Dorothea Barre Blog

So come on in, wear your heart on your sleeve in this life.

2012-02-06T23:31:00.000-08:00

Here's some recent tatts:

A lizard named Lucifer.

Hommage to Che Guevara

Pelargony (flowers are fun!)

Family lettering.

Family name banner and peacock feathers on this valkyrie-ish babe.

Logo from Oblivion. A game, part of the elder scrolls series.

Ryan Dunn tribute.

Rule #34 is part of the rules of the internet and it states that "if it exists, there is porn of it".

Birthday wishlist 2012

2012-02-01T11:46:00.000-08:00

This year I wish for:

*These shoes!*

Mom and Dad to keep supplying me with food- and rent-money (also to pay my expensive anti-anxiety-meds)

Cling film that doesn't cling when I don't want it to

Large black cardboard sheets and white charcoal

Gold leaves

People to read my blog posts

Altough in all honesty I've got pretty much all I need. Now I've hit the big two-O and can finally say I'm out of my teens. I'm also accredited to buy myself that winebox without getting my older friends to do it for me. This means I'll get to indulge in after work drawing sessions while sipping on a glass of red. Delightful! No more than one, mind you, as I've grown weary of sauntering home in a drunken stupor. (Maybe I really am growing up?)

Picdump

2012-01-23T07:48:00.000-08:00

Hey guys! I'm at it again....

This mural takes some serious manouvering...

But gosh, I love watching it come to life. The peacock feathers and chrysanthemum are turning out stunning.

This is what you're greeted with at the entrance. It will evolve from black and grey to a full color explosion :D

I really like switching between the small scaled, detailed tattoo sessions and the large, free process of painting. That way I don't tire of either.

Fleur de lis and sugarskull girl

2012-01-10T09:44:00.000-08:00

Hi there! My first tattoo of the year became a fleur de lis. My boss (pictured above ;D ) tattooed it. They're pretty, there's one on a sign just outside our shop that looks kind of like this, I love Florence and the Machine, I bought one as a souvernir when I was at the Louvre, one of the most important persons in my life right now has one on his throat... Well, it feels like the planets aligned for this one.
This was a treat to myself, in addition to the awesome christmas presents I got. Like a brand new Cheyenne Hawk Rotary tattoo machine (thanks Mom and Dad!) that makes tattooing easy peasy. But now that everyone's spent their savings on the holidays, january is a bit thin on tattoos... But when there's nothing else to do, I'm working on a mural for the shop. And honestly, I think this picture shows exactly what I'd like to do for the remainder of my life.

Flowers, fish and dagger.

2011-11-29T10:25:00.000-08:00

These are undoubtedly the longest days of my life. I have a muscle inflammation, a cold and a stomach full of energy drink. Like trying to sprint a marathon, I know the workload won't subside anytime soon, but I still tell myself to push just a little bit more. I'm getting up more tired than the night before and walk through stormy weather to the shop, tattoo with aching back and cramping hands, never quite satisfied with the result. At closing time I've only just begun drawing tomorrows design and sterilized the grips. Some noodles if i make it before the supermarket closes, sleep and then I do it all over. Being a grown-up with responsibilities is exhausting, even when you have the job of your dreams...

I'm definately improving, though. And that makes it worthwile. Big ones this week!

Orchids in progress...

Carp tattoo not quite finished, but looking promising.

Dagger that was a lot of fun to design.

And of course, more to come. Just gotta go interrupt my boyfriend from playing skyrim a bit.

Small stuff

2011-11-25T02:30:00.000-08:00

Nothing but teeny-tiny tattoos this week...

A daring location for a first tattoo on my former classmate Freja... But a very cute idea :)

...and another Freja wrote her and her siblings names in Runic script.

Susan got an origami bird that I didn't manage to get a good picture of.

Hilda joined me in commemorating the Harry Potter series. I did one in white ink on myself a while back.

These miniatures are actually quite hard and takes about the same time for me as if I'd done it twice the size. There's no margin for mistakes whatsoever, and there's something on each of these I wish I could correct. Just need to keep on practicing i guess... Damn it's frustrating.

Been thinking I might need some time to breathe as well. Although routines are slowly starting to establish themselves, it's mostly just a jitter of appointments and people expecting things of me. Hard to take it one thing at a time when it feels like a neverending stream.
I get up in the morning and head straight to the shop and stay there sometimes until 11 or midnight thrilled to have made twenty bucks... But that's just the way I want it to be.

Here I go again...

2011-11-10T03:56:00.000-08:00

This week has been great, we're finally open for business! There's been a lot do to, and Iv'e been doing two tattoos so far... Feels great as I haven't tattooed anything but practice skins recently and have barely held a machine for the last year.

A koi based on this sketch:

And this girl with a big owl on her head xD This one I drew a while back and my boyfriend was kind enough to lend me his arm. Not finished yet, though.

I'm extremely intimidated to begin tattoing people I don't know, as I doubt whether I'm ready. This tattoo I had very much trouble with. I used a larger sized needle than I've tried before, and the location had such soft skin I had to stretch the skin so tight my arm cramped. Also, I'm super slow. But that's not a big problem when I'm charging riddiculously low prizes, given that the customer can handle the pain.

There's much more to be done, though. I have the exhibition coming up, and I haven't had time to draw anything simply for the fun of it. All of it has been tattoo designs and comissions, and still a bunch of people waiting. It's hard not to make the same mistakes again and work myself to the limit. I'm like a battery that never gets to recharge.

Drew some portraits, made some posters.

2011-10-13T10:28:00.000-07:00

It's so close, I can almost taste it... Can't wait to get started tattooing again and to be a part of this new studio. Granted, I'm terrified of not getting good enough fast enough in the tattooing department. Might have something to do with the fact that i need to pay my rent, and to get paid for tattoos they need to be good tattoos... Shouldn't despair, but practice harder.

This is my fiftieth blog post. Grand celebration if I make it to one hundred, yeah?

