hello everyone, patrick here. i hope your august was relaxing, and your summer is winding down peacefully. i have had a delightful and busy last couple of weeks, and i’m very excited to share a little bit of it with you guys. i just got back from a couple days off down in florida with isabella, and i’m feeling refreshed and ready to tackle some new projects.
but before we get into all of that, i’ve been thinking a bit about this newsletter, and i wanted to talk to you all about some changes i’m planning to make! i’ve been doing these once-per-month newsletters for about a year now. my initial goal has been to provide a simple and easily digestible way for people to get a months worth of my artwork, direct to their inbox. i wanted to sidestep instagram and twitter (x?) and get this stuff into your inbox as directly as i could, algorithms be damned.
i didn’t want this newsletter to be too wordy or long. just a focus on new tattoo designs, cool tattoos i did, and some art projects i’m working on. i think this is because of my own tendency to get turned off by huge walls of text, and a fear of clogging your inboxes. but as i continue to grow the newsletter, and based on feedback i get from a lot of you wonderful readers, i am feeling pulled towards writing more. i feel like i have a lot to say and a lot of topics i’d like to write about. mostly art and tattooing, but also autobiographical things, media analysis, food, travel, and more. things i hope can help you to get to know me better, and better connect with my work.
i’ve been playing with the idea of making deep valley into a twice monthly newsletter. on the first of the month, you’ll get the same newsletter as always. new flash, early access booking, a cool recap of my tat highlights from the past month, and some cool non-tattoo related artwork and announcements. on the 15th of each month, you’ll get a more focused newsletter highlighting a single topic. i’m thinking of starting this month, on the 15th. the first topic i want to talk about is inspiration. some future topics i’d like to cover are art school, synthesizing an art style, my artistic process, and a little post covering my journey as an artist (including old art from like high school lol). i have more in mind but i won’t spoil anything.
i really hope that this seems interesting to everyone. i’d love to cover topics you find interesting in the future as well. please feel free to leave a comment below with any topics you’d like me to cover. or tell me in person. dm me on instagram. email me.
anyways… without further ado, let’s get on to the regularly scheduled post as there’s much to talk about.
booking
september is fully booked up! i didn’t have a lot of free space, as i am going to colombia for the last 10 days of the month, so you probably won’t see or hear from me much during that time. but you can fill out a form using this early access booking link for october appointments. thanks a bunch! let’s get cooking >:)
new flash
have a gander at these two new designs :) august was a supremely busy month, so i decided to just focus on two larger pieces instead of a whole spread. these guys are a bit different for me. i wanted to try focusing on something larger and more ornamental/abstract. i’m really happy with the designs and will for sure continue making stuff like this. if you’re interested, we gotta do them the size i drew it or bigger.
as always, here’s a reminder that each design is only available once in black and gray, and once in color. flash is non-reservable. if you’d like to see all my available flash, please check out my google drive here.
“healed pics” contest
i haven’t received a lot of healed pics from clients over the last year or two, so i’ve been thinking a nice way to incentivize people to send in healed pics is with a little giveaway. basically, you’ll send in a healed photo of your tattoo (requirements: direct daylight, taken from an angle that makes sense), with the date you got it. i’ll put you down for an entry. after a week, i’ll select a winner from the submissions for a free 3 hour tattoo session. if you have multiple tattoos from me that would require multiple pics, each pic would count as a different submission.
this contest will take place on instagram via dm’s later this week. so, make sure to get on there and keep an eye out for the announcement post so you can submit if you’re interested.
cool tattoos from the last month
august was a light tattoo month for me! we shut down shapeworld for two weeks to do some much needed flooring repairs. i also had to prioritize some printing and painting work i had this month (detailed below) and spent a few days in florida with isabella. amongst all of that, i only had a few days to tattoo in august. anyways, here are some of my favs! it’s mostly all flash, so don’t have a lot to say on them except thank you for getting flash. it’s so amazing that y’all get down with flash like this.
recent works
heaven ii
it took the better part of the year, but i am happy to say that the follow up to my 2023 zine “heaven” is finally done. it was a real challenge printing it this year, and i had to change up my color palette super last minute. but, the 3 color, 32 page zine (book?) is essentially done and ready to roll out! i’m so excited to share this project with you all. i think it came out so well, and i’m very proud of the work that went into it. printed / assembled / bound 100% by me at the sva risolab.
that being said, i still have to scan it into my computer and take some photos of the zine. additionally, my web shop is non-existent right now, so bear with me while I work on that! I am hoping to have it ready to go some time in september. but as i mentioned, i’ll be traveling for a bit at the end of the month, so i’ve decided to push the store opening to october 1st so i can actually fulfill some orders when i open it up. i think october 1st or sometime near then will be the official zine release! stay tuned
vine print
i had some extra time booked at the risolab after finishing heaven ii and decided to make a new print to have on the webshop when it opens. i took the graphite drawing i made for the cover of “heaven ii” and added some cute colors underneath using photoshop. isabella helped me color it. i printed it using cornflower blue, fluorescent pink, yellow, and black inks on an off white paper.
