normal is as normal does....

so, hectic hectic week. since the whole Milo ordeal, i kinda slacked off with any design work, and it's been hard not letting work pile up and get on top of me. but, alas, i managed to keep up with everything that needed doing.

ok, just as i was writing that....we realised milo had a huge lump on one side where his stitches are, so now ross has rushed him back off to the vet. it's 4am, so i wont have any news til tomorrow.

i might as well finish what i was gonna blog, so here's one from earlier today



looks like she's just done what i wanna do to the dogs that attacked my little guy.

the vet said he thinks the swelling should be normal, but if we were worried, better safe than sorry, and obviously we r worried. i cant remember what it feels like not to be worried!

if i get any news, i'll post it.

thanks again to everyone who's helped out and come to visit the little guy.

hopefully a better blog tomorrow. a happier blog. til then

Milo's recent pics.

So we got him back from the vets today. all his drainage tubes are out and he is looking much MUCH better. obviously still in a lot of pain, and has a lot of mending to do, but i'm just so happy to have him back. here are some pics taken today. not for the faint hearted, but i just wanted to show how much damage was done by my neighbors dogs, who didnt get any repercussions .







Thanks to everyone who gave us their well wishes. Anyone who wants to come visit him is welcome to come by the studio.

there must be a way of controlling worrying about things you cant control.

so i have had the worst week ever. i hate posting blogs like this, but i know a lot of regulars at the studio have grown to know and love him, so here goes....

long story short, my dog, my best friend, Milo was brutally attacked by 4 village dogs on saturday night.
he has undergone surgery, and i am relieved and happy to say that he is expected back home on wednesday. he's very battered and bruised, has about 12 punture wounds and currently has about 6 tubes draining the fluid from his body.

oh, and the AFCD decided that the best thing to do was to release a warning to the lady who looks after the dogs who made the attack. just a fucking warning. they didnt get taken away.

i miss him.

i really dont have much else to blog about, well, thats a lie, i could go on forever about this, and the neighbors who have made my life a living hell recently but i just wanted to post the news about Milo for anyone who was worried about him.

Here's a few pics from happier times.

I know where i wanna go, but I just dont know, no I just dont know how to get there.....

OK so yesterday ( my day of rest) didnt turn out to be a day of rest at all! I decided we'd go to the beach. I didnt wanna go to just any old beach, i wanted to go to this one beach i heard about, pretty quiet, couple bars, a few restaurants, pretty chilled.
So, we got up early, got all the supplies, got a cab to where we thought we'd be dropped off pretty close......and then WE WALKED A VERY VERY LONG TIME!

we had no idea where we were going, we pretty much knew we didnt get dropped off where we asked, but i figured we'd just keep going. Ross wanted to turn back, but as we had no phone signal and we were on top of some mountain in the middle of nowhere, there was no going back! well, no where to go back to.

so we finally found a signpost, informing us that there would be no more rubbish bins ahead (which really confused me coz i'd been carrying some empty drink bottles forever and there no bins anywhere!)
ok so seeing as we were about to pass out from heat stroke, we sat down, ate what little food we'd brought, and came to realise we had nothing with any sugar in it, (i know alcohol dehydrates you, but i settled for a bottle of cider, coz i figured cider has fruit, and fruit has sugar... plus i just fancied a bevvie) so we kind of decided this was the day we were going to die. (what didnt help was the missing persons report poster stuck to the signpost).
so, we kept walking, and walking.......... we basically raped our feet coz we were both in flip flops.

after fighting off the creepy crawlies, and avoiding the man eating spiders,



finally, i saw this



i figured it looked like a beach to me, so we went in that direction.

about 20 mins later, we arived here(as beautiful as it looks, it was infested with frogs, and i have the biggest BIGGEST phobia of frogs ever imaginable so i pretty much ran, (ok i lied, i wasn't running, i was exhausted and my feet were fucked by this point) but i did my best to get outta there asap!)



bout 10 mins after my worst nightmare, and just as the sound of the frogs dies down, i reached my destination. it was most definately not where i was trying to go, but i didnt care, coz it was way way way better! I couldnt believe my luck!



