Artistic Process: Odds and Ends

Well back from the Convention trail a few weeks ago and figured  I should post some resent work which is non- dragon and haida related

Enjoy

 Got to do a Thor's Hammer with the "Hammer of Thor" machine before giving it to my friend Kai for his birthday. This machine I had made especially for him using a Brass disc similar to ones found during the Migration Period in Europe... an early fertility symbol with 7 hammers engraved into it. Kai actually sells these discs and others like them.

 After returning I finally got to start Kai's right leg... a combination of Celtic animals and Slavic Swastikas. This is all gonna be tattooed by hand :-)
We did his other leg about 4 years ago also by hand and he graciously showed it at the Gothenburg Convention last month and won 2nd place :-) This design is much more complicated than the rune text on his other leg... but my hand tattooing has also improved in the last years and I'm probably doing about a third of my tattooing by hand now. This is Kai's own design and I am just the craftsman. 

Liverpool Tattoo

Continued with the Colinesian half sleave... now we just have to continue under the bicep

A Japanese Koi Fish... not my design. Outlined by machine and then shaded using hand tools

A fun project :-)

Started (and almost finished) a Latissimus Dorsi Raven on Nikolaj Ravn (Raven) from Fyn

Finished up Kim's Sleipner tattoo... just need some better photos of it.

And started the Fenris Wolf (another of Loki's children) bound by Gleipnir on his other thigh and hip.
Stay tuned :-)

Artistic Process: Haida Traditional Hand Tattooing

Haida Tattooing

"Haida" is the common term given by tattooists to the Native American Tribes of Canada's North West Coast which also include the Tsimshian, Tlingit and Kwagiutl, amongst others. My designs while inspired by the art, hold to no particular tribe and are purely my own. 

I use a combination of solid Lines and dotshaded Forms... a more graphic approach, simpler with more negative space. Forms are often not connected, however when they are it is to a solid area. Because of this the shading effect has no light source reference... I shade from left or right, top or bottom often depending on where the Forms are connected or more often, where the lines are connected to the form. In this way I get a better flow in the design... Lines are anchored to a Form at a solid point which then disperses into lighter dots. sometimes to be gathered again and continue into another Line.

The Ebb and Flow Effect  as I call it:-)

My style is still in its infantsy... simple/naive. I have yet to master putting secondary subjects inside of a main design and also learning to combine subjects together. At some point I hope that I will also be able to freehand these designs directly on the body to better flow with the musculature of the individual... but that may be many years to come :-)
All of these designs are my own and done using traditional hand tools of a type used by the Haida

 Enjoy :-)

Continued the Haida Sleeve on "Spooky" out at the Moesgaard Viking Market this Summer... beautiful weather for a tattoo :-) I was thinking of an Elements Theme... We have the Sun for fire, Eagle for air and will be continuing with a Salmon for water and a Wolf for earth. However now I got an idea in my head to use a Frog instead on the Salmon... unfortunately in the Haida mythology the Frog is a sign of the earth and often used at the bottom of totempoles and houseposts to give support and strength. So it remains to be seen where this will end.

 After the animals are in place they will be tied together with Polynesian style geometric patterns between the figures :-)

  

Did a Haida Wolf on a client from the States... furled hackels and curled tail. Two sessions with a few days apart

Did a few hours filling on the Haida Owl chest piece... hopefully will have time to finish this up next month

The machine work on the right arm is not mine, but again is a good example to show just how clean and solid hand tattooing can be.

 A Haida Frog on a client from Sweden... heavy use of S-curves in this design. He was open to the idea of using red, but I opted for just open linework instead. This worked very well except in the tongue where I had to add some chevron lines to make it more solid instead of an open hole in the center of his wide mouth. Purists may think that it looks like a feather... but I think it works :-)

A Raggety Raven... we'll be setting an Eagle on the other shoulder in the New Year around a Polar Fox in the middle.

Stay tuned :-)

And finally, a Haida Devil Fish/Octopus tattoo.

I started this piece a couple years back at Lejre Archaological Research Center. Unfortunately we didn't get to finish it until yesterday, thus the colour difference- It will look fine when healed though.

The interesting thing about this piece is that it is done entirely with natural pigments... soot for the black and ground ochre for the red... tattooed entirely by hand using traditional tools and technique.

The Haida Indians are one of the only Indigenous folk reported to have tattooed using colour. There was however only one mention of this and it was post contact when they may have had access to Chinese vermillion. Still I thought it was an important experiment to partake in. The design is loosely based on a museum piece taken from a painted robe

http://www.sagnlandet.dk/

Artistic Process : Dragons

Dragons have always been a favorite subject of mine to explore. Not only do they have a direct connection to the Viking culture but they work exceedingly well with the human body. You can twist and turn a dragon anyway you want and as long as it still has a recognizable head and tail it is still a dragon. This allows me to play alot with the body's form, running the dragon in slow looping curves which follow the muscules. Often I will use secondary or even 3rd and 4th dragons in opposite directions following different pathways to fill more of the area with overlapping patterns. Finally I will tie the piece together with helper serpents to give a little more dynamic look to a piece. 