i still have to trim / sign / edition them, but i think they’ll be ready for the reopening of my webshop at the beginning of october. please stay tuned if you’re interested :)
not invited print
this is my final riso thing from this summer at the lab. i took 4 of my pencil drawings from this previous spring and laid them out as a 4-color cmyk style print. i printed it using teal as cyan, bright red as magenta, and yellow + black. i’m really stoked with how it came out. i think it’s a good reminder too. it’s kinda fun to take work you made in one context, and just fully recontextualize it to serve some other purpose. i think tattoo flash works really well for this kind of thing.
these will also be available during the opening of the web shop. it feels so silly to share all of these with you guys to just say “they’re not available yet”. maybe i should have a zine release party at some point early october and make everything available after that? hmmmmm
studio work
i’ve had a busy couple of weeks in the studio! i’m quite happy with how this body of work is coming together. i’ll share a bit below. i’ve got 5 paintings currently in progress / coming together. i’ve never had a studio practice like this before, but i think it’s really working out and feeling good. i think i’ll continue for as long as i can! these pics aren’t the greatest quality, i keep forgetting to take pics to document. more to come for sure.
“dog on beach” (working title) is currently the most realized painting i have right now. it’s based on a flash drawing, which was a bit odd for me as i had originally entered into this studio practice with the idea of oil painting being separate from my tattoo practice. but one of pivotal things i discovered about art in my early 20’s is that “everything feeds into everything”. i definitely needed to remind myself of this mantra, as it was extremely important to the development of my work in my early days. i just really liked that dog drawing and wanted to paint it. so why not?
all I really want to do with this one is go in and make some details pop. darken some things, lighten some things, fix some things, and add a little texture. i’d say it’s like 85% finished? gonna prioritize finishing this one i think.
“as far as i can throw you” (working title) is the second painting i started this summer. i was having a blast with the underpainting stage of the process, so i thought it would be cool to try and preserve the energy and textures as i moved forward. i glazed some transparent reds, yellows, and blues over the underpainting to build out some color and temperature, but i haven’t really worked on it much more than that. to be honest, i love this painting and am very scared of messing it up. i have a lot more work to do on it to bring it anywhere near finished.
“my cock” (working title) is a painting that, similar to dog on beach, is based on a flash drawing. however, that flash drawing is based on a sketch i made back in 2021, which was based on this picasso sculpture i saw at the los angeles contemporary museum of art. so in a weird way, this painting is just me playing telephone with myself. i haven’t seen that sculpture since 2021, and i don’t know if this painting is anything like that sculpture anymore. it’s an underpainting right now, but i am excited to see what the next steps of the painting process bring out of this one.
if you have a keen eye, you might notice another painting underneath. i started a self portrait and wanted to explode while working on it. i associate oil painting with portraiture (probably due to my previous training) and felt some internal pressure to do a self portrait. i realized it wasn’t something i wanted to do and sanded it down before putting this together. this was yet another instance of me reminding myself that i should just make the art i want to make and not get too bogged down by what i think it’s supposed to be.
“to be loved is to be changed” (working title) is my biggest painting ever fr fr. it’s about 22” wide and 30” tall. this one is also based on a flash piece. after painting “my cock”, i started to feel this connection forming between my flash drawings and this newfound painting practice. up until this point, there was this weird disconnect and a lot of the paintings were feeling forced or, like, irrelevant. i’m happy to be bridging this gap, and recontextualizing my flash in this way. i haven’t made a full flash sheet in a while, but i am excited to see how painting starts to circle back on the work that i make with ink on paper. this is still super in the underpainting stage, like most of the other paintings, but i am excited to see it come together.
i have this studio for sure until the end of september. after that, i may have to move my stuff to a new space, so i’m trying really hard to get these 5 paintings done before then. So, no more new paintings! i’m finding it extremely fun to start paintings, but i’m having a hard time getting myself to finish them. that will come, though! as long as i don’t buy any more canvases >:)
wild chorus
i’ve been teasing this for a while, but we finally announced wild chorus! coincidentally, on the same day my last newsletter went out, so it’s been about a month. i didn’t mention it in the last edition because i wasn’t 100% sure on the timing of the announcement. but we announced it! and if you’re here, that means you’re into newsletters, so make sure to subscribe to our newsletter (and follow us on instagram) if you want to stay up to date on our progress.
