Gobble Gobble

Happy Turkey Day. I'm stuffed with a bounty of delicious food! How about you?
I was remarking upon the difference between this turkey (image above, from the awesome blog recommended by Paul- Shorpy) and the size of the turkey I and 11 other people attempted to eat today. It was 32 lbs.

Lucia in all her animal-science knowledge, informed me that turkeys have been bred to produce so much muscle that they can no longer breed on their own. All domesticated turkeys are now artificially inseminated (I'm sure there are some free-range exceptions to this rule).

How I like the internet to be:

Mysterious...

Appalling....

Filled with elegant design and half-remembered sentences,

artistic collaborations seemingly from nothing....

dream drawings and simple and frightening navigation:

Polite Winter: a website/ a conversation between James Jean and Kenichi Hoshine

The temple

* to people that may stumble on this image: this is a custom design that I drew for a specific person. Please respect their self-expression and do not copy this tattoo (I know this happens because I have people bringing pictures off the internet in every day at work). All rights reserved! Thank you.*

Aimee drove up on Friday night to get some more work done on her backpiece. It started as a small peacock feather (one of my early tattoo suggestions, executed by Zack at Lovedog Tattoo, I think we were about 18) that was badly faded from years of not using sunblock on it. She still got compliments on it, but wanted to touch it up and add to it. That's where I came in.
Since I've known Aimee for 24 years I have a really good idea of her personal style and asthetic (it's very close to mine, since we developed our taste together) and so I designed something for her completely from scratch. I also made the feather bigger and redid the eye. You can see the changes, though the "before" picture is pretty dark.
I am going to fill in the Indonesian temple/henna/lace design all in dark burgundy red so it will contrast with the green in the feather fronds. I love having the freedom to design this kind of work- for women especially. I think there are so many options for flattering and meaningful tattoos that really accentuate and celebrate the shape of the body.
I am working (ever-so-slowly) on a sketchbook of flash; absolutely my art-nouveau-inspired drawings, and nothing else. I want to mainly explore mixing realistic images (like the peacock feather) with flat non-representational designs. I think one will set the other off, and incorporate the realistic design more smoothly into the shape of the person's body. Does this make sense? Maybe I will just have to SHOW you in the future!

before after (in progress)

Monkey fun and Monkey wrench

Our opening was great, mostly because of the number of caring friends and family that showed up (costumed) and also because of how KILLER our shop looks. I think it has something that will appeal to everyone, be they low-brow hipster graffiti street art kids or magical bohemian forest-folk (cause we get SO MANY of those in here hahaha). The walls are jewel-tones, we have luminous amazing mural done by Victor, AND a luminous and very different mural done by Jess (both of the same thing: a phoenix), and a painting of peacock feather jellyfish in the office done by yours truly. Whew. Chris painted the inside of the piercing room acid-yellow and dark brown in his signature soft-cornered abstract-geometric style so you FEEL like you are inside one of his paintings. So cool.
I hope you all have looked at the Primary Concepts- The Genesis Flickr set by now. The Grand Opening was mellow, and everyone seemed really impressed and excited at this addition to the Davis art scene. I think the environment inside the shop is really affecting people. We wanted it to be comfortable and striking and amazing and so many things....it was our perfect solution and our ideas of what to do with it are still pouring out. I am looking forward to see the way it evolves, especially as the others involved (as apprentices and employees) start inhabiting it more than just Jess, Chris and I (O.K. and Bob, who has been such a help and tireless support. He's been there as much as I. You should have seen him reading vampire stories out loud to me and Jess at 3 in the morning as we painted and repainted...)
Our crew is thus: Tony- an art student and great guy (a frat boy, but seemingly free of all frattish attributes!) will be Chris's piercing apprentice. Cooper- a bluegrass musician and fantastiche personality from Santa Cruz will be manning the solid-gold office! And I do mean manning! Paul- a piercer also from SC, quiet and sweet, soft-spoken would be an understatment, will hopefully allow us to pierce 7 days a week! Jess- tattooista extroidinare and queen of the world (or, MY world). Chris- piercer with ninja- steady hands and the exuberance of an 8 year old boy on Jolt cola. Bob- uber-nerd with dreamboat eyes will alos be manning the solid gold office 2 days a week. Kai- apprentice makes her way into the carpal-tunnel of 5 days regular tattoo work! Sweet! I have great expectation for us all really becoming a supportive family. Along with the other folks that drop by and help (and damn, most of our clients), we are already halfway there. I am so excited.
Here is the monkey wrench; 3 days after the opening party, my sweetheart left again, for 50 days this time, on a science-trip to the area of ocean between Tierra Del Fuego and Antarctica. Every time it takes getting used to - the bigger bed, the autonomy, the loneliness at certain times of the day and especially, night. I clean the room completely, I throw myself into projects more than I usually would, I get a good book to read. He and I are reading the same thing right now: Spook Country by William Gibson. I read an interview with Gibson where he said that the only art magazine he reads is Juxtapoz. AWESOME! In this one he takes on the underground art world. SO far it is delicious. He is seriously one of my favorite authors ever, and I savor (especially his most recent) work in a way that, .....well, possibly in a way that I only can when I am alone again, and have stretches of time where I can lose myself.