T23:58:00.002-07:00

Here's a small portion of a 3/4 sleeve I outlined today. Sherri sat like a champ, I'm just to lazy to edit all of the photos together tonight....

2011-12-09T21:03:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow this peony will perform magic and change into a lotus... because she didn't want a peony in the foreground.

12.8.11

2011-12-08T21:28:00.001-07:00

As the days get closer and closer, I find my self becoming more and more preoccupied by thoughts of going back to get tattooed this Tuesday. I can never really understand anyone who claims to have "forgotten" about their tattoo appointment.... my body knows what's about to happen well in advance before it's about to get tattooed...

12.7.11

2011-12-07T22:09:00.000-07:00

Outlined this today

12.6.11

2011-12-06T23:21:00.000-07:00

Black metal and upside down crosses seem pretty popular in tattooing these days... so Teagan helped me fix a few things I obviously missed in my line drawing for tomorrow...

12.5.11

2011-12-05T22:04:00.002-07:00

Did this small skateboard tattoo on Justin today. Super fun to tattoo, especially the grip tape.

12.4.11

2011-12-04T22:38:00.002-07:00

Added the patterns to Brian's sleeve today. Forgot that the battery charger for my camera is still packed away from my trip to Vancouver, so I had to use my phone's camera today.

12.3.11

2011-12-03T23:11:00.000-07:00

12.2.11

2011-12-02T22:55:00.000-07:00

I had a cancellation today, so Teagan and I went to see the new Muppet Movie. If you have a soft spot for the Muppets, you won't be disappointed.

12.1.11

2011-12-02T00:29:00.002-07:00

Quick day at the studio today. Finished outlining Tessa's back/ribs.

11.30.11

2011-12-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

Josh texted me today to let me know that he felt left out that his photo didn't make the last blog post. Truth of the matter is that none of his photos really turned out that well... but to make him happy, here's the best of the bunch.

Tattooed this fun little one shot today on Matt

11.29.11

2011-11-29T23:07:00.000-07:00

Here's two more from Vancouver. Thursday I tattooed a few chickadees on Hanna.

Friday I worked on Ted's sleeve. I tattooed the tiki on him a few years ago.

11.28.11

2011-11-28T23:26:00.000-07:00

I'm back from Vancouver safe and sound. Had an AMAZING trip working at SETCo with Chad and Dax. Tomorrow I'll go through the rest of my memory card from the trip. For tonight, here's Mary's tattoo which I finished on Wednesday.

11.22.11

2011-11-23T01:24:00.001-07:00

Forgot my memory card at the shop today... Woke up to an accident today 27 floors below me

11.21.11

2011-11-22T01:11:00.001-07:00

13 hours of driving today.

All photos via instagram

11.20.11

2011-11-20T22:15:00.000-07:00

Appointments today had to cancel at the last minute. So I spent most of the day slowly packing for my trip to Vancouver this week. All packed up and off to bed so I can hopefully be on the road by 5am.

My cat misses me already...

11.19.11

2011-11-20T00:17:00.000-07:00

Today's doings- Added another little connecter piece to Rodney

Finished this add on to Alison's arm that we hadn't worked on in about a year. We figured out today that the original robot half sleeve is about 7 years old. Always good times tattooing Alison.

11.18.11

2011-11-18T23:18:00.000-07:00

...forgot my memory card in my camera at the shop today... so I'll just post this again today

...even though my tattooing is fully booked, come visit me at Chad's shop next week. I'll be bringing T-Shirts, flash, stickers, etc for anyone interested.

11.17.11

2011-11-17T22:02:00.000-07:00

Kevin was back in today to finish off what we started a few days ago when the power went out on us. Finished the green peony on the inside of his arm.

11.16.11

2011-11-16T23:04:00.000-07:00

Tattooed this girl with horns on Chelsey today. Everything went super smooth... no power outages... no pigment explosions... client sat great... pretty awesome.

