Last Weekend's Tat Con...

We had a booth at the Art Riot tattoo convention in Boxborough, MA last weekend. My mother once told me that if you didn't have anything nice to say, you shouldn't say anything at all.



But, I guess it wasn't all bad. Our friend Myke Chambers was our booth neighbor, so that was a plus. And our booth looked good. And the only other thing worth mentioning is that Katie and I took home some trophies... for being AWESOME!

Paradise Tattoo Gathering 2...

The weekend of September 17th-20th we again found ourselves in the Berkshires, the mountains of western Massachusetts. Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort was host of the second Paradise Tattoo Gathering. This year, the weather was better than last year's event in October and it was beautiful up there. Our booth was in the Burbank Center again. This is where all of the forums, discussions, brutal critiques, and tattoo contests took place. We had a pretty successful weekend there last year so we requested the same spot this year. Just like last year, we spent our days in the booth, and our nights in the bar. This year I decided to work smarter and not harder... I enlisted Katie from Pulse and Ms. Claudia a great friend of Pulse to help out working the booth so I could spend more time "networking". Who says deals can't be made on a mountain rollercoaster?

My Paradise experience in pictures (with some words)...

The view of the sunset from the Pulse condo's patio. Gorgeous.
Our first visitor! Stopping by the booth, Dan Marshall from Tribulation Tattoo. Check him out at http://www.tribulationtattoo.com/

Dan, while you're here can you take a picture of us? Claudia from Pulse is tall.

Tony Terrell from Hell City stops by to pick up a Pulse Swag Bag, free to all artists with weekend passes.
Can't we all just get along? Machines in our booth from Workhorse Irons, and Joe Capobianco alongside our own.

If looking good was her job, we wouldn't be able to afford Katie! Lucky for us, she enjoys "customer service". Hahaha. Just kidding Katie! But really check her out! Looking good AND working hard! Service with a smile. No one's better in the booth.
Mile high Nachos. Also know as dinner at 11pm. So good!
BJ "Soba" Johnson from Workhorse Irons with Brett from Pulse
Obie Hughes of Speakeasy Tattoo with me and Jime Litwalk of Hart & Huntington Tattoo. It was a very plaid weekend.

Tim Brewer retuning an old Pulse custom at the breakfast bar. The butter knife served as a screw driver. Go MacGyver!
Nikko Hurtado from Ignition Tattoo stops by to chat with The Baroness Nichole East from Kid Robot and artist/actor Carlos East.

A discussion panel including Shawn Barber, Durb Morrison of Hell City, Russ Abbott of Ink & Dagger Tattoo and Guy Aitchison (Not pictured). This panel was moderated by Brett from Pulse
Brett from Pulse is very excited about some innovations in machine building made by the gentelman in the white Tshirt. I'm sorry I don't know his name, but he really makes some unique machines.
Carlos East rocking a jacket from the Fist Full of Metal show. Carlos is one half of the handsome art team know as the Beast Brothers. Check them out here: http://www.myspace.com/beastbrothers and http://kronikle.kidrobot.com/artist-profile-the-beast-brothers/
Our own motley crew. Clockwise from the left, BJ "Soba" Johnson from Workhorse Irons, Joe Capobianco, me, Tim Brewer from Body Graphics Tattoo, Brett Bryan from Pulse, Andy Schmidt from Body Electric Tattoo, and Alex from Pulse.
A very late night in the Pulse condo. After this photo was taken most of our guests cleared out and almost everyone in our place had gone to bed. I was still up watching TV when Bob Tyrrell came by after 2am. The man is a party animal. It was after 4am when he left... looking for another party!
Each condo had a guestbook with notes from previous guests. Ours quickly turned into a sketchbook for artists that stopped by. Tom Strom from Up Town Tattoo in Minneappolis explains one of the inappropriate drawings. We left behind some interesting entries for the next guests of the Ski Patrol Lodge.

