deep valley spring + chicago field trip
march 2025
hello gang
i spent a lot of time over the last two months bopping around traveling and tattooing, and it’s been super fun. one of my new years resolutions was to travel to tattoo more, and so far we’ve hit la, san francisco, and orlando. it’s been fun but also very distracting. i’ll be in nyc focusing on new work for all of march, and most of april. chicago, i’m coming to ya at the end of april. more info below!
feels weird to talk about fun things amidst everything that’s going on, so here’s a gentle reminder. fuck trump, fuck musk, and fuck the right wing. i feel the need to reiterate that what is going on is unacceptable. all of it. i don’t know what to do about it, but i do know that i can take a beat to say trans rights matter. reproductive rights matter. black lives matter. free palestine. you are not alone. get out to a protest, or look for opportunities to organize with your community. not because these things will fix everything (maybe they will) but because these things will strengthen your real, in person community. community is everything, and it will be what gets us through this administration. remind yourself that there are people out there who share your values. i’m grateful for everyone here, and we will get through this!
i’m pretty much booked up for march, but i do have a few slots for small flash. here’s my current booking link for march, so drop me a form if you’re interested!
if you’re thinking of booking something in the spring, here’s my early access booking link for april. newsletter subscribers get first dibs on appointments always and forever. thanks for being here and reading along
new flash
have a look! i hope you like it.
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.
flash day announcement!
my studiomates and i at shapeworld are doing a daylight savings themed flash day on sunday, march 9th. the vibes will be laser focused on springtime, sunlight, time, warmth, and nature. i’d like to tattoo each of these designs (once), so i’m doing 11 slots, each 1 hour.
if you’re interested, please email me with the subject line “daylight savings”. we do our flash days a bit different at shapeworld, since we don’t have direct access from the street. i’ll be booking my slots out and reserving designs, instead of a “first come first serve” mentality that is usually the case for flash days. hope to hear from you!
travel corner
keeping with that travel energy mentioned above, i’m coming to chicago in april with my studio mate quinn! i’ll be working apirl 25th thru the 28th, so if you’d like to get a tattoo with me, please fill out my travel booking form :)
i may potentially be visiting denver in june, and am considering tattooing out there. but, i don’t know if i have any following/interest out there, so reply to this email if you’re interested and i’ll see what i can do. or, leave a comment at the bottom :)
cool tattoos from the last month
feb is always a slowwwww tattoo month in nyc. if you’re ever thinking about getting tattoo’d here, i’d recommend doing it in feb. your artist will likely have the time, and you’ll be helping em out when it’s slow! anyways, even though i didn’t tattoo as much as i normally do in february, i still got a lot of fun ones in. check em out :p
what am i working on
to be loved is to be changed
i think this piece is done, finally. started in july, and also very large (22”x30”), this one feels like a big one for me. lots of learning, experimenting, cahllenge and fun. in the end, a lot of the final touches i needed to do on it carried a ton of weight, and were really difficult to actually sit down and make myself do. like the grass, and the face of the figure, for example. it felt like the piece was relying on those touches to actually work, and i was fearful that if i didn’t do them correctly, the piece would be a wash.
but luckily, everything came together when i overcame the fear, and just sat down and painted. i did the face a few times before i settled on the current one. i think fear was a real roadblock on this one, and something i am looking to overcome with the next few pieces on my wall. i’ve just finished preparing two new panels to focus on next. anyways, enjoy some close up shots. this one is my biggest piece, 22”x30”!
surgically extract the little beast
over the summer, i got some arches oil paper. the paper is treated to take the oil paint well and not rot or buckle or whatever happens when you use oil paint on regular paper. i had this old sketch of a torso getting sliced open with a scalpel and some eerie eyes peering out and decided to do a fast and sloppy painting of it. i did 90% of the painting back in like, august, but decided to paint in the scalpel, eyes, and blood last month. i liked the results a lot, it just required like 6 months of incubation for me to actually get off my ass and finish it.
