hey everyone, hope you’re keeping well in these sweltering summer months. i’ve personally been hiding out from the heat inside, with my ac blaring. staying inside this much has had me on some productive shit (i think).
june was a strange month. i started my new weekly schedule (2 days tattooing, 2 days painting, 2-3 days drawing) and after a month i’m pleased to report that my art practice is feeling more well rounded, and i’m making more progress in all my works. especially painting! taking time away from tattooing was hard, but i still managed to make a solid collection of new flash for y’all and get a good amount of appointments in! check it out below :0
also! i’ve decided i’d like to do a deep valley digest reader survey later this month. i want to hear from y’all, what you like about the newsletter, what you think i could be doing differently, or things you’d generally like to see added. i’m thinking of offering a free flash tattoo session and a merch bundle as potential rewards for survey takers. keep an eye out for that later this month.
if you’re interested in booking a tattoo appointment, here’s my current booking link for july and august. i still have a handful of slots left in july, but august is looking pretty open. so make sure to fill out a form if you want something!
september books will open august 1st :)
new flash
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.
cool tattoos from the last month
i didn’t really tattoo much in june! july and august are looking a bit busier, but here are some of the standouts from the last month
nina and i drew up a new version of the kirin tattoo from my flash, to hug their knee and more accurately represent the chinese depiction of the mythological beast. such a fun session!
got to freehand this wonderful wood-grain abstract vine border thingy for a tattoo i did on jovanni a couple years back. always such a joy to revisit and add to older works. i love doing these drawn-on freehand pieces, definitely hit me up if you want something like this!
this custom was really fun. i worked with river to conceptualize a piece they had been thinking about for a while, about trusting your gut. they were super down to make it as weird as possible, and sat like a champ for this tough torso placement.
i’m always stoked to help bring your ideas to life, hit my line if you have a weird request (or a normal request!) and want to work with me to make it into reality.
the rest of these are just wicked flash pieces I’m stoked i got to do. enjoy!
painting corner
with the new schedule, i’ve been able to spend some good time in the studio. i’ve mostly been working on the two below. i just finished restoring two more of the 22x30 panels that warped over the winter, so i’m looking forward to starting two new paintings on those surfaces.
it’s been about a year since i decided to start painting again. reflecting on the last year, i’m really glad i took the jump. i don’t know the first thing about the fine art gallery world, don’t have any connections, and haven’t sold a single painting. but the time i’ve spent alone in my studio with this work has been life changing, and made it worth every penny.
i’d love to sell them at some point, but right now i’m mainly looking for opportunities to show the work to people. they look much better in person, so i’d be happy to have anyone to my studio for a quick visit if you want to see the paintings, whether you’re a collector, curator, or just curious art enjoyer. hit me up let’s schedule it. if you know someone you think might enjoy the work, show it to them for me, thanks.
anyways, here’s what i’ve been cooking up this month
seed
been making a lot of good progress on this one. this piece is bigger than the photo makes it look (lol) (it’s 22”x30”). at that size, it was a challenge for me to paint the penis exactly as i imagined, since it’s kind of a simple form. i feel like painting small is a nice way to kind of hide some inconsistencies in the paint. in the end, it didn’t turn out how i expected or planned. i think it ended up looking better than what was in my mind, which was a welcome surprise.
the painting is getting close to the “end” now. the next session or two should do it. just details mostly. but who knows? last minute changes could always appear.
always your fool
this one is done, i think. i need to take some nicer pics, but it was a fun and relatively fast piece for me. each session with it was productive and necessary, so it’s been a real joy to build it out. it’s based on flash, as is a lot of my other painting work. i’d like to write something longer about the relationship between tattooing and painting in my work. maybe that will come when i have some free time.
wild chorus updates
we had another mini-sprint on the game this month, and i worked on making some designs for the “silence” (antagonistic force in the game). every sprint gets us further and further along, and chase and amanda have been putting in hours with me to get this thing going. we started another sprint today :)
i also worked on some cool designs for the very cool version of fast travel we’re using for the game. aaaaand i’m back in blender goofing around trying to make rocks and cliffs. 3d artists, you are all so incredibly talented.
i’m really excited to say the game is nearing it’s first shippable demo state! hopefully there will be more info soon on the wild chorus substack, so follow that if you’re interested. the first round will probably be just friends and family, but second and third rounds will potentially include playtesters. so please keep an eye out if you’re interested!
patrick recommends
elden ring nightreign
as a big elden ring fan, i had no choice but to grab this when it came out. the concept didn’t seem to make any sense, but i had to give it a shot and see if it was fun. it is fun. elden ring fortnite roguelike sounds like a mess but somehow they’ve tied it all together in a way that is engaging and a little addicting. it’s not without its flaws, but i’ve definitely been enjoying the time i’ve been putting into it.
i mostly play single player (i’ve never been too keen on multiplayer stuff) and i think the game is actually a lot easier on single player due to how they nerf everything. ironeye is the main viable character for successful runs in singleplayer, so i’ve been dumping hours into him. played a bit with raider and executer as well and digging both of them. every character has a lot of nuance to how you play them and requires some getting used to. anyways, if you like elden ring and want something to tide you over for a little bit till the next from game, try this out!
grizzly man
this herzog documentary is pretty old (2005), but i just got around to seeing it a couple of weeks ago. this doc follows the life and tragic (if preventable) death of timothy treadwell, a man who spent 13 summers living with wild grizzly bears in katmai national park.
a lot of the footage used was captured by treadwell during his summers, and is a truly remarkable representation of the alaskan wildlife. herzog does an incredible job stitching it together with footage of treadwell himself speaking, interviews with those close to him, and those involved in the aftermath of his mauling by a wild grizzly. i’d rather not say much more, just check this one out if you haven’t seen it yet. it’s streaming on tubi for free.
silvia
isabella and i went upstate for a week this month, and she made it a mission to get a reservation at this woodstock restaurant we couldn’t get into back in october. after eating there, i can understand why it was so hard to get a table. we started with a grilled haloumi and watermelon dish, something i never would have paired personally. it was wonderful, of course. we split the chicken schnitzel and the wood smoked pork chop as our entree. both were good, but the chicken schnitzel was the standout for me. it was served with capers over green beans. damn. so good. we topped it off with a turkish delight panna cotta, which surprised us with hidden pistachios and layers of delicious goo. if you’re in the woodstock area, check this place out! make a reservation
honorable mentions
aside from nightreign, i’ve been playing a lot of v rising, which is a seriously good action role playing survival game from stunlock studios. you play as a vampire slowly building up your castle. a+ great game very addicting
i’ve been catching up on the one piece anime, and let me tell ya the animation in the egghead island arc is pure insanity. deeply enjoy and highly recommend
june was a big cortex month. i’ve been listening to them a lot. great painting music
we watched a lot of stuff upstate. i finally watched starship troopers, and we checked out climax. both were good but climax was painful to watch. check it out
season 2 of the rehearsal was so fucking good too actually. i just remembered that it ended this month and threw it on here but honestly i might’ve given it a top slot if i remembered earlier.
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.
this site is regularly updated with information about action you can take. it includes protest information, places to donate, boycott targets, resources to educate yourself, and many other resources to take action.