La Dolce Vita

2011-10-08T00:02:00.000-07:00

My apartment is beautiful. It overlooks the sunset and the St Mary's Cathedral, and keeps me within walking range of everything. My legs are getting some serious workut from the sinister hills and cobblestone. Money is non-existent, but fortunately I have lovely friends that sometimes stop by with a winebottle or two. The sparse resources makes cooking sort of a fun challenge in using what you've got. I dare say I'm getting pretty good at it.

As any artistic person I'm the happiest when surrounded by creativity and inspiration, and there's been a lot of that lately. We're working on opeing up the tattoo studio and I've gotten a big stack of practice skins to work on in the meantime. Also some smaller commissions to keep myself on the radar. Jokingly, my friend said I had my "dirty fingers stuck in every pie". And I guess that's pretty true ;)

Yesterday was another wonderful experience. I modeled the Marie-Antoinette Street Wear-collection by the wonderfully talented Berith. I think the clothes are very inspiring and unique, and they were a joy to wear. These will all be avaliable on Etsy soon.

I also had the pleasure of meeting the wonderful photographer Alex who managed to snap these sharp and minimalistic pictures at the exact right moment. It was stormy weather and nearly impossible too keep the hair out of my face. And it was freezing! I could finally see what those Top Model-girls were bitching about.

Check out all of the photos and items on facebook.

This photoshoot was particularly fun since my drawings have been heading in this direction lately... This is one I'm currently working on:

Things are going well now.

2011-09-15T03:37:00.000-07:00

Trying to find an apartment is exhausting. There isn't enough buildings for it to go around in my town, and finding something that doesn't cost a fortune has proved nearly impossible.
However, persistance proved succesful. I've found a place. It's a fortune, but I'll make it work somehow hopefully.

Oh, and did I mention I landed a new apprenticeship and will be back in business tattooing in less than a month?! LIKE A BAWS. Can't believe my luck, a new studio opening up right on top of me, and welcoming me with open arms! I'm so stoked!!!

Uhm... In other news I'll be doing facepainting on kids for an upcoming event even though I have more or less no experience with it... Thus making the accompanying radio interwiew on facepainting tomorrow all the more stressful. How's that for random?

Oh well. Nevermind. Here's some pictures to keep you from abandoning me. My scanner's busted though so these are just photos.

My best friend got a portrait for his birthday. Sized A2.

...and mom got one for mothers day. A3 with watercolor graphite used for the hair. I'm really predictable when it comes to gifts.

...this guy is actually paying me! He's comissioned a huge painting of himself that I'll write more about later.

What to do when everything you touch turns to crap?

2011-08-16T04:42:00.000-07:00

Ugh. I'm having the artistic equivalent of writer's block. It's been, like, two months without a single good drawing and i have zero inspiration and each stupid sketch sucks majorly. What is the cure for this dreadful condition? If anyone knows, please let me know... I've tried everything! I've gone away for a change of scenery, I've slept in and stayed up. I've watched all the movies I like and read all the books... Alcohol, music, browsing deviantart... Nothing works!

Art Student Owl cheers me up, at least...

The "Tattoo School" show is bullshit.

2011-07-16T08:05:00.000-07:00

Hey guys. My days are uneventful and unemployment is boring. They conscist of sleeping, reading, painting my nails and making coffe. Four very enjoyable ways to occupy your time, had it not been for the guilt that keeps nagging me to get my shit together and do something with my life. In summary, I've accomplished nothing nor enjoyed it. Woe is me.

Anyway... I'd like to give a shoutout about a topic close to my heart.

"Tattoo School" is a new show on TLC, and it's featuring tattoo artist Lisa taking in students in the delusion that they can be trained to become tattoo artsist in just 2 weeks! I'm so sick of these Ink-shows and what they've done to the culture and industry of tattooing. Working at a shop, I saw the impact of Miami Ink and LA ink daily. They've made tattooing feel so mainstream, and hardly anyone stops to conscider taking the craft and the permanence of tattoos seriously.

Apprentices do NOT bust their asses of for three-four years only to have some wannabee perform their first tattoo second day of "school". I cringe at the thought of these idiots roaming around thinking themselves capable of performing tattoos, and perhaps making clients believe it as well. This is putting a big dent in the credibility of the industry! I can't really feel sorry for the dumbshit volunteers at the school, though. I guess if they want to save a few bucks in return for poor flash designs and hepatitis they deserve what they get. But I hope that people out there are getting aware and do their homework. Look up your artist, study his portfolio. Make sure he won't tattoo you under unsanitary conditions.

I think it's important to spread the awareness and by boycotting this and shows alike we might force crap like this off the air. So sign the petition, yeah?

The scholarship

2011-06-21T07:47:00.000-07:00

Figured it was about time to write a little something about the scholarship I recieved recently. It means I get a wall on my own at Gallery Ridelius next spring. I was chosen from my class of fellow art students, all of them unique, inspiring and talented. The winning picture was the one I featured at our final exhibition, Darkly Dreaming. Getting singled out like this means a lot to my self-esteem. Especially since the jury conscisted of my teachers who's been there to watch my process these last three years. There's been many breakdowns and moments of frustration. More than once I've doubted my own abilities and artistic voice. Working alongside artists like Hilda, Sofia, Amanda and Siri can also be a bit discouraging, really.
But I have nothing but respect and admiration for the people I've worked with. They have brought me great deals of inspiration and help. It's been a very sentimental and tearfilled goodbye.

I kept working with the picture. This is an intaglio print where I experimented with successive bitings and unconventional materials such as candle wax and tape. I made two separate grounds of aquatint where I alternated the grain of resin. It was fun and educational and my first try at working in this size. (Copperplates can be intimidating when sized a4!) Anyway, I never had the time to print a proper edition but gave away the best proofs to my teachers on our final day. Hopefully it will give them a clue as to how much they've meant to me.
What am I going to do without their encouragement in the future?