the oil paper was interesting to paint on. it absorbed the paint so it was less creamy and blendable. it felt a bit more difficult to get detail/sharp edges on, but the blending was really fun and smooth. i usually paint on primed wood panel. i got a whole pack of this paper so i think it’ll be fun to keep experimenting with small quick sketches and if anything feels particularly cool i can develop it into something bigger.
ow
keeping with the theme of fast and quick paintings, i wanted to develop a little flash drawing into a small sloppy painting.
all the paintings i’ve been doing have been feeling very “finished” and polished (to me) and i wanted to get at something more painterly, energetic, and expressive. i primed a few 9x12 panels back in january, and made this little fella in a single sitting. the picture is kinda blown out (the reds are way too saturated)… i need to figure out a better way to document these paintings
if i tell you a fourth time
last painting for this month, another 9x12 fast one. i made this painting with the intension of letting it dry and painting a black line art drawing on top of it. this was my first time doing any kind of abstract painting, and i found myself getting lost in the process. it was pretty meditative, and i really enjoyed pushing and pulling the piece in different directions. i’m not sure if i’m gonna call this one finished, but it doesn’t feel like it needs that black line painting on top of it right now. although i would still like to explore that kind of composition!
heaven iii
i’ve finished up the “cleanup” phase of this project, meaning all the black and white drawings from 2024 have been scanned, organized, and cleaned up for riso printing. next step: lay out the zine, figure out a color palette, and start coloring! here’s an example of what the drawings look like before and after i clean it up. minor changes, but it makes a huge difference when you’re looking at it printed out.
wild chorus updates
the wild chorus team (me, chase, and amanda) all took a week off from our various other commitments at the beginning of the month to focus on wild chorus full time. since this is a “nights and weekends” kind of project, we only get to do this every now and then. this is our second sprint i think?
we got a ton done, and i’m super excited to push this thing along. i don’t want to reveal too much, but things are feeling like they’re coming together on a foundational level and we’re getting close to a playtest + polish phase for our demo. check out wildchorus.substack.com if you want more info about what we’ve been up to and the most up to date info about uhhh playtesting stuff maybe? and for now, enjoy some concept sketching and a gif ;p
patrick recommends
joy tactics
i’ve been listening to this podcast a lot lately. it’s goal is to talk about all things joyful, joyous, and meeting as many celebrities as humanly possible. it’s hosted by eric rahill, jack bensinger, and nate varrone. i’m not sure how to really describe it, other than shouting out the humor. if you like comedy pods, you should just check it out.
bad lieutenant: port of call new orleans
watched this werner herzog movie for the first time a couple of weeks ago. wow. it’s such a trip. nic cage puts on an insane performance as a corrupt cop who will do anything to get an arrest for a quadruple (?) homicide. it’s raunchy, it’s funny, it’s surreal, it’s dark, and its poignant. so many memorable scenes. really want to watch it again to take it all in. definitely recommend if you haven’t seen it.
astro bot
i finally got around to playing astro bot, which came out last year (and won the game of the year award at the game awards!). i played astros playroom when i got my ps5 back in 2021 and was stoked they made a full long-form platformer out of it. my first takeaway is that it’s really, really, realllllllly polished. everything in this game just oozes style and care and attention to detail. there’s a really neat level of interaction between the sound design in the game, the speaker in the dualsense controller, and the haptic feedback in the controller to make it feel super realistic to smash glass and punch gemstones. and that’s just one detail! the game is full of fun little bots to find that are dressed like various characters from different playstation games throughout the years (no sora though…?). this game is a real send up to playstation as a console, and a really special way to celebrate 30 years of gaming.
the only real critique i saw of this platformer was folks saying it was really taking notes from the super mario games. specifically the 3d ones, like odyssey and sunshine. my feeling is… i wish more games would take notes from mario games! they’re the best for a reason… i feel like astro bot, even where it is similar to other platformers, stands out as a unique, cute, and wholesome gaming experience.
if you liked this month’s newsletter, leave a comment and let me know what you think! always happy to hear from y’all.
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.
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