9Years

What the hell, I'll throw my hat into the ring. By El Monga guesting at Spider Murphy's in August. Healed shot.

What the hell, I'll throw my hat into the ring. By El Monga guesting at Spider Murphy's in August. Healed shot.

What the hell, I'll throw my hat into the ring. By El Monga guesting at Spider Murphy's in August. Healed shot.

What the hell, I'll throw my hat into the ring. By El Monga guesting at Spider Murphy's in August. Healed shot.

What the hell, I'll throw my hat into the ring. By El Monga guesting at Spider Murphy's in August. Healed shot.

What the hell, I'll throw my hat into the ring. By El Monga guesting at Spider Murphy's in August. Healed shot.

What the hell, I'll throw my hat into the ring. By El Monga guesting at Spider Murphy's in August. Healed shot.

What the hell, I'll throw my hat into the ring. By El Monga guesting at Spider Murphy's in August. Healed shot.

What the hell, I'll throw my hat into the ring. By El Monga guesting at Spider Murphy's in August. Healed shot.

What the hell, I'll throw my hat into the ring. By El Monga guesting at Spider Murphy's in August. Healed shot.

@Lance Thanks for posting that. Really cool stuff!
Now that there's a bit of time passed since the convention I feel like I've processed it enough to have an opinion.
This was the first convention that I've attended and I've gotta say, I'm not sure it's my thing. Don't get me wrong, I had a great time, spent too much money on prints/art etc (including a relatively spontaneous tattoo with Greg Christian that is totally awesome), watched my wife get two excellent tattoos from Stewart Robson, was totally blown away by a lot of the tattooing I saw happening, met some of you guys, etc etc etc. But the whole thing was pretty overwhelming for me.
I guess it really solidified a few things about what I enjoy about tattoo experience: going to a shop, seeing the culture that has been cultivated and created there, talking with the tattooers, making bad jokes...soaking it all up, y'know? As inspiring as the whole thing was, I think I can only handle small doses of the convention environment!

What the hell, I'll throw my hat into the ring. By El Monga guesting at Spider Murphy's in August. Healed shot.

What the hell, I'll throw my hat into the ring. By El Monga guesting at Spider Murphy's in August. Healed shot.

@Lance Thanks for posting that. Really cool stuff!
Now that there's a bit of time passed since the convention I feel like I've processed it enough to have an opinion.
This was the first convention that I've attended and I've gotta say, I'm not sure it's my thing. Don't get me wrong, I had a great time, spent too much money on prints/art etc (including a relatively spontaneous tattoo with Greg Christian that is totally awesome), watched my wife get two excellent tattoos from Stewart Robson, was totally blown away by a lot of the tattooing I saw happening, met some of you guys, etc etc etc. But the whole thing was pretty overwhelming for me.
I guess it really solidified a few things about what I enjoy about tattoo experience: going to a shop, seeing the culture that has been cultivated and created there, talking with the tattooers, making bad jokes...soaking it all up, y'know? As inspiring as the whole thing was, I think I can only handle small doses of the convention environment!

What the hell, I'll throw my hat into the ring. By El Monga guesting at Spider Murphy's in August. Healed shot.

What the hell, I'll throw my hat into the ring. By El Monga guesting at Spider Murphy's in August. Healed shot.

There's a long story about the 'why' of us getting that particular design...
To condense it- when we started dating a mutual friend told us that our being happy was 'just the honeymoon phase. don't worry, it will pass' and we were blown away by how snarky and shitty a comment it was. So we started joking about getting a tattoo that was ambiguously a nod to Honey Moon Phase as a bigolfuckyou joke.
I've never gotten a tattoo with a partner before and when we were discussing it we decided not to add initials or date or anything to 'play it safe' but ultimately it was a really great experience.

I'm a big fan of the ol' "I don't really like tattoos, but yours are so____"
(insert your choice of favorable adjective)
People are funny.

My appointment with Matt ran late, which is par for the course at conventions. It also allowed me to go to an impromptu LST dinner with @Reyeslv and his wife, @cvportagee and his wife, @ian, @Scott R and @Lance. Three Jill Bonny backs at one table!
When we got back, Matt was ready to roll. He drew on the eagle and banged it out in no time. It was fun; I had Thomas Hooper on one side of me and Steve Byrne on the other, while @Stewart Robson and @Valerie Vargas were right across from me. The eagle, by the way, came out great:


And @beez, your back looks great! You were handling it like a champ.
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And @MoistTowelette, don't make us beg!

I'm a big fan of the ol' "I don't really like tattoos, but yours are so____"
(insert your choice of favorable adjective)
People are funny.

Maybe not what you were thinking, but this moon is pretty cool. It's on a buddy of mine and done by Aaron Mason at Soul Expressions Tattoo in Temecula, CA.

Pumped!
My wife has an appt with Mr. Stewart Robson of Frith St. today at opening, so I'll be hanging around there if anyone wants to come say hello.
Me: Long hair/Acid King T-shirt.

Pumped!
My wife has an appt with Mr. Stewart Robson of Frith St. today at opening, so I'll be hanging around there if anyone wants to come say hello.
Me: Long hair/Acid King T-shirt.

Pumped!
My wife has an appt with Mr. Stewart Robson of Frith St. today at opening, so I'll be hanging around there if anyone wants to come say hello.
Me: Long hair/Acid King T-shirt.

Pumped!
My wife has an appt with Mr. Stewart Robson of Frith St. today at opening, so I'll be hanging around there if anyone wants to come say hello.
Me: Long hair/Acid King T-shirt.