7.31.11

...Rhys came down to the studio today to get one big owl's head on his ribs.... and that's what he had a few hours later...

7.30.11

Worked on Rodney's chest today... I always get really shinny photos from his fresh tattoos...

Worked on Morgan's are today for a few hours, he decided no colour, just black and grey.  It's kinda hard to make the transition mentally when a client tells you he wants a colour tattoo at the time of the consultation, and then changes his mind after the outline and background are done.  The photo's shinny, but you get the idea.

Then more beers at the Sugar Bowl with Justin.  Awesome hanging out someone who's as if not more obsessive with tattooing/blogs as I am.

7.28.11

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TEAGAN!!!! I LOVE THIS WOMAN!!!

7.27.11

Snails are awesome, Teagan is super awesome.

7.26.11

Here's what I did the first 1/2 of my day, defrost our freezer.  The fridge is old... really old... but it's Hollywood Pink!

Before-

During-

A SMALL portion of the ice I removed-

4 1/2  hours later-

7.25.11

...just putting the finishing touches on a new printed portfolio.  I'll finish it up tonight and then send it off to print tomorrow... next up... website revamp....

7.24.11

It would seem I have issues with cameras and memory cards... this all stems from me not wanting to bring my camera home every night, so logic would dictate that if I just remove the memory card,  I can leave my camera at work....

...well, somehow in that process I've lost a memory card... then bought a new one... took a few photos yesterday... took the memory card home and updated my blog last night... brought it back to work... finished a fair sized tattoo on Shauna's ribs... and apparently forgot to put the memory card back on the camera before taking photos.....  extremely frustrating...  I've said it before, but why would any camera actually take a photo including a flash, when it does not have a memory card in it...

... I'm just going to stay calm and watch this amazing time lapse video Simon posted a few days ago.  You should to...

Timelapse - The City Limits from Dominic on Vimeo.

7.23.11

These were really fun to tattoo... once Katina and I decided we were happy with the placement... which took over an hour....  symmetrical tattoo placement....  hard to get right.... Hopefully she can come back for better photos tomorrow before heading back home to Vancouver.  I've never done symmetrical tattoos on this area of the body before.  Really good placement for a tattoo.

7.22.11

I'm extremely tired and need to be up early tomorrow so let's make this fast....

Morning appointment was working on Marcie's back, colouring sweet peas,  the big green leaves/ lily pads and the water.  Super fun and the coverup is done! 

Second appointment was a touch up on a roofer, so it's absolutely pointless taking any photos of his arm right now considering how dark he is.  But this fun new piece of equipment was delivered to me this afternoon.

7.21.11

One shot tattoos today at the shop.  First appointment, I tattooed this Triforce, Japaneses rising sun, finger wave combo.  Really bad photo because I still haven't found the memory card for my good camera and have yet to buy a new one, forcing  me to use a basic point and shoot for the time being.

Walk ins are extremely rare at Ink Machine because we don't have much walk by traffic at the studio, and normally work by appointment with full days booked well in advance.  Well, in the 4 years I've worked at the studio, I'm 99% sure that this is the first time Danny and I took walk in tattoos together.  Kim and her boyfriend called around 2pm and wanted to get "Destiny" in script.  It just so happened we both had the time, so why not?  I tattooed Kim's wrist and added a blue flower to the mix, Danny tattooed her boyfriend's inner arm.  Here it is, and actual walk in tattoo done at Ink Machine.  So yes, given the time is available, we will do walk ins.

7.20.11

After finishing up this weeks drawings, I found a bit of time to work on painting... at the coffee table while Teagan watched and I listened to Mythbusters.  Photo- Teagan

7.19.11

I've had a few misprinted skateboards from the good folks at Olive for a while now, and finally decided to sand off the graphic and get them ready to paint.

The last time I sanded off graphics, I just used the small mouse sander I own... not this time.  $11 to rent a belt sander from Home Depot for 4 hours, and it made my life about a thousand times easier...

While I was logging into blogger tonight, this appeared outside.

7.18.11

Day off... and even though it's only moderately hot,  it's unreal how humid it is.  It rains, then it gets hot, then it rains, then it gets hot...  uuuugggghhhh....

So Teagan and I could have sat in the basement all day trying to cool off... or ... Margarita Mondays... by the pitcher.   I think we made the right choice.

Pitcher #1

Pitcher #2

7.17.11

So... my memory card is missing... I'll work on that tomorrow... the good thing is there are no "portfolio" photos on it, just a bunch of blog photos which have already been posted.  So today's photos are courtesy of Teagan's point and shoot. 

