2008 schedule... so far

schedule for 2008

Feb. 8th-10th Milan Italy
Feb. 29th - Mar. 2nd, Detroit Motor city expo
Mar. 14th-16th, Lady Luck, Reno NV (seminar offered... check blog)
June 6th-8th, Queen Mary, Long Beach,CA
June 13th-15th, All American Tattoo Fest, Sacramento, CA
Aug. 1st-3rd, Tattoo Jam, Wales, UK (also teaching a Seminar here)
Sept. 26th- 28th, London Tattoo convention
Oct. 18th-19th, Evian Tattoo Show, France

Most of these shows are booked. and I am still not taking any new clients at my shop. Check my blogs for updates. As most people know... It's hard to keep up with all the inquiries between phone messages, myspace messages, and emails. If you have written me or called and I haven't got back to you... please don't take it personally. Keep trying, and I will try to respond. Please remember that I am only one person, and I already have too many clients and projects going, not to mention I have a family... so it's hard to find time for much else.

Thank you so much for all the support and patience.

jeff

just a thought...

I walked through Sheffield this morning drinking my cappuccino. After a great week of tattooing and painting, a great show in London, with a best of show for Friday and Saturday, and looking forward to an interview for a feature article with the number one selling Tattoo magazine in Europe. I sat down in the city center, and heard the sweetest sounding jazz guitar being played. It a was a guy playing for pocket change on a fender strat through a little practice amp. Here's the thing... I've been playing music for 17 years, I have like six guitars, a drum set, a piano and two basses. I've worked at it and never got past mediocre. Here's a guy playing for pocket change... and he'd blow me out of the water, every day of the week, and twice on Sunday. Playing for change. He was so good. and playing for change. The thought overwhhelmed me of the "definition of success." I often quote, " There is nothing more common than unsuccessful men with talent." What is success?... Money? Recognition? Fame? Travel? Compliments and ass kissing?... Maybe a little... maybe... All I know is this guy was ten times more successful than I have ever been at playing the guitar. I love playing the guitar. I love writing songs. I have practiced and practiced, and I couldn't do what he was doing today.

Point being... True success can't be measured by the masses, but by that inner voice that says you have done all you can do to reach as far as you can, fulfilling your full potential... That sounds like a life long journey, doesn't it?

Salvadore Dali said, "A true artist is NOT one who is inspired, but one who inspires others... I encountered a true artist today... playing for change, he changed my life with a few chords and a, "cheers" as I dropped my pocket change into his flimsy guitar case.

To the "jazz player"... thanks,

jeff

Last day in Sheffield.

last day in Sheffield.

Hey... had nothing but ideal clients, felt very welcome, and taken care of. They fed me, cleaned up after me and even did my laundry. Lookin forwrd to coming back soon. Here's a few more pics, including a couple of town and the street where the shop's at... and a freehand tattoo I did today on Brian from Scotland. I did the little painting in my hotel room in london and the tall one here in Sheffield. The interview with Niel, (editor of Skin Deep Magazine) went great and had an awesome dinner. Heading to Jo Harrison's shop in the morning.

Thanks for checking it out!

Scheffield..

I’m staying in Scheffield which is in northern England. It’s pretty big... there are about fifty thousand students alone here. “Thou Art Tattoo” is an amazing shop. Great staff, great location, great energy. I’m having a hard time, when I think about leaving. I think I should work here a few months a year. I stayed tonight after work to paint with Tancho, an artist here in the shop. He’s never oil painted before. We got some food and beer and went to town. It was a great time. He’s an awesome guy with an amazing attitude and way about him. He’s originally from Argentina,a dn has worked in Spain too. I’m glad I met and got to work with him. He spacializes in Japanese and Americana. Real nice atyle. I’m hoping to bring home a little watercolor from him. I did a demo for him to see how I paint. I’ll post a pic of it. I’ve done eight paintings over here so far and will post all the pics soon. Here’s a few... tattoos too. Everyone so far has really been unbelievable. Great food... great everything! Thanks Thou Art Tattoo. Two more days here. Skin Deep is coming on Saturday to do a feature on me and my work... excited about that! and then I’m off to Birmingham to tattoo Jo Harrisonand spend a day in her shop. I’ll keep you all posted. Enjoy the pics!

jeff

Finally... Here’s some photos from the show. Funny... As I type this... I’m hearing it in my head in a brittish accent....that’s loads of fun. I’ve got some pics of the line outside... it down two blocks a couple hours before the show. I have some of the street after the show, (blurry but wanted to show you all the trash), There awas a wall there heading to BrickLane, Where the show was, that had some cool graffity. And finally a couple of the tattos I did.

Enjoy... Oh... and Scheffield is a really cool city. I’ll take some photos tomorrow and get them up asap. Had the best Thai food of my life tonight. I think I might be moving to this place... unbelievable!

four a.m.... Saturday night

Ok... so... It's Saturday, well actually, it's Sunday, like three a.m. I just got into my hotel room... What a day! I got four hours sleep, woke up late, got to the show late hadn't drawn anything for my client, freehanded a dragon on him, (John from Scotland) and ended up winning "best of Show" for Friday and Saturday! Wow... but I need to explain something. I was all worried about all my friends and people who are watchig my career. I got second and third last year here. I know everyone wanted me to come back with a first place this time. I did it... and I have to be honest. Right after I did the tattoo and I was cleaning up, I met a japanese artist, (can't spell his name), Yoko, a friend who has a full body suit from Shige, (one of my role models), introduced us. He bought a shirt from me and told me he really liked my work. I also have been able to meet one of the world's most respected tattooers, Aaron Bell, and paint with him in his hotel room, I also had a half hour conversation tonight with Philip Leu, probably thee most revered, respected, and idolized tattoo artist in the world today, from Lausanne, Switzerland, about oil painting, (he was asking me questions about painting... crazy.) All of those things, not to mention the fact that I changed someone's life today... they all meant more than getting some trophy, or first place. That's what it's really about. It's about being my best, and affecting people I come in contact with. I have so much to learn, about everything, and I'm just grateful, for everyday that I have here to do just that. To learn... to learn who I am, and to learn who I need to be. Thanks for all the support from all of you. I will post pics soon... It's four a.m. and I have to try to sleep for a few hours and do it all again tomorrow. I appreciate your patience on the photo posting.

jeff