I got the most beautiful motivation about high ambitions and technical skill and could hardly believe it when the principal said my name. An overjoyed reaction most accurately compared to a beauty pageant winner followed. Silly. The "high" kept going as I saw myself in the paper the day after and had the time of my life at graduation. It was sort of an anticlimax to have the week end and face a summer without obligations.

Twelve years of school. What now?

The festivities!

2011-06-11T10:32:00.000-07:00

It's been a bit crazy lately... Just a blur of dresses, shoes, hugs, gifts, smiles and sun. I didn't think graduation could be this much fun! But it was great, I took it easy and barely planned anything, didn't spend a fortune either. It worked out great. With pretty low expectations you get pleasantly surprised... Very pleasantly. -I had a blast! So, here follows a picture explosion of my recent festivities:

Prom!

My date opted for the penguin suit.

Graduation, the big runout.

Source

Just as I thought the day couldn't get better... I was featured in two magazines with a full page in each. Awesome.

The articles can be found here and here.

My baby sister in homemade Dorothea-merchandise xD

Then we got on the wagon. It's tradition to ride in this big cortége where you stand on a decorated truck with your classmates and blast music from enormous speakers and ride around dancing on the truck until midnight. It was so much fun I could have stood there forever! The whole town was so engaged, people were sitting along the streets and waved and took pictures. Loved it!

...and yet this doesn't even begin to describe how good this week have been. I won a scholarship! I feel so validated! The jury chose my picture! It's too much to take in, really. I'll write about that later.

The hard work pays off, so stay in school kids!

2011-05-26T11:30:00.000-07:00

My arm is coming along nicely. I feel pretty. And awesome and badass and interesting and intriguing and a whole bunch of other things that a couple of tattoos really shouldn't make me feel. But they do nonetheless. Pondering how people perceive you can be interesting, and I sometimes worry that my self-esteem is a bit too closely intertwined with the amount of ink under my skin. But I love being the queen of contradictions. It's the best feeling to meet elder people and watch them instantly treat me judged by my appearance. Biker boots and tattoos, what do you expect? Then they always get sorta surprised after a while when they realize I'm a politely speaking bookworm that can namedrop influencial artists from the fifteenth century who loves to bake cookies and wears floral dressen when she feels like it. Things are not always what they seem, folks...

Anyway, worked that awesome arm to exhaustion this last week, and altough I've always had trouble feeling pleased with myself and usually discredit people's compliments... I've earned myself an "I'M AWESOME"-exclamation today. Saved most of my grades and have a nice little column of almost exclusively the highest grade possible on a piece of paper. For what it's worth. I wrote a bunch of rewiews and reflections and essays and stuff. Painted and etched and printed and organized myself to death, but it feels great to be done with schoolwork. For good, more or less. Graduation, here I come!

The project work was never finished, but I hung it half-finished, recreating some sort of work space, closely resembling the wall I used to have back home. Next to it, I put a quote by Peter Dahl:

"Finished paintings are the more or less tragic remnants of grand expeditions"

Words have never rang truer.

The reason I'm not updating is because life decided to throw me all sorts of insanity lately.

2011-05-21T14:03:00.000-07:00

Paris was fantastic. There was a lot of walking. And a lot of sun.
I took the wrong train and got lost with my best friend at some sort of countryside. I realized how seriously I'm addicted to caffeine when the petite 5€ coffe served at every café wouldn't suffice and I acted like the worst diva until I found a Starbucks. A bunch of losers tried to hit on me outside the Louvre. No one spoke english. I shed some tears of joy as I stood just inches away from Van Gogh's Self Portrait, William Adolphe Bouguereau's Dante and Virgil in hell, Caravaggios Death of the Virgin and hundreds of other works of incomprehensible beauty. There was simply too much to take in.

But really, the chaos had only just begun.

I got up at four in the morning and spent all day on buses and planes to get back home. Returned to my apartment by 2 AM only to find it full of people, without my roomates anywhere to find. Made it clear to everyone that they sure knew how to overstay their welcome.
The next day? Broke up with my boyfriend. Bottles were thrown against walls. Probably the worst thing that could have happened to me right now.
The day after that? Went to the midnight premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean - On stranger tides. I still got my sorry ass up to school the next morning despite the sleep deprivation. At school I threw the worst hissy fit ever as I realized that all grades are gonna be set by wednesday (!). My teacher freaked out about my crying jag and established an emergency plan of schoolwork I have to get done by then. One hell of a list.
After that? A quick walk down to the studio for a four-hour tattoo session. Hurt like hell and then some.
The day after that? Much needed psychologist visit.
Later that night there was an awesome gig by Swedish 70's-influenced rockband Graveyard. I got my favorite song The Siren dedicated to me by the basist and he wanted me to tattoo him. AWESOME!

Friday I woke up in agonizing pain with fever and one bitch of a cough. Ignored it and spent all day hanging my exhibition of the Maenad-project. Unfinished, but what can you do? Mom helped out because heavy lifting and the flue does not go well together.

Needless to say the past two weeks have been... hectic. I sure hope for some relief soon.

The Maenad

2011-05-08T11:47:00.000-07:00

The maenad is coming along. The project report was due last week and I still have both paintings to finish... I'm trying not to freak out, though. Nothing good comes from sloppily finishing something and end up displeased with the result.
There's been countless remodelings, you could say about one hundred versions of this painting have occured in my head, as well as beneath the top layer of paint. This project has taught me that sometimes you have to kill your darlings, deal with things when all you want to do is give up and never underestimate the importance of stepping back and just observe. There's been a lot of observing, and my roommates don't get it. "Weren't you supposed to paint? All you do is stare."

Hands are so much fun to draw, sketch and paint. I love them.

Fruit still lifes have never been my cup of tea, but I'm starting to think they look kinda pretty.

