CHRISTMAS IS COMING

well we have been in our new gaff for a few weeks now and i have to say it is fantastic. we have a new artist, marc working with us and another new artist starting in january. i have stopped being stressed and we seem to have just about everything sorted now although that is a dangerous thing to say. ive been working hard and have started some really cool pieces as well as keeping up the painting pace with a portrait a week. thankfully christmas is coming and i have 2 weeks off soon. it will be lovely to relax for a bit. here is some of my latest work. enjoy.

new beginings

well we finally got there. about 4 weeks of building and decorating and the new shop is ready. we moved in last wednesday and we love working there. it is twice the size of the old immortal ink so obviously we have so much more room to work. we celebrated 10 years of immortal ink and my 40th and the new shop with a little shindig on the 7th. horror fancy dress was the order of the night and everyone looked fantastic. it seemed a bit mad to have a party after working so hard to decorate but the place survived and we all had a great night.

i also finished a painting of our receptionist kev and started one of my mum which im loving so far. heres to at least 10 more years in the new shop, cheers.

LUCKY FOR SOME

ive had a great couple of weeks, ive been as busy as i have ever been in my life. ive done some really cool tattoos, ive been painting every spare minute i have and at the same time im trying to get my new shop ready for opening, luckily my brother has been working incredibly hard getting the shop ready for me. i finished my stephen hawking portrait on nutz and im really happy with it, i started a really cool world war 1 sleeve and this week i had a customer over from ireland for 2 days starting his sleeve of skulls and roses. the lucky for some painting project is well under way, ive done 3 paintings for that and im working on a fourth. its been hard work and a bit all consuming at times but its good for me to paint regularly and im loving the work ive done and its been great to see what everyone else are producing. check the project out at http://www.myspace.com/13luckyforsome13 . lianne and me will be working at the devon convention this weekend where ive got 2 amazing tattoos to do, one is on my younger brother jimmy and the other is for a tattoo battle against my friend lee hadfield. next week is a big one for me, im 40 on thursday and immortal ink is 10 years old. we will be having a party in the new shop on saturday to celebrate and then we will be open for business there from 10th november. wow busy times.

LONDON CALLING

im back from the london convention and what a great weekend it was. i did some really nice work, hung out with some great friends and i was treated like a star by the punters. signing autographs and having pictures taken with fans is a strange but cool experience. i sold loads of my new sketchbooks and everyone seemed really impressed by them which is cool because i did work really hard on them. it was sad for me to be working my last show with jo but it means we will have to go on holiday to south america to see her next year. since i got back i have been very productive, i have drawn a picture for carlos rojas 5x7 show in LA and i really like it. also i have nearly finished my painting of lianne that i started in shawns seminar. i cant wait to start our painting project. i signed the lease for my new shop yesterday and hopefuly i should have the keys this weekend, how exciting.

PARADISE AT THE GATHERING

im back from the paradise gathering in massachusetts and i dont know where to begin. we had such a good weekend, just the right amount of work and play. jo, lianne and me did shawn barbers painting seminar and it was everything i was hoping for. shawn is a genius and it was such a great opportunity to paint with him. we all painted each other and i have to say jos painting of me is unbelievable. we were so inspired by the seminar we had the great idea of setting a project for ourselves which through our collective enthusiasm has ended in 13 of the best tattooists and painting lovers doing 13 portraits in 13 weeks and is titled" lucky for some". it also has inspired us to start an art collective where we will be regularly running art projects for tattooists. we will be putting books, dvds and shows together to document our efforts. when everything is properly put together we will have a dedicated myspace page and website, so watch out for that.

i did some great tattoos at the gathering and made some great friends. it really was one of the most unique and enjoyable events i have been lucky enough to work at. thanks to gabe and all the crew.

i have a couple of days rest and we are off to london, i cant wait. also my sketchbook is finally ready for sale. its my last convention with jo before she goes off on her travels, which is a little sad.

BUSY LITTLE BUTCHER

ive been busy busy busy lately. ive been doing some cool work and ive finally finished my sketchbook which will be ready for sale at the london convention. i am on the verge of signing the lease for my new shop in chelmsford and im off to america on wednesday for the paradise gathering and then back for london the week after. im really looking forward to paradise where i will be taking shaun barbers painting seminar. i absolutely love his paintings and i cant wait to watch him work and hopefuly learn loads. i will of course be meeting up with jo harrison for both conventions which sadly will be our last together for a while as she is off on her travels to south america. as much as we will miss her i hope she has a great time and we meet up again soon. here is some of my recent work.

tattoo jam

just got back yesterday from the tattoo jam in doncaster. we had a great weekend, caught up with loads of good friends (it always blows me away how many really cool people i meet through tattooing) and made some new ones. it was an eventful convention, i arrived there on friday only to see my ugly mug on a huge banner for tattoo master magazine which me and jo were guest editors this month, a huge honour for us both.

jo and i did a tattoo battle on friday against each other, the title was little red riding hood. i tattooed my friend kevin who was a super star and we did a cool red riding hood holding a severed wolf head. jo won the competition in what can only be described as one of the biggest robberies ever! only kidding, she did an awesome tattoo and our customers were the real winners although she was dressed in a gold bikini which i'm sure gave her an unfair advantage that my beard couldn't compete with.