i got pulled in to art direct this game about a year ago, so it’s exciting to finally start sharing some stuff about it. i’ve been a big time gamer for my whole life, and working on a game has always been one of my dreams. the team has given me free reign to design the world, and i’m working with an amazing pair of animators over at ok motion club to make my drawings move around. there’s a lot of work still left to be done, but we hope you’ll follow along and join us on this adventure :) we’re a small team with big ambitions, so it’s hard to say when the game will be released but definitely stay tuned for more
patrick recommends
gage & tollner (vs peter luger?)
isabella and i have been talking about visiting this legendary steakhouse ever since our trip to peter luger back in 2022 for her birthday. i figured a birthday was as good a reason as any to visit, so i made a reservation and off we went.
lots of people argue that gage & tollner is a better steakhouse than peter luger. sometimes it feels like that’s just something people say to be different, since peter luger is kind of the new york steakhouse. but honestly, i get it now. personally, i think peter luger had the better steak. and i know it’s a steak house, so that’s kind of the most important thing. but peter luger only had the better steak by a hair. meanwhile, gage & tollner swept on every other dish. we ordered pretty much the same thing at both restaurants, aside from the apps. bread, steak to share, creamed spinach, mashed potatoes, and onion rings. gage & tollner knocked peter luger out of the water on all of these. additionally, peter luger proportions were enormous and way too much for two people to share.
the atmosphere at gage & tollner also ate up peter luger. gage & tollner feels like a proper steakhouse, with all the old school feel you would expect from a place like that. dim lighting, velvet seats, old mirrors, original dark wood molding, etc etc; peter luger, on the other hand, feels a bit less classy and a bit less well maintained. almost like they didn’t want to put the work in to the interior design/atmosphere. i remember the lighting being quite bright. additionally, the atmosphere at peter luger feels more like a tourist spot than a spot for locals to come for a special occasion.
i would still recommend trying both out and deciding for yourself. i think the differences are slim and the better steakhouse will come down to a matter of preference. both are great, but i think my preference is for gage & tollner.
bonus: if you show up early for your meal, or want to wind down after, i recommend checking out the shipwreck club upstairs. it’s a nautical themed bar that is owned by the same people, with a really incredible atmosphere and creative list of original cocktails. make sure you talk to the host downstairs to get a table. it’s definitely worth it!
rap world
we went out to see a screening of this 90 minute movie from connor o’malley, eric rahill, and jack bensinger last month at the bam theater in downtown brooklyn. i hadn’t heard of the movie, but i’m pretty down for anything those dudes make, so i tagged along. the movie takes the form of a documentary following three friends on their quest to make a rap album in a single night. it takes place in 2009 (i think) and acts as one of the most accurate period pieces i’ve ever seen.
i’m really used to watching stuff from these guys alone on my phone or computer, or with my roommates in the living room, so seeing a bigger project from them screened to a full theater of people was a real trip. it was super funny, and to my surprise there was a quick q&a panel with the team at the end of the movie. all in all, it was a great experience and i would definitely recommend trying to go see it when you can. i’m not sure if it’s going to be put up online anywhere, but you should look into it!
rimworld
i’ve played rimworld for so many hours over the years, and once again i have returned to it. if you know rimworld, you get it. i decided to start a new colony and just see what happens, and boom there goes 65 hours of free time, gone.
rimworld is a sci fi colony management game, where you direct colonists around a small map to build out a proper settlement. each colonist has their own skills, personalities, religions, likes, dislikes, etc etc and you have to manage all of those things to progress and build out a thriving town. it’s really a lot of fun, and there’s a lot of cool things that just develop naturally while you play. characters do things and get angry and have relationships with each other that all unfold via your involvement. it’s a tricky game to understand at first, but i would definitely recommend trying it out at some point if you like strategy games or management sims.
honorable mentions
i’ve been listening to a lot of citypop in the studio recently while i paint. i saw taking of pelham 123 (the original) with isa this month and we were really obsessed with the authentic nyc accents from the mid 70’s. we went to a water obstacle course at the tigertail recreation center in dania beach while we were in florida, so if you happen to be in the fort lauderdale area you should definitely do that too.
resources for palestinian action
i’ve decided to start including resources for those wishing to take action for palestine in my monthly newsletter. i think it’s extremely important that we all use whatever power we have to speak up and act out collectively.
please understand, your silence is complicity. take the time to learn what is happening. make your voice heard. help to end this genocide.
this is a google doc that is regularly updated. it includes protest information, places to donate, boycott targets, resources to educate yourself, and many other resources to take action.
FLORIDA MENTIONED!!
i don’t have much to say but you’re one of my fave artists and i’m always excited when your newsletter hits my inbox. really appreciate the resources for the Palestine resources at the end too. as for your new newsletter, i’d def be interested read about your influences and overall process. i’m also curious about any of your thoughts on like local arts community and how to develop it/support each other/get resources or whatever else you have thoughts on. keep it up :)