Anywho... This will have to be put aside for a little while, because tomorrow I'm off to Paris for a week! Couldn't be more stoked, I'm going to all the museums and expect to be thoroughly mindblown. I'll return with my head swimming in inspiration and input, hopefully. Yeah! :D

The Darkly Dreaming Dorothea

2011-04-27T08:59:00.000-07:00

...Alright, so the title can be argued.
But honestly, can you believe it? I finished something, and made the deadline! Granted, it was produced the night before, but still... Pulling all-nighters are good for the soul. Makes you feel alive.
This is to be exhibited at the Ridelius Gallery soon, where it will also be up for sale. Grey A3-paper, mechanical pencil and kneaded eraser was the materials used for this group of sinister faeries. Klick it. That way you can actually see something.

The decadence

2011-04-22T06:47:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it seems my life comes down to two worlds. I'm balancing being an overachieving staight A-student with partying like a rockstar. There's been a bit too much of the latter lately, admittedly. Thus my lack of updates. Something tells me readers aren't interested in party pictures but rather in my work. I'm a little ashamed to say that work hasn't been one of my highest priorities, even though it should've been. It always should.

It's a strange need. The night in my veins. A craving for revelry, intoxication, giddiness, laughter and a general disregard for restraint and things sensible. I realize it's not a healthy way of blowing off steam, but for now it makes me happy. Over the moon, infact.

This picture was taken by my dear friend Jocelyn some weeks back. It pretty much sums up what it's all about. Doing extremely stupid stuff and making it look oh so cool. Had someone told me three years ago a typical weekend (or weekday, for that matter) for me would involve getting drunk and pound ink into my leg by hand, all the while smoking, I'd have laughed and laughed. I find myself questioning whether the younger version of myself would disapprove or be impressed by my endeavours.

(Homemade tattoos are a chapter in itself. Recently my love for tattooing has started to kindle, and my tattoo directory have gotten a few new additions. I'll write about those some other time.)

But there's a time for everything, and right now I need to work hard. Graduation is incomprehensibly close, and there's so much I need to finish before that. When I've rode out this storm, there'll be more frequent updates.

The Bacchus portrait

2011-03-16T13:40:00.000-07:00

Painting myself all the time was starting to turn me into a narcissist. Moved on to something different. I now realize I should've done this long ago. This is an attempt to paint a replica of a classical painting. My muse and reference for this whole project-thingy. Caravaggios Bacchus. A painting I must experience in person at the Uffizi Gallery before kicking the bucket. So beautiful. It's very educational, but good god it's hard.

Shuld've just traced the image. Cheating is sometimes neccesary, my ability to make things proportional isn't what it used to be. This was painted straight on a brown ground with lots of frustration and remodeling. I'll deal with the way too small mouth and the stupid eyes toworrow.

I traced the basic features for this preparativ sketch. I still have a hard time accepting how round the chin/cheek-area is. But practice makes perfect, right?

The wall

2011-03-13T13:34:00.000-07:00

I've misplaced my camera memory card... It'll be nothing but webcam pics until I find it :P
This is my kitchen wall in its current state. I'm like a bird, nesting. Just cluttering it up with scraps all the way to the ceiling.

But hey, some good news! It's back. The eagerness, the inspiration, the insatiable thirst for life in general! I'm positively overflowing with inspiration and new ideas. Don't know why I'm feeling so upbeat lately, though. My guess would be a mix of amazing music (This week I'm playing Nico Stai, Mumford & Sons and PJ Harvey over and over), adorable/funny people, the fact that I finally got my laundry done and don't have to wear the crap lying at the bottom of my closet...
Oh, and the weather. The sun has finally decided to make its appearance over cold and gloomy scandinavia. I won't call it spring and jinx it, that might result in a snow storm tomorrow. But, yeah...

The self-portraits

2011-03-06T03:46:00.000-08:00

For better or worse, self-portraits are the artists constant companion. Just ask Rembrandt.
I guess a self-portrait is both the easiest and the hardest thing to attempt. Your face is always avaliable for reference, it isn't going anywhere. You also know it like the back of your hand...
This can be to your disadvantage, however. Being completely unbiased is a good thing when drawing. To wiew a reference image not as a face, but as midtones, highlights and shadows often helps with the finished work's accuracy.

But this is yourself you're trying to portray. Of course you want to show the world your true colors. Perhaps a little too much "airbrushing", making those cheekbones a bit more prominent, the dark circles a bit lighter... And at the end of the day, you look at the fruit of your labour and decide it still looks nothing like you.
I have a theory about that. I think we wish to convey a whole bunch of pshychological messages, too. In this simple drawing we subconsciously expect to channel to the world our confidence, intelligence, sexiness or whatever it could be.
To sum it up, your standards are unrealistically high.

Anyway, we have to make them all the time at school. Are our teachers sadistic? Proably not, but you never know... It started with a pencil portrait, followed by an acrylic-experiment with solid blocks of color. Then there was the clay head, the collage portrait shown below and coming up is a portrait in oil on cavas.

This collage was more fun than i thought it would be. Can't say glue and small pieces of paper have ever been my cup of tea, but I simply let go of all ambition of making it good and realistic and had fun like a little kid!
I actually like how it turned out, too! Looking closely at it, you can really see the fragments, the little pieces. And that's kind of what it feels like sometimes, right?

Coming up empty on the oil portrait. The assignment's official name is "personal self-portrait". Ponder that. I'm conscidering making some sort of Shawn Barber-inspired portrait focusing on my tattoos and my hands. Or maybe I work a bit harder on making my Maenad-project look like me and kill two birds with one stone. Not going that well, I might add:

Reference drawing. Strongly regret the angle, now. Turns out it was a b*tch to paint.

Painting the face, step by step. Liked it better somewhere in the middle. I'm waiting for it to dry before I get back to work on it again.

Oh, and I tried going crazy with the reds and yellows.

I am so, so, SO bored with my face now...

