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For a Long Time (about thirty years) I had wanted a tattoo. On Friday, August 27, 1999, I GOT IT!
The pic at top left is MY FIRST TATTOO, an animal band going around my left leg! But, I wanted MORE. My symmetry was forever RUINED. Being the addiction-prone SOB that I am, on September 10, two weeks later,
my poor bare right ankle got inked, a full color tiger chasing his tail around my other leg. Both were done by Tim at InkFluence in Lubbock, Texas. |
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I have liked Picasso's Don Quixote since high school.
Now that would make a great full back piece! So, being the true addict that I am, on December 16, 1999, I went to
Route 66 Tattoo and Art Gallery in Albuquerque, N.M., where Fernando Munoz started putting it on me.
He did the whole outline, full width on my back from just above my waist to a bit below my shoulder
in that first session, and Sancho and his mule and the sun were completed.
Fernando was real nice when I cussed and screamed!
I went back for more on January 8, 2000, and again on February 24 and 25 to get it finished.
Total time about eleven hours in three sessions.
Much more impressive than the ankles! At least the PAIN was DAMN sure more impressive! Skinny bastards like me should probably NOT get tattooed directly on their back bone!
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I got this design on my right shoulder on Friday, May 19, 2000,
by Mike Peluso at Big Buddha Tattoos in Lubbock, Texas.
Nobody but Mike has inked me since. When you have the best, you don't whore around! |
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SOOO much blank skin!!!
I had thought for about as long as I had wanted a tattoo that I wanted a great eagle on my chest.
BUT my mind is telling me that Skinny Bastards like me should
probably NOT get tattooed directly on their breast bone!
BUT, Now I WANT my EAGLE and I WANT it on my CHEST!
I gotta get it done soon, since my goal is:
six tattoos done in my first year (August 27) of being
C O L O R E D ! |
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On July 18, 2000, I have much less blank skin than the night before!
AND my mind was RIGHT! Skinny bastards like me should
definitely NOT get tattooed directly on their breast bone! BUT, I am getting my EAGLE! Mike did this to me from about 3:30 until 6:30 on Monday,
July 17, 2000, my 24th wedding anniversary present to myself. Some observations:
I tied my beard up behind my head, in a pony-tail with my head hair, like in the top picture here.
A gray beard would look like hell dyed with black tattoo ink!
I have mentioned frequently that my beard will obscure the bird,
but my tattooist said that those who will see it will feel like little rabbits
observing the great eagle preparing to pounce on them from behind a bush!
I shaved my chest yesterday to prep for the tat!
First time I have operated a razor in almost four years. Most unpleasant!
And within a few hours, the stubble was already becoming very annoying.
I find it rather curious that some folks find body shaving to be erotic. More like S/M to me! Getting tattooed where this one is really HURTS. But the pain of the tattoo stops
when the needles stop pricking. After that, it hurts for a little while, about like being shaved!
AND you don't have to get tattooed every day to be beautiful!
Particularly if you have a BEARD to go with your tattoos! |
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Wednesday, July 19, Mike took about an hour and a half
to finish the other wing and the head.
The head gave me a bit of a preview of
what is in store for the last session. Damn, it HURT! I yelled alot. But I didn't cry! Friday, August 4, took about another hour and a half to finish!
And I still didn't cry! But I sure cussed and yelled alot!!
The sternum has got to be the worst area of the entire body to have tattooed!!! I love it! Sure is fun to go shirtless.
Several folks have asked if they can peep under my beard
to see the rest of it. That is really fun!
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Like I said, I wanted to get six tats in my first year of being Colored.
I only have until Sunday, August 27, to make it. And I hate being so ASSymetrical!
The design at left (a Very Democratic Donkey) went on my left arm
(to match the AA tat on the right) on August 24, 2000.
Six tats in my first year. Should have gone for seven . . .
But that might keep me satisfied with ink for awhile. You believe me, don't you? |
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Well, being, as I said, an Addict, I had a little needle relapse on November 3, 2000.
It was perpetrated by Alex at Big Buddha.
Started out a twelve gauge, now up to ooohhh gauge, which is about a third of a inch?
