abees

I don't think I posted the lithograph I bought from Trevor/Ed at last year's London convention. But here it is - Nurse Mercy.

I don't think I posted the lithograph I bought from Trevor/Ed at last year's London convention. But here it is - Nurse Mercy.

Ok, I'll type up a quick little recap with some pictures of the weekend. I'll be honest: I didn't really take a ton of photos. There were some people there taking pictures of absolutely everything. I felt weird doing that, so I tried to just get a few that were representative of what was there. I'm sure more will surface, but this is everything I took.
Also, I didn't go to the lectures, but when I got there on Saturday for my 12:30 appointment, the lecture had just ended. The place was absolutely mobbed when I went up, and Ed was signing books and posters for a long line of people. He ended up leaving fairly soon after that was done, but Trevor stayed there and showed art and chatted with anyone who had questions or wanted to buy stuff. By all accounts, the lectures were incredible. Rubendall said that they'd be up online in the near future, and obviously @Iwar posted that teaser above.
First and foremost, I'll start with some of the art. Ed had a few different collections of things. These first ones were my favorite. They were all paintings, with an etching or rubbing over the top, in a way that almost reminded me of some of the Devita stuff they've had there before, but with Ed-styled paintings underneath. Very cool.

In that same collection were two incredible tiger paintings. I would've killed to buy these, but they were sold already and I'm poor as fuck. Haha.


He also had a lot of crazy morphs. Below are two of them, and the panther/snake morph on silver had about six others that were similar. Grez actually bought the one posted below.


There was also this collection with the "pig thing" and a bunch of drippy/bendy/wild panthers. My buddy was about to buy this one, but his wife was NOT having it.

I think the real highlight was going through a ton of original stencils and drawings that Trevor had in a binder. He didn't have them out for the longest time, then when I saw him take them out, I bolted over. I only took one pic, but there was some amazing stuff in here. I just pored through a ton of it with a few people and each thing was more amazing than the last.


Here's the flash they were tattoing from as well as the Hardy gorilla my buddy got from Grez (bloody eyes and all). Grez was beyond excited to do it, as he'd never done that tattoo in all of his years. He told us stories about getting tattooed by Ed, as well as one about Ed freehanding on Brian Bruno towards the end of his career. Next time I get tattooed by him I'm making him take his pants off to show me. He said he would.



I think that's it for now. I'm sure more will come to me, but I wanted to share a bit of what I saw.

From Mike Rubendall's youtube page:
This video journal was the introduction from Day 1 of the Ed Hardy Lectures, "Pictures of the Gone World" at Kings Avenue Tattoo. It features Ed Hardy's works throughout his career, some of which have never been made available to the public. It also features never before seen clips of Ed's personal journey.

I started my back last Thursday with Alex Binnie at Into You in London. The snakes head, and the maple leaves were stencils, and the snakes body was drawn on. The outline will continue onto my backside, and will be done next time. The time tattooing was roughly between 3 1/2 - 4 hours.

Session #8 ...a respectable 2.5hrs (27.5hrs total...what the seriously?).
I was a bit anxious about this session. It was the first session that deviated from our regular routine (Mondays @12pm, take the day off work, wake up early, workout/train/stretch, eat big-large, pack my thermos and meal). I worked a really intense half day at my day job in engineering. Slammed a coffee, ate a sandwich, arrived at 3pm and ate a bunch of rice and beets.
Steve took some time to draw-on the dragon into the monk robe directly.

Dragon was quickly outlined.
Coloured in with gold and yellow.
The robe was coloured in with a dark cherry red.
I made it through a heavy 2.5hrs on the spine, shoulder blades and bbq-back-ribs. Damn, my right side hurts more than the left! We were both happy to call it for the day. I'm still bruised from the section below 2 weeks ago too...
I'm feeling very connected to the details of this piece. The symbolism of the good luck dragon in the robe - I've been part of my kung fu school's dragon team for the last 10 years. Before Sifu passed, he reminded me that the Dragon is the signature form of his kung fu school and to keep his legacy going. It is with great honour that I carry the image and power of the Shaolin monk on my back. And as I was getting this work done, I drew strength from some of my junior kung fu brothers and sisters who are presently over in China training at Shao Lin. We came close to busting the needle bar at the end of the sitting, joking about my iron shirt technique haha. No seriously though, you could hear a nasally phase shift in the sound of the machine response, sounded like a jews harp!
I'm back at it in early-June for Session #9 ...likely the final session in which Steve will tackle the robe trim details and skin tones and eyes on the monk.
Then it's time to relax and enjoy what is looking like a busy exciting summer for me. Go lake swimming, camping and burn my shirt in any fire pit that crosses my path haha. Steve and I will regroup in the fall after the ink has settled in for touchups and we will hit ALL the black again to really saturate the shit out of it. Then the real fun begins...filling the remaining small openings in my suit with fun little tattoos.
"Eric, I'm bummed we are almost done! I'm never gonna see ya again...I really enjoy tattooin ya man!"
Shout out to Steve Batt in Edmonton, AB. One of the most underrated and skilled tattooers in Canada...seriously this cat is on a different level, constantly striving to improve and progress his drawing, composition and tattooing.
amituofo
:cool:

I started my back last Thursday with Alex Binnie at Into You in London. The snakes head, and the maple leaves were stencils, and the snakes body was drawn on. The outline will continue onto my backside, and will be done next time. The time tattooing was roughly between 3 1/2 - 4 hours.