i did a cool david bowie portrait on saturday and sunday i did two realistic skulls linked together on a guys forearm which i really enjoyed. you can never tattoo too many skulls!

sunday night was party night for us and will go down as quite a memorable one that i wont go into too much detail about but certain people know what im talking about. all in all a very good weekend. im off on holiday this week and i cant wait.

i would like to give a big thanks to neil from skin deep and the guys from tattoo master it was a real honour for me and jo, thanks.

mikes lion

i had a really good time on saturday at the modern body art 10th anniversary party at their studio in birmingham. it was fancy dress, i was captain spaulding and lianne was beetlejuice and if i say so myself we looked amazing. on sunday me and jo did our interview for tattoo master. it was quite weird interviewing each other but i hope it comes out good.this week has been cool so far with all good work and today i did a really nice lion tattoo on mike doodles who works for me. im off to the derby tattoo convention on friday and we are having a painting day on friday at my friends studio, i cant wait for that. we will have a great time and hopefuly i will post a video blog of the weekend next week

busy doing nothing

sometimes i feel like im spreading myself too thin and that nothing ever really gets finished properly because im on to the next thing. thankfuly im in the mood recently to finish things which feels really good. i have been painting alot recently and that is definitely my number one thing to do with my spare time, im determined to become a good painter. i have finished a new painting today and i have decided to leave further projects until i have finished my sketch book which i started a while ago. i also collected my machine frames today so when the sketch book is finished the machines are the next project. how very organised of me. the best news is that i have also been sorting out the lease for my new shop. we are moving to a much bigger premises and we cant wait. here is a picture of my new painting and my machine frame. oh and check out another video of me tattooing a stephen hawking portrait on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LKbdoYyyOQ

take care, jason.

Emmas freddie mercury tattoo

check out my new video of me tattooing a portrait of freddie mercury on my friend emma. it was loads of fun to do and its the first video i have edited. im pretty sure emma cried when she saw the tattoo (what a girl!) enjoy.

enjoy yourself its later than you think

a good friend of ours recently passed away and on tuesday we went to her funeral. it was very sad but also a good chance to reflect on life and remember good times with a friend. rest in peace tracey.

on a lighter note i have been busy buiding machines and although i am waiting for my frames to be cast i have put together three bulldog shaders. each one is set slightly different and im testing to find my favourite set up. i did a nice tattoo using one of them on my friend kevins hand. it worked very well and the shading was incredibly smooth.

i finally got some pictures of my brothers arm after his second session. it will probably be a full sleeve eventually and include a skull if i get my way.

i booked my flights for the long beach convention and painting at jeff gogues, i cant wait only two weeks to go.

colour, colour, colour

i have been having some fun with colour this week, finishing a big rib piece based on an amazing painting by frank frazetta and doing a girls face that i designed as part of an ongoing sleeve. i have been using my new stigma rotary machine and i am loving the smooth colour blends it gives me. its rare for me to do much colour but i have really had a great time with these two pieces. im waiting on the frames being cast for my machines but i will post pictures as soon as i have them.

tattoos and stuff

ive had a good couple of weeks. ive done some nice work, most of it is still in progress. ive been to see the prodigy which was amazing as usual and as a special treat i think i saw the worst dancing ever from the guy in front of me. i have done a couple more drawings for my sketch book which is coming along well. i also finished my collaboration drawing i started in helsinki and sent it to jo harrison to do her bit. i cant wait to see it finished.

in the last week i have built my first tattoo machine and today i did my first tattoo with it, a portrait of a child. it was very good to use and hopefuly i will be making more soon, im currently having some frames cast, very exciting stuff!

ALL WORK AND NO PLAY

its been all work and no play for the last week. i had hayley and jay, 2 up and coming tattooists come to my studio on friday and saturday to learn some techniques. they watched carefuly while i worked hard and tried my hardest to teach them anything worthwhile. we had a good time and it was fun being a teacher for a bit. i did a nice portrait for them to watch on friday and a camper van on saturday!

on monday i did my first ever face tattoo. it was only small but still very stressful to do. people have differing views on this kind of tattoo but emma will definitely wear it with style.

i have been working very hard in my evenings and spare time to put a sketch book together. i still have a way to go but i have been very productive. here is a sneak preview of a couple of pieces that will be in the book. i will wait to post any more until its finished .

don't count your chickens

    friday didn't exactly go to plan. i had a guy flying in from belgium for a two day appointment, a lovely buddha tattoo that i was really looking forward to. he didn't show up and only told me at the last minute. how dare he crash his car when i really want to do his tattoo!  i read my e-mails and two customers booked for conventions later in the year cancelled there appointments, again stuff i was really looking forward to. i guess everything happens the way its meant to happen but it really sucks when you are looking forward to cool work.

 not to be put off i took care of some things around the shop and got someone in for the afternoon to work on his sleeve. i had a cool day on saturday, all work in progress. today i did a really cool johnny cash portrait, 7 hours straight what a trooper. i love portraits and j.c is one of my favourite subjects he has a really cool face.

 oh yeah and i did the zombie chuck berry on thurs

day on kevin who is one of my favourite customers. zombie rock and roll tatts are so much fun.