Unlike the Japanese dragons which use "Koi" scales I like to use a variety of different scales for each individual dragon. Much like the Polynesians combine many different patterns in a composition, I also combine different patterns in the dragons to better distinguish them from one another and to give the knotted compossition more depth. Over the years I've also began to name these patterns so that the clients and I can speak about projects using the same context and language.

Here are a few pieces I've just finished, just started or am just working on

Enjoy :-)

Keefer made it back from England for round 3 on the Double Dragon leg sleeve. Filled out the larger "Colinga" dragon with the Honeycomb scales. Keefer sits great for 7-10 hour sessions and all the lining healed up good, so little re-touching. Work on the inside dragon in about a month :-)

I finished up Frans' Triple Dragon sleave about half a year ago and don't think I posted any photos... these arn't the best, but here it is. Forearm dragons with "sharp" and "herringbone" scales while the larger chest dragon has "cobblestone" scales interlaced with negative runes. I'll post it again when I get some better healed photos.

A new dragon project and a pain in the ass. One dragon which had to cover the chest, shoulderblade and full sleeve. Not only was I required to run it back and forth over itself numerous times to get any knotwork coverage of the area... but I also had to keep the dragon slowly tapering along the entire length. Frustrating start... but all of this groundwork is important. Really looking forward to continuing on this :-)

A 15 year old Staff Dragon from Kunsten på Kroppen freshened up with thicker lines, more dots and some scales.

Another older dragon with some added geometric patterns to fill out the area more

Don't think I ever posted this one

A forearm wrap with a double row of staggered sharp scales. Found this piece hidden in my collage portfolio and think I neglected to post it. Done within the last 6 months or so, think it was one visit.

And finally, the world tree Yggdrasil with the Dragon Nidhögg in the branches slithering down to the roots. This calf piece was done entirely using traditional hand tools... Yes, even the outline :-) I think it is a good example to show that just because a tattoo is done by hand doesn't mean it has to be rough. Anything I do by machine can also be done by hand... it is merely a question of time. This piece was done over 2 visits... about 10-12 hours work total 

Acquisitions: Conservation

We just had our shop sign stolen :-(

"Sign" is perhaps a little exaggerated term for a bison jawbone that I quickly painted an ochre suncross on and hung up a half hour before our opening party.

Good enough. People found the place and continue to do so... aside from the postman that is.

Four years later it has become sort of a focal point for the rest of the shops on Jægersborggade. I've become sentimentally attached to it, as I found the jawbone many years back when out dirtbiking in the Cootnies around Cranbrook, BC. I came up over a rise and the whole skeleton was laid out before me bleaching in the sun (minus the skull). I took the jawbone and tucked it down the front of my leather jacket as a memento of a good day, good trip and good friends

  Oh well... I guess it means that I'm gonna have to get a professional sign for the studio :-)

Amid the sentimental loss I began reflecting on all the other acquisitions we had gained in the last year 

When I was in St.Petersburg this Spring I was taken on a tour of the Kunstkamera

The Kunstkamera was the first museum founded in Russia by Peter the Great in 1714, who also donated his private collection of rarities and curiousities. In 1724 the museum was the basis for the creation of the St. Petersburg Academy of Science, whose collection forms the Chamber of Artificialis and Naturalis.

As a former Clinical Illustrator these rooms of medical abnormalities were of great interest... however due to the nature of the subject, no photography was allowed.

 The book "Conserving" by Edition Reuss has good photos of several pieces from the museums collection as well as others. I actually have a few copies of this book left for sale at the studio... :-)

 Conserved Raven fetus... one of two we have, for thought and memory

 Mummified pig fetus we named Ötzi

 One of the largest spermwhale teeth I've run across. We found it at a fleamarket close to our cottage in Sweden 

 Nanna ran across this "Politically Incorrect" skull at an antique dealer on Amager and immediately bought it for my collection at the studio :-)

 The same day Nanna bought the Dolphin skull our friend Luciano Pezzoli showed up at the studio with a silver horse skull which I had commissioned him to make. It was a present for Nanna while I was away in St Petersburg

 A baboon skull from South Africa

 and a Jackel skull also from Capetown

 Loki's Bat... 

Pili Moó christened him Pe'a after the lower back portion of a Samoan Pe'a tattoo which is named after a fruitbat

And finally our new studio mascot.

A mummified calf named "Jerky"

London Tattoo Convention: "Burn & Pillage Tour" 2013

Well, London has come and gone again.

This year was a real gathering of the Tribal and Blackwork community as it was also the official release of  Edition Reuss' "Black Tattoo Art 2" by Marisa Kakoulas. Many of the artists featured in the book took the opportunity to come to London for the release and although I only got to spend a short time or sometimes just s few words with so many friends I also got to meet so many more.