I might quit there . . . |
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So, the ink fix lasted over ten months! Then on July 9, 2001, Mike started a slightly altered version
of this drawing by
Dan Thompson from about an inch from Don Quixote on each side
around my ribs and abdomen, from just below the eagle to somewhat South of the belt. DAMN! The rib cage IS worse than the breast bone (which is worse than the back bone)! I have lost track of how much time it has taken, but about eight sessions. It was finished on Tuesday, August 28, 2001, a day over two years of getting ink injections. Maybe this will keep me satisfied for awhile. You don't believe that, do you? Not much left but arms and legs! So you would not be surprised if I said that plans are in the works?
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Well, we all had some sort of reaction to the insane events of September 11, 2001.
On September 12, I went to Mike and wanted him to give me a United States flag on my arm.  He said sure, but he explained that such small detail will blur in a fairly short time,
particularly the star field. So I recalled an old armband idea and he put it on my left arm
(with additional red and blue bands expanding my old idea) on Saturday, September 15.
I was so excited to have it done (remember my hangup about symmetry?),
we did an inverse design on the right arm on Thursday, September 20.
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No new ink in over three months. And I HAVE TOO DAMN MANY TATTOOS NOW ! ! !
I think I should not have two tattoos on my torso and two on each arm.
There is such a void from one armpit across my chest to the other armpit.
So Mike is going to use the pegasus and some other ideas to merge the eagle and the
wizard scene into one large tattoo from my collarbone down to below my waist
with a fantasy flock of pegasi flying from my right side across and around my nipples
to my left side, thereby turning two tattoos into one.
We got started on Sunday, January 27, with one on the left side;
did one more, to the right of center, on Thursday, January 31;
two more, on the right side, on Sunday, February 3; and one more, left of center,
on Wednesday, February 6. A session or two for shading and it will be done:
five pegasi making it one BIG tat covering my entire torso!
Have you ever heard the old saying, HOW SOON THEY FORGET ?!?
Well, now I remember, THE STERNUM HURTS ! ! ! ALOT
So on Thursday, February 28, we finished turning two tattoos,
the eagle on the chest and the wizard on the stomach,
into ONE BIG FANTASY TORSO TAT ! ! !
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Sunday, March 10, in about two and a half hours Mike did most of the
work to integrate the arm band and AA sun tattoo on my right arm
into a quarter-sleeve connected to my chest (the two bottom pictures at left). Thursday, March 14, we did the other one.
Mike thought we were about done. HA ! ! ! My shoulders were bare. That sucks.
Kanji characters across the top of my shoulders were added on March 17.
SERENITY . . . COURAGE . . . WISDOM
From the Serenity Prayer.
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Once again, Mike thought we were about done. HA ! HA ! ! !
There are holes in my tattoo under my arms. My arm pits had to be tattooed!
I had heard that tattooing the arm pits hurt.
Mike said YES they do, A LOT. Mike really did not want to do it.
But I said, "We will just have to do it anyway. I cannot have those holes under my arms."
So on Sunday, March 24, 2002, Mike put BearPaws in both my arm pits.
YEP, it hurt, but not as bad as tattooing ribs and sternum ! ! !
If you want it, go for it.
The worst part was shaving an area that had NEVER been shaved before.
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Then with a little more touch-up, we finally finished, turning two tats on my front and
two tats on each arm into one great tattoo, changing me from a guy with nine tattoos
into a guy with only four: two above the belt and two little ones just above my ankles.
Sometimes addition is the best way to subtract: 6 tattoos + X hours of tattooing = 1 tattoo
You should see me laugh my ass off when someone asks,
IS THAT A TEE SHIRT OR A TATTOO?
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Lately, I have really had a ITCH all over my body below my belt . . . Wierd ! ! !
An itch is a terrible thing to endure. And I am weak.
I started getting my itchey legs scratched on July 17, 2002.
I turned my legs over to a Higher Power (Mike) and told him to do what he wanted to do,
JUST FILL 'ER UP.
I told him I wanted them done in oriental style and theme. And BIG.
I wanted a dragon and a tiger and a Buddha and a foo dog and some koi.
Just have fun and let me make suggestions and retain a veto (vich you can override.
For the first session he outlined a big dragon and the Buddha on my right leg.
Next session he outlined my tiger on the left leg. BIG.
Top of thigh almost to my ankle.