11.15.11

2011-11-15T23:55:00.002-07:00

11.14.11

2011-11-14T23:05:00.001-07:00

Here's the first tattoo I did yesterday... the one where I dropped the bottle of blue 30 minutes away from being done.... Although I'm not happy it took me forever to clean up all that blue, I'm really happy with the tattoo.

11.13.11

2011-11-14T01:21:00.000-07:00

No tattoo photos today.... tomorrow...

Just got home from 4 hours of cleaning up this mess. During my first appointment today, I accidentally dropped a full 6.8 ounce bottle of dark blue, and the bottle broke when it hit the floor, exploding everywhere...dark blue concentrate... everywhere...

Good thing it's 2011 and everyone has and iPhone with and amazing camera. Photo credit to Chelsi.

11.12.11

2011-11-12T21:38:00.000-07:00

Interesting day today....

Started colouring Kevin's arm today.. and about 30 mins into the session, the power on the entire block went out for well over 2 hours. Super shitty... but at least all I was doing was colouring... It would have been horrible had we been 2 lines into outlining a half sleeve. Unfortunately, this was all we got done today... I know there was obviously nothing I could do about it... but I still felt pretty bad...

After the power came back, I tattooed this rose and horseshoe on Brad for his daughter. The power stayed on the rest of the day... which was awesome.

11.11.11

2011-11-11T23:05:00.001-07:00

That's a lot of 1's up there....

Anyways... I'm super excited to get the opportunity to head out west at the end of the month and work with Chad Woodley at his studio Sanitary Electric Tattoo Company.

Coloured in John's wild rose today. Super fun.

11.10.11

2011-11-10T23:51:00.001-07:00

Paintin'

11.9.11

2011-11-09T20:17:00.001-07:00

Teagan took these photos a few days ago when we went on a walk outside of the city

11.8.11

2011-11-08T22:50:00.002-07:00

Sometimes it's amazing what you find when searching for reference photos. Found this searching "goat horns"

11.7.11

2011-11-07T22:53:00.002-07:00

11.6.11

2011-11-06T21:22:00.000-07:00

Outlined Sarah's backpiece today. It's much bigger then the photos show... it goes halfway down her leg. Sat like a trooper.

...then I hung out and had a beer with Simon and watched him freehand a chrysanthemum add on to a tattoo he did last time he was in Edmonton. Sad to see this leave us and head out to Calgary this Tuesday....

11.5.11

2011-11-06T00:54:00.001-06:00

Put a few more hours in on Rodney's front today. It's getting there but there are still a lot of small tweaks I'd like to do before calling it "done".

11.4.11

2011-11-04T22:52:00.000-06:00

From the Lake Louise Blog

Patroller above Windy Gap, on the way to Boomerang- Lake Louise Alberta - Nov 1, 2011

From this photo... I'd say things are looking pretty good so far...

11.3.11

2011-11-04T02:15:00.000-06:00

Simon's back in town! Watched him tattoo for a few hours, then went our for an amazing night of beers, whiskey and food. Thanks Simon! I owe you one!

11.2.11

2011-11-02T23:21:00.001-06:00

I keep saying I love tattooing flowers and birds... and people keep asking for flowers and birds. Keep 'em coming!

11.1.11

2011-11-01T21:50:00.002-06:00

That's a lot of 1's up there....

Tore apart my drawing room today and reorganized

10.31.11

2011-10-31T20:23:00.000-06:00

...too bad we've only had about a dozen kids come by the house... taking your kids Trick or Treating at a mall is LAME.

Seven reasons why your kids should trick-or-treat in your neighbourhood

10.30.11

2011-10-31T02:13:00.000-06:00

Jon saved the day today by filling a cancellation I had. Coloured a lot of blue in a short period of time.

And then tonight, Teagan, Justin and myself had a amazing night of stuffed pretzels and beers. Double smoked shoulder bacon, and dutch edam stuffed pretzels to be exact. Good times.

10.29.11

2011-10-29T23:47:00.000-06:00

Coloured in a bit of background, cherry blossoms, and koi on a sleeve I haven't worked on in a long time.

