Mom's spaghetti

A few days ago I got back from the Motor City Tattoo Expo in Detroit and

haven't had the time to make a post about it.

So here it is.

First off, I overslept and made us depart later than planned. I was fucking up

before the trip even started. Awesome!

Beau, Dusty, Nate, Jake, and myself showed up to the fucking maze of a building

where the show is held (and where everyone stays.) Jacob and David met us there.

"Welcome to the largest concrete corn maze in the world!"

We set our booth up in a fairly uncommon way, banner wise anyway. Longer central banner with roster and each artist's individual banner.

My side of the booth was incredibly cluttered. I couldn't put half of the stuff I brought on the table because it wouldn't fit. Look at how hard I'm pandering to you!

First day or so I kept getting lost everywhere in the building. Fucking hell, there's cars parked all over sections of it. I was hoping some rowdy drunk person would hot wire one and try to drive it up the escalator.

This was the view from Nate and Dusty's window which was way better the view Beau and I had. We could just see a big chunk of Windsor, Canada and some water...and into the windows of a business building like 20 feet away. I drank orange juice and watched them use powerpoint.

We went to the "meet and greet" party and was excited to hear that the beer was free. Had a couple drinks and met a few cool cats. After that we ordered 2 pizzas that were like 10 pounds each. The next morning the convention opened up to the public so I figured I'd get some rest. I was also suffering from a sinus infection so I was kind of miserable a chunk of the time.

I drew this piece before the show in hopes that someone would want to get it tattooed.

I was lucky enough to do it. This was the last tattoo of the convention that I did. So why the fuck did I post it first? shit.

A girl who tattoos in Michigan asked me if I would do one of those moths with the skull on it's back. I drew this thing up and blasted it on there. The booth was so full, it was crazy. There were a few times where we had every tattooer in the booth working at the same time. It was crowded and hectic but was a lot of fun too.

A girl from Alabama (who dates a cool tattooer who was working the show as well) told me she had been thinking about getting a tattoo relating to greed and then seen this piece on my newest flash set and really wanted to get it done. I was stoked to do it and afterwards she gave me a whole bunch of books that I'm actually excited to read.

All in all it was a really good time. I did fun tattoos, hung out with my friends, met a ton of awesome people, sold paintings and prints, stared at slutty girls wearing next to no clothes, and made a couple bucks too.

I just had to post this:

I come home and try to get caught up on my appointments. I had a guy come in and told me that he wanted to do 7 kid's names as a tear out. I had no idea what to do but sketched something up hoping it would work out and look good.

You haven't seen a tear out until you've seen a 7 kid name tear out.

Horse guts

Greetings 3EU fans! It's always a pleasure to see you!

Wow! You look great! Have you been working out? I can't exactly tell what's different but you look good!

Now that that is out of the way...

I did my guest spot at New Republic and had a lot of fun. It was really good to see everyone again and just hang out for a while. While I was there I tattooed this pharaoh 's horses piece on Pat's guttyworks. Pharaoh's horses has been one of my favorite pieces of tattoo imagery for a long time so I was stoked to finally draw my own and tattoo it. I'm very excited to finish it. I hurt Pat pretty good AND ruined his underwearz!

Marissa and I carved pumpkins a few nights ago. These jack-o-lanterns are now "pumpkin lovers" and live on the porch in pumpkininny bliss. While creating the pumpkin lovers I ate pumpkin guts and cut the fuck out of my finger with a mason jar lid. By the way, candle lighting happens every day until Halloween @ 9:00 sharp.

$3 admission fee per person

(Children under 2 weeks old-free admission)

I've been painting too. I'm working on my "official" flash set for 2011. I finished up the 4th sheet tonight so only one more to go before it's finished. I'll be selling prints of the set after it's completely done. I'll probably only make about $70,000 from it but it's still worth it.

Here's a sneak peek of a piece from the 3rd sheet. I thought it was cool but I don't give a care.

Here's another piece from the set. I still have to paint his hands and a couple of other little things but you get the idea.

"Joel! It's Halloween weekend! What exciting plans do you have?"

Well question asker, the answer is "I have no idea, really." Everyone has fucked up schedules this weekend so it could go a few different ways. I may end up getting haunted in a jail or drinking brews or lying around while reading, or realizing that we are all God imagining ourselves to our fullest potential and that we are all one consciousness. Or maybe I'll just paint butterflies.

I'm not a psychic so I obviously don't know.

You smug bastard.