It was my Friday at the studio and what a great Friday it was!  All nature stuff, all day!  Flowers, and birds, and purple background windy stuff, and leaves... so awesome. 

Tattooed my buddy Steve for the first appointment of the day.  Finished all of the background and branches/ pine cones.  Just one bird left and then a bit of add on up top in the empty space.  I didn't tattoo the bass player, and I'm to lazy to blur it out tonight....

Then, Steve wanted to get his lower toes tattooed.  No problem.  I love doing fun impromptu tattoos!  I'd be impressed if someone knew what he got, and yes, using Google search is cheating.   If you know, and aren't a cheater, leave a comment.

Second appointment was Tracey's "cover up".  Cover ups work best when the new tattoo is larger than the area that needs to be covered... I'd say we got it.  Big tattoo, and she sat like a champ, so I was able to fly through the outline faster then I expected we would.   Super awesome when someone sits like a rock while getting this area tattooed.  Nice work Tracey!

7.16.11

ARRRGGGHHHH (in a Charlie Brown voice).  I hate it when I have fun tattoos to post and forget my camera's memory card at the studio....  So... yea... no tattoo photos to post today... 

My cat's pretty awesome though...

7.15.11

Got a lot more done on Blake's sleeve today than this one photo will show.  We actually worked for about 5 hours colouring extremely detailed texture on multiple fish, and these sea turtles.  Unfortunately, this was the only photo of about 20 taken that was blog worthy....

7.14.11

Back at the studio tattooing today.  Outlined this traditional styled gambling sleeve... well... outlined most of this traditional styled gambling sleeve.  I've been having a hell of a time getting stencils to stay on skin the last few weeks.  They seem to wipe off way faster than I'd like lately... So there was a bunch of starts and clubs and diamonds and spades and hearts planned out for the background... but we'll get to those next time....

7.13.11

Mail day!  Three of my machines are back from Portland and ready for action.  The green one needed an RCA mount, the brown/blue I bought off another tattooist a while ago and needed to be sent back to be retuned to it's original state, and the pink/black one got a complete rebuild, including new hardware, fixed tube vice, smoothed out frame, and awesome neon pink/black fade.  Awesome because I just told Seth to do whatever he wanted for the rebuild using neon pink.  Nice to get a surprise in the mail!

And another nice surprise today, Justin texted me this photo.  He was at his parents house and found an old flyer I made for Jesse and I back in the Free Range Studio days.  Justin was probably my #1 client at that time.  The best part was he lived in Edmonton, while the studio was in Vancouver.  If you get it... you get it...  If you don't get it... to bad... 

 

Seeing it made me miss my little studio...

7.12.11

When Teagan and I bought our house last year, we bought it off the original owners, who had it build in 1952.  I'm pretty sure the kitchen fridge is close to that old as well.  It's hollywood pink on the inside and has a great 50's-60's shape, but is extremely small.  I'm pretty sure it's the smallest fridge I've lived with.  Well, as of today there's a bit more room in the kitchen fridge.  I found this used beer fridge on Craigslist for $30.  God bless people who are moving and desperate to get rid of their stuff. 

7.11.11

Hanging out with Justin Benson all night, drinking Brooklyn IPA on tap, drunk bike ride home.  Good times... No wait... Great times...

7.10.11

Easy and fun Sunday, which is perfect for me being that it's my Friday.  Worked on Charlotte's peacock for a few hours today and finished up the feathers on her hip.  One more session and we'll have the bottom half done.

... and I have how this song popped into my head today, but it definitely make me think of my friend Darryl.  I think we may be the only 2 people who actually liked Club Dread....

7.9.11

Finished up TWO more tattoos today!  That's super awesome!

First appointment was touching up and adding the bells and whistles to Nick's stomach.  It's such a good feeling to put the final touches on such a big tattoo.  Nick is AWESOME at getting tattooed, so I had the confidence to go in and smooth everything out that needed it, as well as add some fun details.  Thanks a bunch Nick, you're a champ!

 

Second appointment was finishing Kayla's owl.  She needed to be done within 3 hours so she could head off to work after... NO PROBLEM.  Really happy with how this turned out, especially considering we had no set ideas on colour.  I really love it when it all comes together and you make those decisions at the last second with the client.  Super fun.  She'll be back in about a month for touch ups and healed photos.

And on a sad note, it was Simon's last day with us at the studio.  He's off to Calgary to work with the boys at Deadly Tattoos for a few days.  It's always fun having Simon out, but the time seems to go way to fast.  Thanks again for the visit Simon, we'll miss you!

