Inspirations of Nature:From Skin to Paper
I had planned to do some camping with some friends the last couple of days but unfortunately that didn't happen. So, I took the days off anyway and spent some quality time at the ol' drawing table instead. I have to say, its felt great! I spend most of my creative energy on tattoos in my day to day, so having time to do art for art's sake can be really rejuvenating. The piece I mentioned in a recent "The Drawing Board" segment is now a couple hours away from completion, and that in its self is a huge accomplishment. Pen and ink work tends to take tons of time even when it goes fast, but with an extra undisturbed day to work I now have two of the three ideas looking pretty damn good!
For now though, it's once again back to the grind. Today I'll be tattooing some more flowers on a return client who is accumulating quite the garden at this point! I'm personally a big fan of flower and nature based tattoos. They always have a timeless appeal and artistically there seem to be no limitations in the infinite ways to represent them. Today's tattoo does have a small cover up to address however, so I'm not sure what the approach will be until I get in there and start drawing. Normally I work off of reference photos that I take myself in the the spring and early summer. In this way I always use fresh never before seen reference. I like the concept that not only is a tattoo a representation of the life and time of the person, but also reflects the specific time and season of the region the tattoo was created in. Pretty cool!
Speaking of flowers, last night, I met up with my buddies Johnny Smith and Matt Driscoll for a late night drawing session with chalk pastels. I did an abstract version of one of my favorite rose pictures from this past season and I'm super happy with how it turned out! If your interested in checking it out pop into my instagram page [@ritual_art]. It's regularly filled with real time updates only seen on IG, and soon I will begin a series of giveaways! I have a stack of goodies just waiting for a shipping address. Tune in for a chance to win prints, original sketches, drawings, and much more!