9.30.11

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

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

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

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

9.26.11

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

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

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

9.23.11

Banff

 

9.22.11

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

9.6.11

Tomorrow's lines ready to go

9.5.11

 

9.4.11

It's been six years that this lovely lady and I have been together as of this weekend, coming up on one year being married. I'm one lucky guy.

9.3.11

...another day... another really fun tattoo... another horrible photo of said fun tattoo...

9.2.11

Worked on Kyle's gambling sleeve today.  We got a bunch done because Kyle filled me full of food energy by ordering pizza half way through the appointment.... or because he sat for a long time...or both...

9.1.11

I outlined a sleeve or roses and bluejays today... and got a small part of one photo that was in focus...  It Teagan and I weren't saving up for our trip to Chicago... I would buy a new camera tomorrow...