10.28.11

2011-10-28T23:12:00.000-06:00

Outlined these guys on John today. Excited to colour them, hopefully next month.

10.27.11

2011-10-27T21:29:00.001-06:00

News Flash!!!

Simon will be back in Edmonton tattooing with us at the studio November 3rd to 7th.

Email him at simon@dadahell.com to set up an appointment as soon as possible. Don't miss the boat, DO IT NOW!!!

Here's some of Simon's recent work to get you stoked-

10.26.11

2011-10-26T23:28:00.000-06:00

10.25.11

2011-10-25T19:49:00.000-06:00

A few touch ups next month and Lucas' arm will be done.

10.24.11

2011-10-24T18:45:00.000-06:00

Easing my way back into work... with my ribs being beyond itchy... Worked on Brian's snake for a few hours today. We're making good progress on this one since he's in the routine of coming in to get tattooed every 2 weeks.

10.23.11

2011-10-23T17:26:00.002-06:00

Back to tattooing today. Devin's been coming down from GP to get tattooed by me for the last few years, and he's definitely one of my favorite clients. Covered up an old tattoo on the inside of his arm today with a panther. We'll probably hit it one more time next time he's in town just to be sure that cover up is good and gone. Awesome way to get back in the swing of things.

I have 2 cats, I love my cats, they're my best friends, I have my cats tattooed on me... so I'm always beyond stoked when someone wants to get a tattoo of/for their cats.

Cats rule.

10.22.11

2011-10-22T23:08:00.000-06:00

Today was my last day off for healing... back to work tomorrow, meaning hopefully a tattoo photos will start making their way back onto the blog...

I've been watching a lot of these lately.... Classic Conan from the late 90's....

10.21.11

2011-10-21T22:04:00.000-06:00

Chicago Day 2/3

10.20.11

2011-10-20T22:59:00.000-06:00

Chicago- Day 1

10.16.11

2011-10-16T21:44:00.000-06:00

Chelsey was my last appointment before a my trip to Chicago tomorrow. Awesome way to end the work week!

The blog will probably be pretty quiet over the next few days as I travel, get tattooed, and heal.

10.15.11

2011-10-15T21:45:00.001-06:00

First appointment, trying to connect 3 tattoos that we not initially meant to be connected. I spent more time drawing this on with Danny then I did tattooing it....

Second appointment was the last session on Charlotte's ribs (not including touch ups). By the end she was sore and shinny... and being that I get my ribs started this Tuesday... I was sympathetic and wasn't going to push it with tons of wiping just for the sake of a good photo. So the photo's shinny and has tons of flash burn... and I'm okay with that.

10.14.11

2011-10-14T22:54:00.001-06:00

First appointment today was working on Robyn's tall ship. I love tattooing tall ships and this one is getting done at a fairly good pace, which is awesome.

Second appointment was finishing touch ups on Amy's back. She shouldn't have gotten something so small for her first tattoo, right? Amy was super committed, super excited and had a great energy every time I tattooed her. She made the commitment right from day one to come in once a month to ensure her tattoo was completed in a timely manner. Perfect client.

10.13.11

2011-10-13T22:59:00.002-06:00

10.12.11

2011-10-12T23:48:00.000-06:00

Did the sketch tonight, hopefully do the painting tomorrow...

10.11.11

2011-10-11T21:31:00.002-06:00

10.10.11

2011-10-11T00:30:00.000-06:00

After driving Josh and Kathy to the airport... it was another Monday night at Sugarbowl with my good pal Justin. Good beers, good times...

10.9.11

2011-10-09T20:27:00.000-06:00

Josh and Kathy are in town for a couple days. Finished most of the background on his arm today. One more session to go...

Added bonus was getting healed pictures of Kathy's flowers.

10.8.11

2011-10-08T21:49:00.000-06:00

Outline day! First appointment was outlining Kevin's upper arm

Second appointment was outlining this reaper on Rhy's ribs

Fun day!