The swatces

2011-03-01T12:06:00.000-08:00

Painting like crazy lately. Just an endless row of eyes to get more understanding for the versatile, skittish, frustrating and wonderful medium oil paint. I'm wrapped up in this bubble where I just can't put the brushes down.

What I really set out to do was build up a painting using thin layers allowed to dry completely before painting on the next... But here I find myself impatiently painting away without a thought of waiting for it to dry.

At least I'm photographing as I go along. This is, after all, part of a school project where "The Process" must be documented. I'm basically taking pictures every time I remember to.

Yesterday I decided to move past the thumbnail-sized swatches for something a bit more challenging... So now I'm painting a self portrait/paraphrase on Caravaggio's Bacchus in the kitchen. It's not going great, but I'm hellbent on making it work:

Compositionwise the best picture I've ever taken, haha.

The plan is to paint a maenad, a female follower of the roman god of wine, Bacchus.

The painting could probably use some work during daytime since lightbulbs really sucks as worklight goes... Why is it so easy to get stuck on a nocturnal schedule?

The Culture Week is officially upon us.

2011-02-23T01:26:00.000-08:00

Yesterday me and my friend Sofia was asked to hold the annual speech for the Culture Week Initiation. I wrote one hell of a speech, it had all the key elements. Pretentious art snobbery, pompous phrasings and lots of rhetorical questions. Executionwise it went horribly. Absolutely, utterly horrible. Not for Sofia, she delivered her sections brilliantly, accentuating the right words and not stumbling through the sentences. I was struck unexpectedly by stagefright of previously unseen proportions. Which I found quite strange, as I've not had that much trouble with public speaking before. But now, in front of 400 people or so, my voice disappeared into a garbled mess. My legs shaking, my head going: what the fuck have I gotten myself into? I even got the pity-clap halfway through. Dreadful. Can't stand living in my own skin at the moment, to be honest. Especially with everyone coming up to me saying the speach was great. Liars.
Will now follow this faliure with being wretchedly drunk for the foreseeable future. Until I run out of wine, that is. Cheers, mate.

The eyes

2011-02-05T03:39:00.000-08:00

Life can change rapidly sometimes, but I'm learning to just go along with it and stress out a bit less. The past week or two have been kind of a blur. Turned nineteen. Caught a wicked cold. Eighteen school assignmets overdue. I also got a new apartment with two of my friends. It's the first week and we've already broken five glasses, the xbox and set a tablecloth on fire. Accidentprone? Oh well. I still have a good feeling about this new living arrangement. We're pretty awesome.

Started painting for my grande project, finally. These are just some sample thumbnails to determine what technique to use. Unmixed primary colours, individual layers allowed to dry between painting, chiaroscuro/sfumato, dark vs light underpainting etcetera. This is because I'm trying to paint with more discipline and planning in order to achieve the effect of the old baroque masterieces... It's not going that great, but practice makes perfect. I'm inspired by Caravaggio and plan on making my big oil painting using a similar technique. The subject lit dramatically, chiaroscuro style.

It's due in april and I've got no idea how to make the deadline. What with also having to paint something to exhibit on the local Ridelius gallery (the whole class is featuring one work each, the winning artist gets a scholarship!). A personal self-portrait is also requested for one of my classes. Jesh!

Right now I really just want to work with intaglio printing, I find the technique really challenging, but also so much fun! I've tried all the basic methods (drypoint, hardground and softground etching, aquatint) and am now looking forward to trying combinations. If one of my plates turns out satisfactory I might print a suite for sale. Lord knows I need some money now that I spend most of it on rent...

These are all the images I can offer you for now, my scanner is uncooperative and my photoshop as well. Fingers crossed I'll be able to reinstall everything and make it work soon.

The Times They Are A-Changin'

2011-01-07T12:25:00.000-08:00

So, a lot has happened since my last post. I am sad to tell you that my apprenticeship at the shop has been terminated. I've had the holidays to process this, and while it still sucks that I won't be tattooing anytime soon I feel okay about it.
I suppose, being a perfectionist, I'm not prepared for failing at something, but this wasn't about me being bad at tattooing. So, that's a comfort, I guess. It was more about working at such proximity to each other, the personal chemistry was a bit tense.
Of course I'm seeing this as a failure nonetheless. My personality is always leaving something to be desired, it seems. I'm a loud-mouthed, grumpy pain in the *ss at times, and I know it. My friends and family know it too... It's hard to work past that. The depressing thoughts and the red-tinged anger that keeps flaring up within won't buckle. But it comes with the lifestyle, I guess. Being a brooding, troubled artist and all.

So, where to go from here? Giving up and living with shattered confidence in a reclused cave without talking to anyone was briefly conscidered and then I thought better of it. My plan is to finish school, something that I admit will be easier with no job interfering, and meanwhile try to find a new apprenticeship. I'll have to move for that, though. Giving up the farmiliarity and routine on this small island Gotland will be difficult. But that's how it is. You get on with it and recognize that the sacrifices brings you something else in return.

And yes, speaking in clichés are my new thing. As well as long post without pictures, apparently. Thanks for hanging in there, readers. There'll be some drawings coming up soon. Promise.

The energy dome!

2010-12-04T04:10:00.000-08:00

My friend Grim came by and wanted a tattoo of an energy dome. And I was like, "what the hell's an energy dome?". Turns out to be a weird plastic hat often worn by the band Devo. We made the tattoo a cartoon picture of Mark because the hat itself would make a pretty boring motive.

This was so much fun! I'm saying that about every single tattoo I make, I know, but as I'm getting better and more comfortable in tattooing it just makes it more and more entertaining!
I was a bit unsure about the face, I've never made anything like that before. Turned out good, though. I started varying the thickness of the lines as I would an ink drawing, feels good to make things my own instead of just following the stencil. We ran out of time so I'll add color some other day.

