Category Archives: Black & Grey

“When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.”

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My dad recently quoted the above Benjamin Franklin to me. I’ve been doing a lot of tattoos and other things recently that step outside my usual comfort zones, and it seemed awfully topical.

Brian and his sister got matching black and grey ferns from myself and Betty Marie. I love to do black and grey but do more color (and love that, too), so it was fun to work like this for a change.

Apologies as usual for the godawful iPhone photo. It looks so good on the phone and so bad on the blog. I finished Scott’s gritty anatomical rib piece on Wednesday. Scott is so awesome and so fun to work with!

I covered some old punk tattoos on Alena the other day. Crystal flowers!!!! I love doing crystal flowers! Wow, this was fun. Alena is the most fun ever.

Teigen got a lovely compass rose. This one was so fun to draw and to do! I love doing compass roses. Come get some more, Portland!

I started this Harry Potter themed chestpiece on Kim. I’m really excited about it; the magical smoke will be grey and purple, and we’re doing some awesome stippling in the magical bursts off the wands. Also pictured: golden snitch, elder wand, Harry’s wand, Deathly Hallows, Ravenclaw motto. Guys. I love Harry Potter tattoos. I can’t wait to work on this again!

And I finally was able to finish Faye’s dancer. I love this tattoo and this lady! It was so wonderful to finish it, and I’m SO pleased with how the blue skeleton came out.

I’ve also been eating a little meat in the leadup to going to Ireland for a lot of reasons, and the other day I roasted a chicken. It made feel kind of sad because I am a hippie. I probably won’t continue with it once we get back, but it’s definitely a necessity for the trip. I stuffed it with thyme and garlic and rubbed it down with olive oil and salt and fresh pepper, and then roasted it with onions and potatoes. My fellow says it was good, which is excellent because I have nothing but 12 years of vegetarianism and some foggy memories of chicken fajitas upon which to base the result.

I also made this risotto from Serious Eats’ Food Lab a week or so ago. I highly recommend it. I made some edits so I’ll post my version below, even though probably it was more sticky and less saucy than the author suggests. It tasted totally great so I’m unrepentant.

 

Mushroom Tomato Risotto:

  • 1 1/2 cups (about 13.5 ounces) risotto-style rice (see note)
  • 1 quart Imagine brand “no chicken” broth (it’s just a mild vegetable stock)
  • 1 cup diced italian tomatoes from a can, with juice
  • 2 tablespoons butter (plus more for finishing if desired)
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 medium cloves garlic, grated on a microplane grater (about 2 teaspoons)
  • 1/2 a small onion, small dice
  • about 1c total fresh mushrooms (I used chanterelles that I had the good fortune to forage myself with my friend Lisa! but something else is fine. Maybe crimini? Whatever you want!), chopped
  • about 1/2c milk or more to taste
  • 3 ounces finely grated parmesan
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Chopped herbs or other garnishes, as desired

PROCEDURES

  1. Combine rice, stock, and tomatoes in a large bowl. Agitate rice with fingers or a whisk to release starch. Strain through a fine mesh strainer set in a 2-quart liquid cup measure or other large bowl. Allow to drain five minutes, stirring rice occasionally.
  2. Heat butter and oil in a heavy 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until foaming subsides. Add rice and cook, stirring and tossing frequently until all liquid is evaporated, fat is bubbling, and rice has begun to take on a golden blond color and nutty aroma, about 5 minutes. Add garlic,onion, and mushrooms and continue to cook, stirring frequently until aromatic, about 1 minute. Give reserved broth a good stir and pour all but one cup over the rice. Increase heat to high and heat until simmering. Stir rice once, cover, and reduce heat to lowest possible setting.
  3. Cook rice for ten minutes undisturbed. Stir once, shake pan gently to redistribute rice, cover, and continue cooking until liquid is mostly absorbed and rice is tender with just a faint bite, about 10 minutes longer.
  4. Remove lid and add final cup of liquid. Increase heat to high and cook, stirring and shaking rice constantly until thick and creamy. Off heat, fold in milk and cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper and stir in herbs as desired. Serve immediately on hot plates.
    Yum!

Belatedly: I’ve been up to a lot of things!

