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.