Our booth neighbor Guy Aitchison. Guy did a seminar, sat on a few discussion panels, and was available in his booth for book signing, and portfolio critiques for most of the weekend. Check out the new "Reinventing the Tattoo" book at http://www.hyperspacestudios.com/index.html
Joe Capobianco says "Not for nothing..."
Katie from Pulse and Obie Hughes from Speakeasy Tattoo waiting in line for the mountain rollercoaster. Check out the beautiful view of the surrounding mountains. What a great day.
It's quitting time! Tim Brewer from Body Graphics Tattoo and Claudia from Pulse are getting a head start while we close up the Pulse booth.

A great capture by Katie from Pulse. Obie Hughes lets the cards fall where they may.
Andy Schmidt of Body Electric Tattoo with Katie from Pulse. Katie's looking pretty hot considering this photo was taken after 2am! Andy came all the way from Germany to hang out with us for the weekend. Check him out at http://www.andysbodyelectric.de/ My favorite tattoo of the weekend, and winner of tattoo of the day on Saturday. Dolly Parton by Bob Tyrrell. I was actually jealous that I didn't think of this first! Great tattoo on a super sweet girl who has started quite a nice collection. http://www.tattoogathering.com/

Hell City...

May 29th-31st was the Hell City tattoo convention in Columbus, OH. This is hands down the best tattoo convention I’ve ever been to, and it continues to live up to it’s reputation in it’s 7th year.

I was invited to judge the tattoo competitions, and with all the merch he now offers, Joe Capobianco needed some help running his booth. Katie and I volunteered and we were off to Killumbus!

Tattooing under Hope Gallery banners in our booth were artists, Joe Capobianco, Tim Harris, and Phil Young. Hanging his own banner in the booth was one of our favorite tattooers, Jime Litwalk from Hart & Huntington in Las Vegas, NV. Julio Rodriguez from the Hope Gallery was also in the booth. He opted to take the weekend off from tattooing and just work with us merch girls selling some of his new prints and hats. Check them out here: http://jrodsart.blogspot.com/

Here are some convention highlights in photos… You know what they say about a picture.

Tattooing in our booth... the usual suspects.
Jime Litwalk of Hart & Huntington showing us some Las Vegas love.
Robert Hernandez of Vittamin Tattoo in Madrid, Spain.
The often crowded convention floor.
Stopping by the booth- Tommy McCarter of Ace Custom Tattoo in Charlotte, NC.
Stopping by the booth- Jeff Solin, the greatest tat con MC ever! Jeff gets tattooed at the end of Hell City every year on stage while announcing the contest winners.

The Art Fushion Experiment. I like to call it "The Art ConFushion Experiment"
Katie from Pulse gets photographed by Bill DeMichele... do I smell an ITA cover in her future?
Fun at the bar- Robert Hernandez of Vittamin Tattoo in Madrid Spain.
On the left, Turnpike Tattoo Reunion, Gunnar & Julio. On the right, Gunnar & Nikko Hurtado.
Fun at the bar- Tony Romel of Tattoo Society Magazine.
Tattoo competition judges, Giovani of High Street Tattoo in Columbus, Chris Longo "Mayor of Tattooville", and of course, me. I swear I'm qualified!
Tattoo contest contestants & spectators.

Here I am trying to be objective.
Stopping by the booth- Dan Marshall of Tribulation Tattoo http://www.tribulationtattoo.com/
Katie from Pulse working the Joe Capobianco booth.
Jime Litwalk sketches inside his book "Creature Critter Circus" for a young fan.
One of our super healthy meals at the hotel bar.
Nachos for dessert? What? Sign me up!

Katie from Pulse and Joe Capobianco having a little cut-out fun. There was an entire room full of artists painting live side by side. A very unique way to observe the process.

Dan & Tim Plumley painting together.

Nick Baxter working on a very cool painting.

There were temporary tattoos for the kids at Heck City.

Kid Robot's own Toy Baroness, Nichole East and I "working" the Capobianco booth.

On Sunday, Phil Young of Hope Gallery got tattooed in our booth by Jime Litwalk of Hart & Huntington.

Our last dinner and the only meal we ate outside of the convention center all weekend was at an amazing steakhouse in downtown Columbus. Lucky for us, nothing else was open at 8pm on a Sunday night. We were a party of 11 and I think 10 of us had surf & turf. Check out Joe Capobianco's "just desserts"...

I wish this photo came out better! See you next time... in HELL.

GO TO HELL! http://www.hellcity.com/