This is why I love leaving deposits. Makes me feel like I'm paying less for my tattoo at the end of the day.

Mine put her glasses on, asked if it said "mum", I said "yes", she slightly sighed and hasn't mentioned it since :D

Mine put her glasses on, asked if it said "mum", I said "yes", she slightly sighed and hasn't mentioned it since :D

Mine. Healed/hairy. By Bert Krak, done at Frith Street.

Mine. Healed/hairy. By Bert Krak, done at Frith Street.

I haven't got a "mum" tattoo specifically, but the woman with the sewing machine that i have in my gallery was for my mum. She was a seamstress when i was little so i have a lot of memories of being surrounded by sewing machines. She cried when i first showed it to her, which is about the best approval i could have hoped for

Mine. Healed/hairy. By Bert Krak, done at Frith Street.

Mine. Healed/hairy. By Bert Krak, done at Frith Street.

Grats on starting the process @abees. Have fun with it all!

I started my back last Thursday with Alex Binnie at Into You in London. The snakes head, and the maple leaves were stencils, and the snakes body was drawn on. The outline will continue onto my backside, and will be done next time. The time tattooing was roughly between 3 1/2 - 4 hours.

I started my back last Thursday with Alex Binnie at Into You in London. The snakes head, and the maple leaves were stencils, and the snakes body was drawn on. The outline will continue onto my backside, and will be done next time. The time tattooing was roughly between 3 1/2 - 4 hours.

Another sitting with Grez this Saturday during the Hardy weekend at Kings Avenue.

Tony Hundahl filler and Chad Koeplinger blastover in a couple of weeks, and finish my leg with Marius Meyer in July

Back on the table in 1 week. Colour, detail and patterns on the monks robe for my backpiece.
Also may be planning a tattoo pit stop in BC with my wife on our way back home to Alberta from the lake this summer.
May hit up Five Fathoms Tattoo in Vernon for her (well prob me too) and Timber Tattoo in Nelson to get some more work from Shawn O'Connor.

Did you ever have the chance to get work done by someone and passed it up for one reason or another? You shake your head in disgust every time you think about it? I don't mean a wishlist, but actual stories of the one that got away.
Mine was Ed Hardy around 1992 @ Tattoo City. I had already traveled out to S.F. twice and had work done by Eddy Deutsche, Dan Higgs and guest artist Henk Schiffmacher. Both times I hung around the shop for 2-3 days solid and stayed with Eddy and Alex Herman. Saw my first lungfish show then too....
The third time I went out to get work done by Marcus Pacheco and have Eddy finish my sleeve, Ed was around the shop for a couple days, which i hadn't seen on my previous visits. I asked Eddy to introduce me if possible. He did, and told Ed I was his old (Eddy's) friend from "the mean streets of Detroit" which wasn't really true. Ed was cordial but all business as he looked up for a second, shook my hand, and went back to his business. I mentioned to him "I would love to get some work done" by him and I was travelling to S.F. a couple times a year to get tattooed. Eddy told me "every once in a while, Ed will come in a do a few walk ins and leave. As I was staying with Eddy, I got invited to go to the movies "with a bunch of guys from the shop". That night Eddy and I went and met Corbin, Higgs, Igor Mortis and a few others at the theater to see American Me. As we were hanging around outside bullshitting, Ed Hardy walks up and we all go in and see the movie.
The next day, As Eddy was finishing my sleeve, I noticed Ed in the shop again. I went out of my way to say Hi when he came over to see what Eddy was doing. He was polite and hung around for a few minutes,then vanished. Later, when we were done, I saw Ed again. This time he said to me " I have some time later (when he got back from an errand or something) if you wanna get tattooed". I nearly shit myself..... I said, I would talk to him when he got back....
I was simultaneously flustered/excited/nervous. This was my shot to get tattooed by one of the greats and I had almost NO MONEY! I had already withdrawn all the money in my bank account and my 1 credit card was maxed. I asked Eddy if he would give me back the money I just paid him with the promise i would repay him in a week or two with interest..he said No, he needed what I paid him. I called my mom to wire me money and was again told "NO"!
When Ed got back to the shop, I had to embarrassingly tell him "thanks. but can't do it this time". I told him I would be out again and would DEFINITELY love to get some work done. He smiled and said "nice meeting you".
well, you can guess the rest.......... Share your stories about the one(s) that got away!

Just finished my left inner arm with Tim McAlary at Port City Tattoo, LBC. My recommendation is to book the appointment, then bounce ideas off your tattooer and something is bound to stick.
I definitely wasn't planning on getting a "Boxing Jesus surrounded by 4 eyes, and a flower and a spider and a black drop."

Both by Chad Koeplinger.

Looking really good so far!