10.7.11

2011-10-07T23:45:00.000-06:00

Another one done. Finished the big turtle and a few odds and ends on Stephen's underwater sleeve. Just a few small touch ups and healed photos in about a month to call this one 100% completed.

10.6.11

2011-10-06T22:03:00.001-06:00

Had a cancellation today, but Sandy came in and saved the day by getting a bunch of really small, really fun traditional tattoos. I don't know why... but Sandy is one person that I've tattooed a bunch, but I can NEVER get a good fresh photo of his tattoos. Here's the only photo that I could find that's actually in focus. Sailor Jerry flash... the bottle's not crooked... that's the curve where his neck meets his shoulder...

10.5.11

2011-10-05T22:35:00.001-06:00

Heidi is in from Vancouver for a wedding this weekend, and it's pretty awesome she made a bit of time to come in and finish off her leg today.

10.4.11

2011-10-04T22:58:00.000-06:00

I repainted this old piece of Paul Rogers flash today for my friend Justin's blog

... and then made a bunch of needles later this evening.

10.3.11

2011-10-03T23:54:00.000-06:00

For my friend Simon-

10.2.11

2011-10-02T22:54:00.001-06:00

This morning I added background to Marcie's back

And this afternoon, I coloured in the last bird and added a sun to Steve's arm.

2 in one day! Awesome!

10.1.11

2011-10-01T22:14:00.000-06:00

Happy October 1st everyone. It's autumn, the nights are nice and cool, and that makes me happy. First appointment today was connecting Rodney's back to chest to arm.

Second appointment was putting a few hours in on Brian's sleeve. This tattoo is super fun to work on. Doing my best to try to learn from the masters.

9.30.11

2011-09-30T22:08:00.000-06:00

Another cancellation today... Too many to even count this month.... So Teagan and I decided to have a relaxing night by the firepit. Alley Kat's Fresh Hop Full Moon Pale Ale is delicious. We're super lucky to have such an amazing local brewery.

9.29.11

2011-09-29T22:50:00.000-06:00

Shaun's girlfriend Lindsay came to Edmonton with him for the first time to experience the City of Champions. Tattooed a few hot air balloons on her ribs today..... Every time I tattoo ribs now I get more and more nervous about my trip to Chicago.... which is now only a few weeks away... I have the background drawn up and ready to go, but decided to concentrate on the foreground images being that she's from out of town.

9.28.11

2011-09-29T00:49:00.001-06:00

My good friend Shaun is in town visiting for a few days. I touched up a few things for him today and filled a few small blank spaces. Shaun's arm is mostly piece work from myself and my friend Chris from at least 7-8 years ago, I'm trying to tie it all together for him. Chris tattooed the dart, I added the background, his girlfriend Lindsay took this photo.

9.27.11

2011-09-27T23:27:00.000-06:00

Had an extremely last minute cancellation today... but managed to convince Lucas to come in and save the day!

9.26.11

2011-09-26T22:39:00.001-06:00

Handmade needles.... the best needles I've used in the last 5 years (I stopped making needles aprox 5 years ago)...

... for this sweet little California bear on Justin.

9.25.11

2011-09-25T22:07:00.001-06:00

Amy was back in town for the day and we managed to get 95% of her tattoo finished... so close... just have a small section on the inside of her arm to connect.... Yea... I know the photo is super shinny... we finished up tattooing and had 20 mins to take photos, get her bandaged, and get her a taxi back to the airport so she could fly home....

9.24.11

2011-09-24T23:35:00.000-06:00

...brought these old guys out from the basement today... time do do a bit of building in the near future...

9.23.11

2011-09-23T23:02:00.000-06:00

Banff

9.22.11

2011-09-22T21:18:00.002-06:00

I'm back after a few relaxing days with Teagan in Banff! I miss the being surrounded by mountains already....

So I had a few cancellations this week and told myself that I'd use that time to maybe work on a few paintings... as always... be careful what you wish for...

A few weeks ago, I was given a canvas to paint for the Dutchman's Love Though Compassion art show. I was told the painting needed to be done by mid Oct. No problem.... right?

