On the matter of Kung Fu Friday

Good morning true believers! If you already know me, than you  know that today is my weekly holiday:  Kung Fu Friday! I look forward to it all week long. It could also be called hitting people without a lawsuit; if we hit each other more I suppose. You see, fatal flaw with being a professional artist: You're seated for like 70% of your life. This could lead to becoming a great whale of a guy and dying early. But it could also lead to you getting beat up by a gang of Ninjas in the park for your last twenty bucks! So instead of these charming alternatives, I study the Kung Fu! Wing Chun to be exact. I train all week long on my own and then Friday get together with a great small group of guys and under the tutelage of a most skilled warrior named Sifu Dan leahy. This kat is no joke, a rootin-tootin high level Gung Fu Master and I'm lucky to be involved!
    As time goes on you'll learn many things about me. Some of those things are pretty straight forward. I'm a big sexy nerd!  Emphasis on the sexy part, so as not to suffer from the nerd stigma too much. What I'm trying to say is, I love the Star Wars, 80's fantasy movies, robots, space ships, Pirates, Ninjas, old Transformers, Robotech, Nightmare before Christmas, comic books, cowboy movies, Tequila (straight ,three fingers in a glass-warm), and Kung Fu! The last three I put in there to balance out the other stuff, but still all true.  With that said, I wish you all a happy Kung Fu Friday, and encourage you to get up off your asses and go punch a hole in a brick wall or something! But also remember as the Sifu reminded me last night and the late great Bruce Lee once said......."Bricks don't hit back".

Here are a few more pictures for your enjoyment...

This first piece is a colored pencil on cold press illustration board I call "Last breath".   It served as an invitation to my Halloween party, that I've thrown for the last fourteen years.  It was also on display here in town last month as part of a collaborative spooky art show with my good friend Justin Atherton. If you get a chance look him up!  (http://www.nograce.com/)  An Amazing talent and a fine man. This piece was inspired by a Texas chainsaw motif I stumbled across surfin the web:

Here's some free-hand Tribal work.  Much of what I do, be it Tribal, Traditional Americana or Asian styles all starts with a ball-point pen directly on the skin.  I find it easier that way to get exactly what I want. This one is on my friend Patrick. He's a good guy and tells a mean joke!  He moved to Boston not long ago to be a Dad and we miss him around here. You might notice that everyone I tattoo seems to be a friend. Well not everyone, but it does happen.  I'm fortunate to have so many good people come my way. Many of my Clients become life-time friends and that's a reward in and of itself.

More on Bobby Volk's leg sleeve. The Back side!

Miss Victoria's gypsy! Victoria worked with us for some time and was a good friend before that. She sat like a stone and got all of this done in one day! You go killah!

More of Patrick! Not sure how to put these pictures in order yet. It will come in time.

Here is some work on Travis. Travis and I share movie nerd conversations about Japanese culture and gore! He is a true connoisseur!

 
Ok Kids, that's all for today. Gotta get ready to go to work, mangle the clients, and of course...get to Kung Fu!  Thanks again for reading.
Until next time,
Jim