I was also pleasantly surprised to see Kat von D on the news, she's apparently in Sweden on book tour. Regardless of what I might think about miami ink, tattoo highway, london ink and all the cheesy meanings and stories accompanying every tattoo... Kat is awesome. Her book is inspiring, her ambition is admirable, her tattoos are gorgeous and so is she. Too bad nothing of much relevance was said in any of the interviews. Shouldn't expect more with reporters being this clueless:

The Work Space

2010-11-29T04:26:00.000-08:00

My computer is dead, and so I find myself without much opportunity to be online outside of the computers at school. And speaking of school... Here's some photographic documentation of where I'm at from 8am to 4pm every day. The pictures are pretty dark, but I didn't have the energy to photoshop.

Since me and my class are on our final year, and that makes us awesome, we have our own work spaces. Pretty much an office cubicle, but we make them work. It's so nice to have a place at school where you feel at home. My visitors are met with this note i have, saying "Försvinn". That means "go away" in swedish. I've never been that much for hospitality.

A cluttered desk is a sign of genius. I love my wall.

Failed prints of my hardground etchings and drypoints on copper. Also an adigraph-print my friend gave to me, my schedule and a solarisation. Also known as my B/W-corner.

Weird figure someone drew long before my time (I adore him), and a note apologizing for all the plastic spiders that one day mysteriously appeared in my booth.

Coffee mugs en masse... A guide to printing intaglio and screen, amongst other techiques, awesome painting (printed out for reference) by Clive Barker and homework.

Screenprint faeries on colored paper
.
Adigraph-print faerie.

Yeah, that's pretty much it. This blogpost is in all honesty more for me than you. I'll watch this with nostalgia a year from now.

The Queens of the Stone Age

2010-11-19T08:06:00.000-08:00

Yeah, a music-related tattoo... The logo for Queens of the Stone Age. It went great, perhaps because the lines were supposed to be rough and uneven for a change!

Even though I want to tattoo people all the time, I'm slowing down in that department. School is pretty intense at the moment and I don't have the time to spurt down to the shop after scool and start tattooing right away.
Today I tried screenprint, which was pretty fun but made a mess of my clothes. Aprons are for chickens.

Lines finished!

The apprentice at work...
All pictures taken by Freja.

The madness continues...

2010-11-10T10:52:00.000-08:00

I'm stressing out a little, there's just so much crap everywhere. It's like I'm being consumed by high expectations, stress, fear of falling behind, tiredness and some more stress. I really hope it doesn't reflect in my work. Oh well, I'll keep on fighting through it.

This is an anchor on a sideboob. Duh. The awesomeness of it all is quite overwhelming, I know. Boobs and tattoos and anchors and my closest friends first time under the needle... Awesome!

This is the lines for a star on the wrist. We're doing matching pairs, this is the second one.

We started with this. It's a cover-up of a drunken attempt at a star... We managed to put the most awful lines beneath the black fields, and hopefully the last remnants won't show after we add some red.
The star had to be placed a bit crooked for everything to fit, and so we did the matching in the same angle. It was a real b*tch to get that stencil properly aligned with the other one. And yes, my volunteer went through agonizing pain the entire two-three hours.

The penguin

2010-11-07T05:03:00.000-08:00

Made a penguin this friday, followed by a really cozy evening with wine and talk of tattoos. I love the crowd I'm around right now. Funny, down to earth, talented people with hilarious homemade tattoos and badass drinking stories. When I started out, I was afraid I wouldn't have anyone to practice on, but boy did everyone prove me wrong! The requests are pouring in, and more as i get better. Probably the fact that they don't have to pay yet is a factor, but I couldn't possibly charge them when I'm still so green at this. Filling stuff is still really hard, It's tricky to get the colour all the way to the edge of the contour, because I'm a wuss, and they also fade alot when healed...
Since I started tattooing it seems that's all everyone wants to talk to me about. What they want to get tattooed, when I have the time, what are my suggestions and who did the ones I have. It's fun to talk about, but I'm starting to worry that's all I'm going to be from now on. A pretty cool thing to be distinguished for, admittedly, but I'm really not that one-dimensional.

I'm also:

Crazy in love with House MD
Listening to Mumford and Sons "Little Lion man" thirteen times a day
Treating my two cats like they were my children (cooing and spoiling and cuddling and all that crap)
Fighting verbally with one of my closer classmates on a daily basis
Close to fainting every time I get pierced or have to give a blood sample (Ironic, I know!)

...for example.

The anchor tattoo

2010-11-03T23:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I tattooed this small anchor at the back of Jocelyns ear. This was the fist time I saw her since tattoing that black sheep with the heart around it (my fifth). Honestly? That looked awful when healed. There was just a blob of faded colour and awful attempts at lines that I'm truly ashamed of being responsible for putting on her arm. We're gonna cover it up soon.
This one went much better, altough I've learned not to take victories out in advance. We'll see how it looks when healed. This was the smallest tattoo I've made so far, and I had some trouble with the location. It was tricky to get the color to stick, but our guest artist Sailor Steve let me borrow his Micky Sharpz-liner, which spun like a furious cat and worked great.
It's kind of amazing to compare the two. It's been two-three weeks and I've gotten SO much better.

The tattoo count is up to 11

2010-10-30T09:42:00.000-07:00

I've had the week off from school and spent it tattooing friends. It was a blast! It's going better by each stroke. My hands doesn't cramp (as much), the lines are getting more even, I don't need constant assistance in picking needles etc. and I've tried shading rather succesfully.
I don't feel like I'm going to be sick the moment before putting the needle in someone, and my inner monologue doesn't say "Holy crap this shit is permanent". It's saying "Breathe in, don't tilt the grip that much, wipe, great line, now make the next one even better" and so on...
I really regret I didn't take pictures. Partly because I don't have any photos to post in the blog, but also because I kinda want to scrutinize my work and look at what I should do better next time. Oh well.

