“Passing through nature to eternity”
For as long as I can remember i’ve been obsessed with mortality and at any given time how I process that changes; Sometimes i’ve been able to make my peace with that and find the beauty in the passing of time, the romance in the fragility of things. Sometimes there’s a real humour in the absurdity of it all and at other times the feelings are more fraught. Wherever I am with it though i’ve been pretty relentless about committing these themes to paper… and skin when i’m lucky enough…
I’ve had the joy of tattooing Steve a few times; Our first project took the shape of a raven on the forearm and from there we quickly realised that we shared an enjoyment of imagery that would usually fill the category of dark, haunting and sometimes even a little morbid? So far all of our projects have revolved around this theme, our second project was a rendition of one of my favourite Kyōsai paintings, the third referencing Kyōsai again but adapted into something custom for Steve’s calf. One of the most joyful things about these projects for me has been introducing some of my most loved artworks to someone else and get to be part of their exploration of it. I maintain that there’s not much better in life that the shared experience of truly geeking the fuck out.
All of our projects have been heavy influenced by traditional, Japanese imagery. It’s been pretty important to us both to capture an ethereal and painterly vibe, playing with differing opacities and textures; Fineline tattooing without any loss of impact or boldness.
Pictures below, both healed and fresh to show how our approach has settled over time and colour studies. I’ve included some older sketches of things that seemed pertinent to us ending up here too… incase they’re of interest. I’m still wrapping my head around the blog thing…