7.8.11

Remembered the memory card today, so here's yesterday's doings.  This is Samantha's first tattoo.   Pretty epic, both in size and subject matter.  Peonies and a junebug, so awesome.  She wasn't super happy towards the end, so I just grey lined most of the bug.  We'll go back and reline those areas next time.

Today, finished the "first pass" of Amy's deer.  We'll go back and do touch ups in about a month or so.  I'm thinking I'll also add a drop shadow under the finger waves so they pop a bit more.  Always a crazy day when you finish a big tattoo... I can tell you that Amy sure was happy!  Finishing your backpiece is definitely a major accomplishment.

Second appointment today was shading out the background of Morgan's 1/2 sleeve.   Super fun shading out clouds and wind bars.  Excited to work on this again in a few weeks.

7.7.11

I outlined a really big, fun tattoo today... but apparently I did not bring my camera's memory card home with me...  So I guess I'll have to post a photo tomorrow...

Simon started a really cool tiger with bamboo 1/2 sleeve today.  I didn't get to see how much they ended up getting done, but I'm sure it's amazing.  Photos courtesy of good ol' Instagram!

7.6.11

This pretty much sums up how I feel about the first part of my day....

I can't say I've ever had a good experience with DHL... but today was over the top ridiculous.  It's not rocket science, you're not curing cancer, you're shipping and holding packages, which apparently is too much to ask from a shipping company.  After 45 mins on the phone yesterday, 30 mins this morning, and being told to drive out to the west end dispatch to pick up my package,  I finally ended up at the airport dispatch (in case you're not from Edmonton, the airport is nowhere near the west end).  After seeing first hand how they run their show at the airport, I can confirm that they have absolutely no idea what they're doing, and I will never have anything shipped via DHL again.  I will pay extra if it means not having to use DHL.  Never again...

Positive things about today- 

I ran 10 km, which is a big deal for someone who does not/hates running.  Now I can hardly walk....

... and finally... Canada Post gets it right, as they ALWAYS do.  6 lbs of books in that box.  I loved Canada Post before, I love them even more after dealing with DHL today.  New books = Awesome.

7.5.11

So in aprox 48hrs, the Facebook Page has 80 followers.... pretty amazing.  I never expected that positive of a response so fast.  Thanks to everyone who's "liked" the page!  It is doing exactly what I had hoped, just on a larger scale, and faster than expected.  I've had way more traffic on the blog the last 2 days, and a few new followers.  Again, thank-you!!!  I'm going to do my best to keep both updated, and with different content.  

Day off today, but I found a bit of time to work on a colour study for an appointment later this week.

7.4.11

So last night I started a Facebook page for my tattoo... stuff.  Teagan set up my "personal" page probably about a year ago now... and I never use it.

However, lately I've had a bunch of people adding me, and I never check my friend requests.   Sometimes they're clients and ask why I haven't accepted their friend request. This is exactly why I have a blog and why I chose to use blogger.

I HATE the whole "friend" thing.  To me, it's dumb... adding friends, deleting friends... I'm not in High School anymore,  and I'm just not into it.

I have a blog, if you want to read my blog, awesome.  If you want to follow my blog, awesome.  You click the follow button, done.  I don't have to add people, I don't have to accept friend requests, nothing's hidden or set to "private",  I just post, and if people chose to look at it or read it, awesome. 

However, I do have to accept the fact that more people use Facebook.  So hopefully the Facebook pages fixes the "adding friends" problem.  If you want to follow me on Facebook, follow the link, and click the "Like" button.  I will still be using my blog as my primary outlet, the Facebook page will just offer another option.

However you chose to stay in touch and check out what I'm up to,   I do sincerely appreciate it and thank-you so much for showing interest in my work.  

 

(clicking on the photo or this text will link you to the Shawn O'Connor Tattoos Facebook Page)

7.3.11

Half day today, my first appointment canceled so I got Cara to come in for the morning appointment.  She happily agreed a few days prior to the appointment, but may have wanted to change her mind by this morning... I will always let the client learn for themselves why it is a bad idea to come in to get tattooed after a night of drinking...  Once you've tried it once, it's extremely unlikely you'll do it again...Despite the bleeding, we still managed to get a couple hours done.  Coloured a flower, ladybug, and background.

7.2.11

Lots to blog about and I'm tired, so let's get this party started.

Morning appointment- Outline Rodney's chest.  Sat like a rock, as always...

Afternoon appointment- Colouring Jon's background.  Purple sky= Awesome.

,

Simon's first day tattooing for this round of his guest spot.  Rory already has an amazing sleeve by Simon.  Today he started one side of his ribs.  He brought in a deer skull, and Simon free handed it on his ribs.  Unreal.