The fifth

2010-10-09T04:54:00.000-07:00

1,2,3,4... 5! It might not look amazing, but I'm getting better at this. And it adds to the charm that the heart isn't perfect. Jocelyn insisted on doing it at this not-so-discreet location, which made me a bit nervous. No need, though. She was a wonderful volunteer, relaxed, patient and not as much as winced at my stabbing her with needles. I don't know what I'd do without my amazing friends giving me their skin, the most valuable canvas in the world. I'm feeling the love.

The great masters

2010-09-25T11:02:00.000-07:00

I've lunged into my project. The first stage is a study of the masterpieces of the renaissance and baroque art to prepare for my big oil painting. I will study their techniques of glazing, sfumato, chiaroscuro and whatnot. It has been a lifelong dream of mine to be able to paint like Leonardo, Grunewald and Van Eyck (amongst others). Not that I'll be able to achieve anything like that, of course, but still... I'm eager to start painting already, but first I have to sift through the eight pages of notes I scribbled down sloppily in my log book today.
If my teachers think they'll be able to read anything from my notes they're sadly mistaken.

The couch

2010-09-21T01:53:00.000-07:00

I really like this couch, it is excellent for napping during lunch break. Our class is blessed with this bottle-green manchester example of seventies decorating.

The skull with vermin

2010-09-12T02:14:00.000-07:00

It's not really new, it's been hanging at the library for two months. Never the less...
I was very inspired by Laurie Lipton, an incredible artist whose work you will find it hard to drag your eyes away from. Her pictures are maticulously hatched, extremely accurate and totally gothic and creepy. Check them out for yourself at: www.laurielipton.com
After seeing her drawing "Lady Death" I had to try hatching anatomically correct skulls for myself. It took a while, but the effect is really cool. Threw in the freakishly large moth, mosquito and fly just for fun. I was looking at different Vanitas-paintings and learned that insects represent decay and death, amongst other things. Lost my temper at drawing from reference somewhere around there, so they're not as accurate as I'd like them to be.

I call the drawing Feast on Scrapes. Clicking equals larger image.

The project

2010-09-10T12:22:00.000-07:00

It's my final year of school and I'm finally done with all the math, history, science and stuff. Finally I get to focus on the arts. My schedule is packed with everyting from photography, graphic illustration and communication, etching, engraving and screenprint to oil painting. Gotta love it. I suffer from general tiredness and stress, that's what's kept me from scanning in some of my recent work... Bear with me, please.

The projects piling up are tattoo designs, not to mention the big project every student does their final year in Swedish schools. It's a long process where the process has to be logged, every stage motivated and thought through. There are basically no limitations on what to do, which makes picking a project harder than you'd think. My plan is to make a big oil painting. Like, "this painting is too big to fit through the door"-big. Hopefully it'll be awesome. I think I'll blog about it alot.

The pictures are from yet another project, a photo shoot I'm airbrushing/editing for the Add9 webshop. I'm modeling some badass designs from Bronk Clothing, but I have about twenty more pictures to go. Work, work, work...

The third tattoo

2010-08-23T11:00:00.000-07:00

Yup. Today i got to do my third tattoo ever. The picture is horribly blurry and I'll replace it with a more crisp picture as soon as I get one.
My volunteer wanted to tattoo the name of his boss, which is really really weird. I think it was an old promise of some sort.
I decided not to question it too much since I got to practice on something other than grapefruits. Skin and fruit is really not alike, the only thing grapefruits are good for is to train the hand not to scream in protest at having to maneuver a vibrating brick. But fruit-skin isn't cushiony like a marshmallow and doesn't need to be stretched out all the time. So there's a big difference.

...I also had to do it upside-down.

The obligatory "subscribe"-pleading

2010-08-11T11:24:00.000-07:00

I have to be honest, the fact that I have only one follower is bugging me. The lack of feedback is quite disheartening. Yes, I too find it super-lame when people whine about getting comments and subscribers, but some signs of life wouldn't hurt. This is me telling whoever is reading to follow this blog with a persuasively stern (drunken) picture of yours truly. Yeah!

The freaky coincidence

2010-07-31T09:23:00.001-07:00

The other day a woman came into the shop to get a pinup tattoo. The reference-picture she brought was, to my surprise, a drawing I'd made! The one above to be exact. She had no idea I was the artist behind it, she'd just found it online and liked it so much she wanted it as a tattoo. And of all places she could have gone to get it, she chose the studio I work at! Is that the most absurd coincidence, or what? Small world. The same goes for the internet, apparently.

I'm very, very flattered and stoked to see how it will turn out. I've re-drawn it a bit and added lettering, It'll be awesome.

The postermaker

2010-07-25T13:23:00.000-07:00

I should just declare myself a poster-maker and be done with it.
This one I made for ADD9, the clothing store next to the shop promoting a rock n' roll lifestyle by selling awesome clothes from awesome brands, such as iron fist, liquorbrand and amplified. It's more a sign than a poster, though. It says "Clothes and accessories" and will hopefully encourage people to check out the store :P

The vampire-sketch

2010-07-18T01:20:00.000-07:00

The summer goes on... Damn, it's disgustingly warm.

As I'm still lacking new material to post, let's take a trip down my old sketchbooks.
A study of draping and creases in dresses, or something...

The Circus-poster

2010-06-21T11:49:00.000-07:00

As a tattoo-apprentice, my tasks range from anything between drawing up designs for clients and answering the phone to washing the machine grips and sterilizing them. Sometimes it's hard, sometimes just boring. Always good training, though.

The shop is celebrating it's first year open for business, and I got to make the poster. A very enjoyable assignment :D

The Art Nouveau-poster

2010-06-16T12:10:00.000-07:00

Yeah, It's been a while. In my defense I've been busy moving, graduating my second year at upper secondary school and planning an exhibition. Also my internet is horribly uncooperative.

