semele

@Fala Yep, I've been looking into Tamarind--I'll probably PM you with some questions if you don't mind! I work in a humanities department at OSU, but got adopted by the print department and help out a lot. I do about half litho, half intaglio, but litho is what got me into printmaking.

@Pugilist A friend and I here have been talking about getting "Print or Die" reaper tattoos in the near future, and we've been making t-shirts that say ridiculous things like "Born With a Brayer."

I never, ever would have guessed this. I sorta figured a lot of the artists on here had been doing this forever because the work looks so accomplished to me. If you don't mind my asking, how did you go about learning?

I took an intro drawing class at the college where I teach, and HATED drawing still lives, but it got me drawing fifteen hours a week. I picked up a bunch of drawing books too, which were of varying helpfulness, but it's really all just practice and having the patience to work through things that don't look good quickly. I don't think I'll ever have the best technical drawing skills ever, but I started a little less than two years ago and made some solid progress. I think starting late has definitely been motivating, and I know I didn't have the dedication or direction to work like I'm working now when I was in my early twenties.

I think getting tattooed gave me a really intense appreciation for craft, and dedication and hard work. It was a tattooer that convinced me that I could still learn to draw at 25, and that obsession with craft eventually drew me to printmaking and has kept me there. Now I'm thinking of training to become a master printmaker.

I have a piece going into a gallery show in around a month... it's the first show I'll be in that isn't affiliated with the school I work for.

Like @bongsau, I kept a spreadsheet for eight years because I am a chart-loving nerd, but I stopped remembering to update it about a year ago. I'll probably figure it out one day when I'm particularly bored, but I'm sure it's less than 200 hours and I'm done apart from strange gaps.

I got a really creepy text this afternoon from a guy who has been long distance stalking me for four years, but who I thought I had successfully dodged for good in January. Had to block new iterations of him on everything. Gross gross gross.

I fell into comics last semester, and have become obsessed with Joe Sacco. Footnotes on Gaza and Safe Area Gorazde are two of my favorite books, period. I'm working through his collaboration with Chris Hedges now--Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt.

I've also been digging Jason Lutes' work: Berlin 1 &2 are great, but Jar of Fools was something special.

Thanks for the kind words, y'all! I am so stoked both to have it and to be done with it--I got it done in about a year, which flew by (even if each session was a mini eternity) but I'm excited to not have to heal this summer.

I suppose I'll contribute to our collection of giant ass-flowers. Finished a few weeks ago by Grez!

Ah boy, tattoo anxiety settling in. The back is such a mind game. Even a few beers deep and I'm still apprehensive. I'm going to be so happy when this is over with. Anyone else who has a completed back piece ever get to that stage where you just want it over with? I've been pretty patient with this whole process, and it's completely worth it, but damn, it would be nice to have this thing done, ha. Been 13 months so far.

Oh god yes. I had a FAST back piece and I was ready for it to be done about two sessions before it was. Or maybe it was whenever the first session on the ass was. I love your phrase "big ass ass lotus." I have a big ass ass rose. I've been done a few weeks now, and I'm still basking in relief that it's finished. Your back looks great!

I had the final session on my back Saturday, and I'm pretty much out of room so no more big tattoos for me. So now I'm at the stage of leaving red and green dead skin flakes everywhere like some sort of gross Hansel and Gretel, and... I'm weirdly sentimental about it! As if having a square foot of your skin being annoying is something to miss. On the other hand, I will never feel nostalgic for the two nights I couldn't sleep because both cheeks and both hips were sore. It was a fun session.

I wound up taking a four month break, when life and a career change and airlines (mostly airlines) got in the way, but I am fiiiiiiiiiinally back in with Grez this Saturday!!! I think my back will be done, or within spitting distance of it anyway. I was getting pretty burned out towards the end of winter, but this break has been long enough that I've forgotten tattoos hurt and I'm excited again.

I've gotten kind of obsessed with stone litho--I didn't even know what lithography WAS a few months ago and now I basically live in the print shop. I'm still figuring things out, but here are a couple pieces I've been ruining my back with this spring, both editions of 11 on somerset and BFK printmaking papers.

I'm going to learn to etch copper plates next, I think.

That amount of tattooing on your back is no joke dude! I would say you did damn well. I usually sit for 5 hours at a time on my back and its all I can do to remain functional.

Seriously! I used to sit really well, but I'm down to three, three and a half hours on my back and I'm barely functional at the end of it. 5 and 6 hours is pretty good in my book. The back has been the only tattoo to bring me to my quitting point nearly every session--this shit is hard.

Hey dudes!

I have been really into folky, bluegrass type music lately. I know we have some big fans of that here. I am always looking for bands and performers that other people like so I thought a thread for this type of music would be cool. I am going to post some of my current favorites and then you all can post away! Cheers!

The Punch Brothers

Be gentle with the banhammer for musical opinions guys!

I've gotten to see a lot of the various Punch Brothers recently--Chris Thile made a stop here during his solo tour in October, and I caught Noam Pikelny when I was in Brooklyn, then the Punch Brothers around New Years. I'll probably go to their show at Oberlin in a month, too. The Chris Thile show in particular was a treat--whenever I want to feel like a lazy asshole, I google what he was doing. When he was say, eight.

Sixth session, almost done! By Grez. Said goodbye to my old and very odd lower back tattoo yesterday, too.

It's the butt. I've had just about every shitty spot tattooed (that I will get tattooed anyway), and I'm sure I have mentioned other places within this thread, but the butt surpasses them all in worst-ness by at least 2:1.

This article says that it's only nearly a third (of the what, twenty morons on the dating website they polled?) that don't like tattooed women, so this piece is extra dumb. But what bothers me is that they say women don't like cowboy boots?!

When I saw that on IG, I really debated hopping on a bus up and crashing on @huggernaut's couch. Turns out his manager at work took that spot! Bummed you had to cancel, but at least you'll get in at the end of the month!

Ha, small world. I was actually getting a little burned out from getting tattooed (and traveling to get tattooed) all the goddamn time, so getting an extra month to recharge is almost more of a relief than it is a bummer.

I had to cancel my back session for today with Grez--maybe one of you NY locals got to nab the cancelation?--so I get to wait until the end of the month. Looking forward to it since we started the coverup portion last time, and that old tattoo was kind of creepy BEFORE it had half a face!

Other than that I'll be at the printmaking conference in San Francisco for a few days in March and will probably get something small. Unless I am so crippled by indecision that I wind up getting nothing!

I might be the only bluegrass nut on here, but I loved Noam Pikelny Plays Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe.

I've been taking muscle relaxers for my back sessions, and it helps a lot with twitching!