Then when I return (provided my life isn't cut tragically short by a 30,000ft plummeting ball of steel, fire and death), I'll be getting tattooed by Luca Natalini! Someone I've admired for a long time, and I'm super psyched to wear his work.

Shortly after that it's the Paradise Artist Retreat!!! I'm getting more and more excited, and less scared (although I suspect all my fear might just be temporarily congregating in the "oh shit I'm getting on a plane oh god" part of my brain. I think that's near the back.) I've been painting a lot lately, and I'm really really enjoying it. I'd never oil painted before this summer so I'm pretty excited to have the artist retreat right as I start out.

Finally, Off the Map held a charity event to benefit the gulf coast. Tim Senecal, Chloe Vanessa, Ben Reigle and I all collaborated on a mixed media piece addressing the disaster. The four of us along with Hector Cedillo and John Von Glahn tattooed all day August 8th from custom made sheets of flash designed by Tim, Ben, Chloe, George Perham and I. All the flash dealt (either very directly or indirectly) with the BP spill. Every penny made that day went to The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana. I strongly suggest taking a look at their website and donating. We all had a hand in the disaster, as much as we'd like to deny it. So it's our responsibility to help clean up the mess we've made.

I have some very exciting things coming up. So as soon as those plans become solid, I'll post all about them.