1pm yesterday, Ollie called me to let me know that there was someone at the studio who was there to pick up the paintings... slight miscommunication... the painting needed to be done and in Vancouver for this Friday... so tomorrow....

So that meant, last night was an all night painting session. I started drawing around 6pm, started painting around 8pm, and worked all night until the painting was done... at 6am... Caught a few hours sleep, applied clear coat, and had it boxed and at the post office by 2pm on its way to Vancouver. Success!!!

The show is for John's foundation, Love Through Compassion. Click the link to read more. As you might know from reading this blog, I absolutely love flowers and roses... so I painted a pink rose and a robin which are symbols for compassion. I know it's super nerdy, but the branch the bird is sitting on is my absolute favorite part of the painting... Really happy with the final product. I think like most artist, I work best under pressure.

The show is this Sunday, September 25 from 7:00-11:00pm at Dutchman Tattoos.

If you're in the Vancouver area, you should definitely make time to stop by and check it out!

9.17.11

2011-09-17T22:44:00.000-06:00

As of today, I have a few days off to celebrate a special day tomorrow.

Today... I redid the caulking around our bathtub....party. So....This is a bit more exciting then a photo of our bathtub....new Absinthe film means it's officially time to start getting excited....

9.16.11

2011-09-16T22:03:00.000-06:00

Touch up day today. Started putting the finishing touches on Amy's deer.

The sunsets have been unreal the last few weeks....

9.15.11

2011-09-15T23:01:00.000-06:00

Put a few more hours into Charlotte's peacock and roses today. One more session to go. Sorry Charlotte... I was wrong... not all the pictures turned out great... It's hard to tell on a small LCD at the end of the day....

9.14.11

2011-09-14T22:28:00.000-06:00

Spent most of the day at Elk Island Park today with Teagan and her parents who've been in town staying with us the last few days. It's autumn... my absolute favorite time of year... good times...

9.13.11

2011-09-13T21:35:00.000-06:00

Following up from a few posts ago.... that time of year is coming soon...

...if anyone who reads this has access to a Burton Proform and want's to trade an order or two for tattoo hours, email me asap. This is pretty much the only thing I'll "trade" for tattooing these days. One way or another, I'll need to acquire a few new flannels for this winter.

9.12.11

2011-09-12T22:30:00.000-06:00

Ted send me a large zip file with a bunch of photos from his and Mary's trip out from Vancouver to get tattooed. Pretty cool. I always ask people to send me photos... and it never happens. So thanks a bunch Ted! They're all pretty great, but Ted's face in the first two are priceless.

9.11.11

2011-09-11T23:00:00.003-06:00

Did a touch up on a cover up at the shop today... other then that, waste of a day...

I know it's been +30 degrees in Edmonton the last few days... and people are really happy about it... so most people won't like this post, but I don't care. I'm over the heat, actually, I hate the heat... new season is a few months away... this gets me really excited...

Jake Blauvelt Video Part 2011 from Jake Blauvelt on Vimeo.

***Side note*** Teagan just walked in while I was watching this video again after posting it and said "Oh no... is it that time already..."

9.10.11

2011-09-10T22:53:00.000-06:00

Forgot my memory card, so it's crappy iPhone 3GS photos for today.

Started connecting all of Rodney's tattoos today. Drew on a few clouds to connect his sleeve to his chest to his backpiece.

Second appointment, coloured Blake's lionfish.

9.9.11

2011-09-09T23:37:00.001-06:00

Today's tattoo photos were far to shinny to post. Not entirely a bad thing, because it gave me a chance to edit the photos I took a few days ago of Carmen's back. We'll probably hit the cover up one more time, but all in all, I'd say we're pretty much done.

9.8.11

2011-09-08T21:13:00.000-06:00

Part 2 of the Beatty crew today. Outlined and got quite a bit of colouring done on Mary's arbutus tree 1/2 sleeve.

9.7.11

2011-09-07T22:44:00.001-06:00

Ted flew in from Vancouver yesterday to get his sleeve started. Outline and a few hours of colour? No problem.