Thanks to Matthias Reuss, Marisa, Pili Moó, Brent McCown, Tomas Tomas, Jondix, Goldilox, Volko & Simone, Daniel DiMattia, Nazareno Tubaro, Phil Cummings, Matt Black, Fiumix, Raffaella Ricci, Zele, Sanya Ohman, Jørgen & Kumar Kristiansen, Travelling Mick & Sana and finally Nanna  

and nice to finally meet Steve Ma Ching, Jeroen Franken, Valentine Hirsch, Damien Voodoo and others

www.editionreuss.com

However, "Black Tattoo Art 2" wasn't the only book released by Edition Reuss this weekend :-)

Edgar Hoill's new book "Day of the Dead" is a collection of artwork based on the Dia de Muertos holiday in Mexico. However rather than just Hispanic art, Edgar collected pieces from tattooists working in every different style... giving some very fresh and unusual looks at the same subject matter.

I was lucky enough to have two of my pieces published in this work. When Edgar asked me to sign his copy of the book he said something that I found very touching... in that the Nordic skulls I had done really stood out amongst the other work... I assume this was a good thing  :-)

Thanks Edgar for your praise and support.

This year we had a change of venue and all the traditional artists were placed in an open enclosure in the center of the convention. This was a great opportunity for the visitors to see traditional work being done by specialists from around the world :-)

On the negative side it was a little louder than our previous room and difficult to exchange with the visitors... but a very original idea I hope that they can improve upon next year 

Day 1

A really nice Hammer and Midgaards Serpent. The sagas tell of how the Midgaards Serpent was cast into the oceans and grew so long that he could bite his own tail. There are also several tales of Thor's battles with the Serpent... one in which Thor looses a bet to lift the Serpent which is disguised as a cat... another where Thor goes on a fishing trip to capture the beast... and finally when they do battle at Ragnarok where Thor slays the beast only before succumbing to his own wounds. 

These two symbols were made for each other :-)

You can see the process here:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=424245081013921&set=pcb.424245411013888&type=1&theater

After 10 hours, security began coming around to close up :-( Although the bar was open until midnight they wanted the tattooing shut down a few hours earlier, which meant we had to finish up pretty quickly :-(

A little rushed... but can always add more dots next year if it needs it :-)

Day 2

a Thor's Hammer Mask on an American Serviceman returning home

This took about 6 hours to complete

Day 3

I kept day three vacant so that I could tattoo some smaller things as well as to socialize. I got to tattoo fellow hand tattooist Rob Dunning from Feline Tattoo. We were introduced by Fiona Long (owner of Feline Tattoo) who I have known for many years. Rob (like many other tattooists lately) had heard of the Inuit sewing technique and wanted to experience it himself... nothing elaborate, just a few lines on his foot which could always be added to later.

The first stitch is the hardest :-)

 Rob had some scar tissue from a motorcycle accident which was very thin and bled alot :-(

However the end results look fine, so as long as it doesn't spread out during the healing he should have a few sharp lines :-)

 Drawing :-)

(the thread through the skin)

 And the finished lines... more to follow next year :-)

A quick Bound rune for Peace

 And finally, a little more Inuit sewing on Paul

 Close up in action

 Paul's right arm has a variety of different styles and techniques of hand tattooing that he has collected over the years. Samoan and Borneo tapping, Thai Buddist Longstick, Nordic and Tahiti hand poking and finally some Inuit sewing. A bit of a mishmash... but really cool all the same 

 Marisa wasn't the only one releasing a book this weekend :-) 

Tomas Tomas released his second "Explorations" book showing photos of the progression of some of his projects. You may recognize Tomas' work from the cover of Black Tattoo Art 2. He luckily also had a few copies of the first book (which I had heard was sold out) so I got to pick up both and have them signed as well as get some flash patterns thrown in :-)

My friend Jondix (who is also in BTA2) had a new book of designs... 444 pages, and this is just the designs and ideas he hasn't used! Very productive man and an inspiration to the tattoo community

And finally Raffaella Ricci's sister Brunella Ricci just had a sketchbook of her designs released by "Gentleman's Flash"  Raffaella's work is inspired by Pictish and Polynesian, however Brunella's does Neo Traditional Scratch Work... sort of etching iconical symbols on the skin. Nanna and I bought a couple of her prints a few years back and now we see the results of her hard work :-)

 A new studio mascot... Pili Moó dubbed him "Pe'a" :-)

The massive black portion on the lower back of a Samoan Pe'a tattoo is named after a fruitbat... very suiting 

Also wanted to thank Antoine Braastad for providing a bottle of Nanna's and my favorite Cognac :-) 

The Tiffon distillery was founded in 1875 and Braastad Cognac produced after Sverre Braastad married into the family in 1879. It is one of the only family owned Cognac houses left. It was great meeting the grandson, who despite being 2nd generation immigrant French is still is fluent in Norwegian.

Skøl!