getting tattooed, Zorn and making pictures
I was honored to get tattooed recently by the Amazing Chris Dingwell. I have known Chris for more years than I was able to figure out and while Paul has gotten extensive work from him, I thus far had not. As if that wasn’t cool enough all on it’s own – the Lovely and Talented Holly Azzara came and hung out with us while I was getting tattooed. Which helped lots even if it may have been boring for Holly since I don’t cope terribly well with getting tattooed. I totally forgot to take any photos of my own so here are the ones that I pulled from each of their instagrams.
The rabbit and elk are based on the work of Beth Cavener Stichter.
I’m a complete baby when I get tattooed and Chris was wonderfully patient and having Holly there helped. Hopefully I will conduct myself with more dignity when we are working on the color.
This Chris had me make some lilies for her years ago to camouflage a birthmark that she was unhappy with. She came back and we drew this “little” addition to the existing tattoo. This type of design is nice to draw on since it allows me to make the lilies and swirls flow better on her body. We decided afterwards to reoutline the older tattoo – so she will be back soon to have that done.
On Tuesday I presented for the New York Figure Study Guild on the difference between designing images for a 2D surface and designing images for placement on the body. I was incredibly nervous but have since been assured that I did well and that the attendees enjoyed themselves and learned something new. That was better than I could have hoped for! (My primary objective was not to throw up.)
They also allowed me to hang some work – the paintings are kind of hard to see here, but I think that I have posted all of them here previously. 
On an unrelated to anything note – I found this old picture from “back in the day”.
And on a wonderful note some of us were able to go and meet Miss Mariah for breakfast – had a wonderful visit and can’t wait until she is ready to be back at the shop. I miss hearing her giggle while we are at work.
Got to work on this Octopus tattoo (second sitting) this will be an amazing piece and I look forward to sharing the progress here. 
On Sunday Debra VanWert organized a bunch of artists (which in of itself is like herding cats) and we got together to studio the Zorn Palette. If you aren’t familiar with this artist he is worth looking up Anders Zorn – he worked with an exceptionally limited palette – primarily consisting of black, white, cadmium red and yellow ochre (some people believe that he also used a blue sometimes – but I won’t argue that one either way).
I’ve never done one of these before and I decided part way through to ignore some of the directions… but I had a great time, learned lots and am inspired to try some new things with my paintings.
Here is mine before I pulled the tape off 
There was lots of mixing and messing to get to that point. 
Here is Pat DeLuca‘s while she was working on it (and my glutard friendly snacks). 
And Brian O’Neill‘s before he pulled the tape off. 
The finished project. No idea what I am going to do with it – but I am pretty pleased with myself anyhow 🙂
Monday night was figure drawing (it was cancelled last week due to the weather). I am having a hard time with the new format – I miss having more of the shorter poses to warm up and figure out what I am doing – but I am sure that I will adjust in no time.
(kind of lost track of time on that last one)
Today was back to making tattoos and I got to make a very fun tattoo for a great client. This is Chris’ dog Balboa. (There were an unusual number of Chrises in this update).
Just TeeJay's Blog 
I was recently having a conversation with a coworker and friend about our ‘colors’. I initiated the conversation, because I felt that he was open and honest enough for the question I posed. He had overheard part of a conversation, and seemed insulted that a guy was referrred to as brown. I asked him if it was bad to say that he was brown. Of course he wanted to know why, and I explained that others have gotten quite angry when I said they were brown, and one vehemently stated she was black, not brown. Thus the conversation with him.
He looked terribly confused and said he was black (I think he may have thought I was referring to some type of combined raciality as he is light skinned). I asked what he thought I was, and he said white.
Nope, I replied, I am pink and you are brown. He’s still not getting me. So I got a piece of paper, and said this, this is white. I held it up to me. This is not me, it’s flat and lifeless. Then I found something that was black and held it to him, this isn’t you, you are rich and vibrant and this is just… black. I told him my words for it all started years ago when my niece was in school, and had a difficult time with race and color, and where she belonged. I told her that I saw it different than some people. Her daddy was like coffee, and I was like skim milk… And she was like café latte… and they were all awesome. She laughed and thought fast, and said her mama was like strawberry quick (a bit of rosacea).
The light started to come on a bit, with a bit of amusement and lingering confusion. I explained that I look at people with an artist eye, not a political or ethnic eye. So, we got back to brown. He said he thinks of brown as really dark and I agreed; there are so many colors… with so many awesome names… burnt sienna, ochre, mahogany….
So we tabled for a couple days. About a week later he approached me. He took my hand, he turned my arm over and he really look at my skin. He said wow you really are pink. So, I really studied him (not creepily though) and came back the next day. I told him I finally nailed his color.
Sun drenched honey, with a smidge of a rosy glow. The sweet look that came into his eyes only enhanced that.
And why am I putting that here? Well, your Zorn reminded me of that conversation, and you didn’t know what to do with your play colors. They made me think of your medical clients, and their desire through your talents to have some semblance of themselves back through medical tattooing. I think something like that piece, just as it is in it’s little squares, would be cool in the area where you work. The computer may not represent he colors well, so I don’t know how realistic the colors are; but something just like that so clients can point to what color they used to have, or compare to the other side. While I’m certain you have ways of looking at color charts with your people, that just seemed really awesome because someone can see that you can blend colors to get anything in between and could help combine the possibilities of color with their desire.
I imagine some people might initially think it’s like lipstick… the only options are a nude, 3 factory pinks, 3 browns and red. Just like in life, there is a paint box full of people.
I love the new tat! ❤
I'm so jealous of the Octopus tattoo, it's looking fantastic!