Anyways... stoked to hang up some new stuff at the library again, last time I got a ton of positive response and kind words. Let's hope second time around gets even better!
The poster is art nouveau-inspired with sparse colouring that I really tried not to overwork with shading and highlights.
We decided the exhibition was a go, like, yesterday. And it's gonna be up the day after tomorrow. Fast-paced, just how I like it.
I'm finishing some of the almost-done projects I have lying around so I'll have something to exhibit on friday.
I've always worked well under pressure.

The time-jar

2010-05-29T04:22:00.000-07:00

I often get asked to make tattoo designs for people. I really like it, but unfortunately I rarely have the time. Right now I have four really cool ideas pending to be drawn that I will get to eventually. This is a carpe diem-tattoo-thingy I made last year.

The sneek-peek of the shaded skull

2010-05-25T14:43:00.000-07:00

I am trying very hard to keep the posts coming, I know how boring it is when someone only updates once every other month. If that means posting works in progress without much explanation, so be it.

The Blue Faerie

2010-05-24T12:28:00.000-07:00

This elf/faerie-mix started out as a blue splash of aquarelle colour on a leftover paper. Though I've always liked the technique, this is the first time I've tried myself to do watercolor with additional work after it dries. Liked the result since it was a quick piece, I just painted and let it turn out whatever. The varying thickness of the lines and the "patcy" blues/greys for her skin were inspired by one of my favourite artists Alex Pardee.

Right next to my bed is a mirror, and from my pillow I always see this faerie in the mirror as it hangs on the wall behind me. I've grown to like her much more when reversed, and I swear I can see her eyes moving some nights.

The framed faerie-portrait

2010-05-23T04:58:00.001-07:00

Instead of studying yesterday I drew a tiny portrait for my recently acquired frame. The drawing measures 9x6 centimetres and was a bit challenging to get details into, I'm not pleased with the head, really. But I love the hair. The camera was being difficult so the picture is a bit dark and blurry, too. Oh well.

The pointy-eared self-portrait

2010-05-21T15:04:00.000-07:00

This morning I spent rifling through stacks of old Lp-records with horrible, yet intriguing, covers at a yard sale. Me and my friend had a real "Ghost World" moment, just hopig Steve Buschemi Would come stand behind us. Got some stuff that brought me great inspiration, I found a beautifully ornamented picture frame and an old scrapbook made by some teenage girl in the fifties with idol pictures and magazine articles about Elvis Presley, Pat Boone and James Dean. Someone's trash, someone else's treasure...

The rest of the day I was under the needle, getting a sugar skull tattoo! Who said I never go through with the things I say I'm gonna do? Really stoked to get it done, there's not much color in it yet. Won't post pictures until then. Btw, isn't it funny you always forget how much it hurts? Ha-ha. Anyway, it looks amazing.

The picture is of a ceramic project at school. The assignment was to make a self-portrait, but more or less everyone discarded the theme and freestyled. So I decided to give mine a healthy dose of fantasy. Though I still tried making it as realistic as possible in the other apects of the head. Who knows, bodymod might just make the pointy ears reality someday.

The Bird Lady

2010-05-16T07:02:00.000-07:00

This is a painting I started working on last summer, It has been one of those unfinished projects since then.

I absolutely adore the whole concept of venetian masks, drapes, tapestries and bird cages, but putting that into practice was horrible. Don't try to paint intricate wallpaper if you're not extremely patient! I stopped enjoying it sometime after 20 hours I think.

Finally got it done though, I pulled a couple of all-nighters with a truckload of coffee and my longest spotify-playlist on repeat. Kinda cool, actually. I got so wrapped up in it that before I knew it it was 5 AM and my legs were cramping due to all the standing up, haha!
I have no idea how long it took me all in all, but those patterns and textures took me quite some time. Not to mention the stupid cage. Painting straight cage-bars on free hand? Overambitious!

It measures about 65x95 centimeters, I think. Painted it with my dearest Winsor & Newton water mixable oil colors on canvas. Seriously, these oil colors are The Best. Period.

Here's some details:

The cockatoo was very last minute.

Might look a bit more blurry than it actually is in fullview mode, but watch anyway.

The sugar skull

2010-05-16T06:28:00.001-07:00

I love sugar skulls. I love how they play with death and at the same time look so alive. I love that you can ornament them any way you want to. I love people with sugar skull tattoos, I'm definitely getting one. They're simply awesome.

While I'm working at the tattoo shop almost every day after school, it's still not the same as a full-time apprenticeship. Therefore I usually get "homework". Most often drawing assignments of some kind. One week i was told to go home and draw sugar skull tattoo-designs, but to make something own and innovative with the concept. This is what I made:

As a vegetarian, I've been thinking of tattooing something where the traditional rose-decoration has been replaced with cabbage heads. Thought it was pretty funny.

Kurbits is an old tradition of decorating stuff in Sweden, think Dalecarlian horses. I feel very inspired by Peter Johansson, a swedish artist that makes a lot of funny and clever installations and sculptures with kurbits. Why not on a sugar skull? (Will probably look better coloured)

Classical oldschool-motives incorporated in this sugar skull.

The most conventional of the bunch, perhaps. I always have fun with more intricate graphite drawings. Also, I love the "sugar skull girls". What are they called anyway?

The world of Holly Black

2010-05-16T04:05:00.000-07:00

I've decided to blog in english instead of swedish. It broadens the audience greatly, I also enjoy the language more. It's very descriptive, there's a lot of beauty in it's grammar structure and adjectives.

This is what I'm into at the moment. The borderline between beautiful and ugly. Can something be both?

I also feel the need to show that faeries aren't the miniature Barbies with leaf-bikini's Disney makes them out to be. They're old, wealthy, evil creatures capable of horrible things. The second one was just me goofing around as I practiced skeletons, it's just a weird sketch. The other one I'm turning into a small oil painting.

Perhaps it's because I just read Holly Blacks "Tithe" and "Ironside". Again.
Seriously, such exquisite writing, it's so very inspiring. Highly recommended.

The Frames playing nonstop on my Spotify as I'm trying to study for a national test on math this tuesday. Yikes.