There were still a few hours of sunlight to be had, and it turned out to be an awesome day off.



it was like a lame version of that film "the beach" only better coz the beach wasnt inhabited with loads of hippies! the place was pretty much desterted and we found out that for a VERY UNREASONABLE price (we had to literally count all our money, including coins to pay for it) we could get a speed boat back to semi civilization.

i took some pics of the speed boat too, but they are all outta focus. it was a pretty sweet ride though!
good times.

It's not that we don't get along....it's just that you are always wrong.

A wise old owl sat on an oak; The more he saw the less he spoke; The less he spoke the more he heard; Why aren't we like that wise old bird?

OK, so today was a nice change. Today i had a customer who pretty much just wanted a tattoo by me coz she like my work. No stupid restrictions, no stooopid subject matter, and no stoooooooopid colour choices. All she wanted was a bird, holding a heart, and not too big.

EASY!

I loved dong this piece, it took me all of about 10 mins to design, and i've been looking forward to it FOREVER! I wish i had more customers like her! Albeit we alsost had a brief lapse in consciousness, we trekked on and i really like the finished product! (so did she by the way!)



Tomorrow is a much needed day off, and i have no plans. NO PLANS! They are the best plans EVER!

Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away....

If you can use, some exotic booze
Theres a bar in far Bombay!
Come fly with me, we'll fly we'll fly away.

Come fly with me, lets float down to Peru
In lama land, theres a one man band
And he'll toot his flute for you!
Come fly with me, we'll float down in the blue.

Once I get you up there, where the air is rarefied
We'll just glide, starry eyed,
Once I get you up there, I'll be holding you so near
You may here, angels cheer - because were together

Weather wise its such a lovely day
You just say the words, and we'll beat the birds
Down to Acapulco bay
Its perfect, for a flying honeymoon - they say
Come fly with me, we'll fly we'll fly away



OK! So i got my fleeting, flying lady finished and scanned and done and done and DONE!
Will be making prints to take to England, so anyone interested in buying one, pls get in touch. U can e mail me on info@starcrossedtattoo.com

Cheers my Dears!

Love and peas!

Flying so low

OK. So this week, on my day off, i decided to get productive. Productive at stuff other than drinking cider and procrastinating. That's right, this time i drank beer and drew some stuff. I cant remember the last time i sat down and started a picture, and lined it, and got some clolour in one sitting NO BREAKS. i just havent had the time lately, and this time i MADE THE TIME!

so the scan came out really shitty. most the grey shades didnt even show up, so it looks a lot less finished here than in my little sketchbook. i think i'm gonna add a background, nothing fancy, a watercolour wash or 2, then get it re scanned in the proper print place down the road and hopefully it'll come out better!

but til then, here's Cpt. Priscilla...



Not only did i get her almost done all in one go, but i got something else started and half lined too! I think a lot of it was the fact i was sat on my roof in the sweltering heat so it was kinda like a race to the finish so i could go sit downstairs in the air conditioning, or maybe it was the fact that the only thing i had to colour her with were some Copic markers... and maybe the fact that the only colours i had in my pencil case at the time were lilac and grey, so i didnt have to sit around thinking about a million different colour theories worrying i'll always prefer my 2nd choice (ie. the one i didnt do) by the time i finish!

Surely over thinking is a form of over working, and over working is exhausting, so it seems that i have come to the conclusion that even when i am sat with a beer in one hand and my head in the other....... to the untrained eye I'm "doing nothing", but in reality i'm just working far too hard!

Anyways, talking of work, here's a small slice of todays "work pie".



The last few days have been pretty easy going. Fully booked, but easy going, coz it's all been stuff that isnt remotely taxing to draw, so i havent been staying late at work stressing about how to make "this and that" work, or how i'm gonna combine "A" with "B", or how to make something that doesnt even exist look realistic (dont ask, i've had a few teeth grinders in recently.)
The fact that stuff has been going so smoothly worries me though, coz it means it's the calm before the storm, and i know for a fact i have a few pieces coming up that i've shoved so far to the back of my consciousness , that when the time comes for me to draw them, i think my head might explode. Just a warning.......... stand back i say!