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Hi friends. It’s been a busy couple of weeks settling into fall! I’ve been tattooing a lot, doing fun fall activities with friends, eating my weight in winter squash, and even got tattooed myself. Good times!

I got tattooed by the amazing Silje Røe Hagland a few weeks ago. She did a snowflake matryoshka doll on my forearm to match my snowflake hand tattoo! I’m so happy about it! I borrowed the photo from her. I can’t take pictures of my own arm like that.

My lovely client/friend Scott asked me for a gritty, sketchy, black and grey anatomical tattoo. This has been a real stretch from my usual tattooing style, and so much fun. I’m happy with how it’s coming out and it’s interesting to work in a way that is so different from my usual!

I did matching space knitting tattoos for Chanin and Erin! They were SO delightful and I wish I got to tattoo space crafts EVERY SINGLE DAY. Ladies, you can tell people you have a tattoo of a spacecraft! So funny. Or maybe only funny to me. Anyway, oh my goodness was this ever a fun tattoo. Also, I’ve belatedly realized I misspelled Chanin’s name in the photocrop. I’m so sorry, lady!

I had the privilege of tattooing a traditional eagle on my friend Tashina, who was featured in my last update too! This eagle is definitely among my favorite tattoos I’ve done to date, and good thing, because this lady is also one of my favorite people! She tipped me in shoes (she works at Buffalo Exchange), which is pretty much the most awesome thing ever, because it’s what I usually WANT to spend all my money on whether I should or not. Check these babies out:

Yeah the 90s are back. Deal with it.

I also went chanterelle hunting with my friend Lisa Maurine. We found a pretty good number of them, and then went back to my place and made delicious dinner and hung out with my gentleman friend and stoked a fire in the fireplace. Whoa guys, fall is really fun. (Photo credits to Lisa!)

Painting with pretty ladies in my living room. (Photo by Alena!)

FALL IS MY FAVORITE SEASON.

What happens when the boyfriend leaves town?

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I spend a lot of time listening to Sunn O))) and painting. I have a few things to share with you all!

First, I got my knuckles tattooed by the talented Jared Hunter of Anatomy Tattoo and I’m SUPER stoked on them. Wouldn’t you be?

I also had the pleasure of tattooing some of the summer flash from Melanie, Nick’s and my summer flash day on Jared’s lovely lady companion, Tashina. She got my two favorite things from my flash sheet: the hot dog with traditional butterfly wings and the satanic olive.

I’ve also been painting A TON, as mentioned before. My boyfriend Rob is on a short California tour with his awesome band The Shivas, so I’ve been hanging out with lots of lady friends and painting and painting and painting! I’m excited to show some of these off. Originals are for sale as always (once I get scans of them) and of course I’d LOVE to morph any of these into tattoos.

I love the movie Metropolis. Fritz Lang is a genius.

 

I taught my friend Alice to paint with liquid acrylics by making two copies of this rose on watercolor paper. This is the one I painted while we hung out! Not even two years ago Jared (of the above knuckle tattoos!) taught me to do this the exact same way- starting with roses – and it made me feel so nostalgic and happy to see the progress I’ve made (though I still have long way to go yet).

Last but not least, the scan of this is totally horrible and cuts off the bottom of the pearl necklace (which makes me really sad because I’m super proud of it), but this is the painting I just finished for Icon’s shop postcard. So unlike things I do on the regular and so fun. Anyone want a fierce wolf tattoo? Because I’m really excited about that fierce wolf.

a sweet story

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Sorry for the shoddy photo quality; my phone seems to have some kind of problem that prevents it from EVER FOCUSING ON ANYTHING. iPhone users, know anything about this…?

 

Now then. I did this sweet locket on Allison the other day. Mary Ann and Robert were her grandparents; they passed away this spring within a month of each other. They were married 50 years. What a romantic thing that is. It was so fun to tattoo and I’m really pleased with the outcome – so fun to work in black and grey but still stay pretty traditional! I don’t get to do that as much and I really enjoyed it. Love doing that clean, sharp, traditional lettering, too.

Later in the week (read: when I get it together and find one of my camera cords, which are all currently MIA from my recent move) I’ll post pictures of the huge cover-up I started on Becky. I’m psyched to work on it again as soon as we can!