It could be that I'm still all hyper about this past week. Friday fellow resident Off the Map Tattoo artist Ben Reigle and I worked for 8 hours on a collaborative rib tattoo. I focused on the valkyrie herself, plus her wings, while Ben took on the script, "Guide me home, my valkyrie", the banners, the vines and the roses (which are in fact a fairly large coverup). Overall I think we're both very happy. And excited, to boot, as we got Tattoo of the Day at tattooNOW on January 31st! It was a lot of hard work and I know Ben and I were pretty sore, but no one is more badass than our customer, Patrick, who sat for 8 hours without flinching while two artists worked on him. Holy crap!

Last night Off the Map also hosted it's monthly Art Jam. I got there late, but the place was still packed with buttloads of talented artists. And everyone was having fun. I missed the pizza, which I'm assuming was probably the best pizza ever created by human hands. But I'm probably just assuming that because I didn't get any of it. I made a lot of progress on the second piece in the Machine vs. Vines series, the first of which can be seen in my original artwork gallery. And the spectacular, and super-talented Chloe Vanessa and I discovered a drink that tastes like old people! So it was a good night.

I've got a busy few weeks coming up. Some big tattoos I'll be starting, and some that I'll be wrapping up (including a Mucha-inspired backpiece I'm pretty rabid about). I've still got a few openings though, so e-mail me, call the shop (413-527-6574), or stop by and we can chat it up.