DAMN, I had seven tattoos again.
I have been going to Mike most Sundays for two to three hours now for months.
I never realized it, but there is more skin on your legs than on your upper body!
Room for lots of ink below the belt!
In addition to the Buddha, dragon, and fu dog on the right leg,
there is a bird of paradise, plus a crane on my right butt cheek.
With the tiger on the left leg are two koi, a water dragon, lots of water,
and on my left butt cheek, an eagle and a snake.
On both legs, peonies and cherry blossoms, fire and butterflies and wind bars
and other cool things fill the smaller areas all over, in LOTS of colors.
Mike finished my legs on June 11, 2003 (happy 54th birthday!). Those first two little tats seem like so very long ago! But it isn't, really.
I am now mostly covered and connected front and back, from my ankles to my neck.
Now, AT LAST I have only TWO TATTOOS again.
Took way over three years (and close to two hundred hours of inking,
all but about eleven by Mike) to get back to that.
And DAMN! There are ALOT of areas below the belt that are WORSE than the rib cage,
which is worse than the breast bone, which is worse than the back bone!
As I have gotten more and more ink coverage, I have noticed that I draw more attention.
I tell you, exposed full leg sleeves attracts MAJOR notice.
People are getting whiplash doing double-takes when I go out in shorts.
And DAMN, IT IS FUN ! ! !
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On June 22, Mike added more wind bars and shading to the back around Don Quixote
to fill up alot of the blank area there so at last I have only ONE TATTOO.
We will probably cover in closer to my neck as well, going from VIRGIN to a FULL SUIT
by the end of the summer of 2003, within about four years from that crazy day
in 1999 when Tim first impregnated me with black ink from the tattoo machine.
So now when people ask why I have so many tattoos, I just say,
"I just have ONE, it is just a little bigger than most!" I suspect I am probably now more tattooed than at least
99.9998
percent of the people in the whole world.
But you know what? My lower arms are Blank. My feet are still virgins.
Not to mention my neck and hands. And my head. But I doubt those will ever get tattooed.
Tattooing those areas is pretty much taboo even for me.
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The feet were virgin until July 3, when the left one got
an outline of flames around a red "oni" (a Japanese devil).
Parts of it hurt. Parts of it REALLY hurt. A LOT. The back of the ankle is NOT to be recommended!
Mike says I can't wear a shoe for three weeks.
Yeah, right. I made it barefoot for three days. It's healing beautifully.
But tomorrow I gotta go to work. Us professional guys gotta wear shoes, dammit.
The right foot got the outline pricked on July 17,
with a turtle surrounded with water, rocks and cherry blossoms.
The turtle is a symbol of longevity and also has certain sexual connotations.
It took three more sessions on each to finish the feet, the last session
being on Saturday, October 4, 2003. The lower edges and the achilles tendon
hurt like nothing I can remember! And the ink would not stay. Those areas
PEELED in thick sheets. Really strange. Once they are completely healed,
about the middle of November, they will get another session for touch-ups.
If I grow two more feet, they will NOT get tattooed, except maybe on top!
Remember that first little tat, the animal band? It's still there.
My second tat, the little tiger, is still chasing his tail above my ankle.
But you have to look for them!
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I went to my first tattoo contest, the 4th Annual Texas Tattoo Round-Up, in Dallas in 2002.
Well, that is only partly true. I nearly went to one in Arlington, Texas, several years before.
I got there before it opened and got nervous and left before it opened. WIMP.
Anyhow, I went to the 5th Annual Texas Tattoo Round-Up, in Dallas on November 7-9, 2003.
I went with Mike and two other of his clients, Scott and Kenny.
They both had new tattoos on their legs, and we were THERE TO WIN ! ! !
There were probably about a hundred artists working on the convention floor
and several hundred tattoo collectors attending.
Scott, Kenny , and I entered the Best Color Large contest, which awarded plaques to the
Top Three Artists Choices. Kenny and I both won in that category!
I also won Best Overall Male. Pretty good for Mike to win three out of 39 awards.
And I had a photo shoot which is featured in the April 2004 issue of Tattoo magazine.
And I got a picture and a mention in the Dallas Observer write-up about the convention.
I also entered the contests for Best Color Medium for my AA tat on my right upper arm,
Best Black & Gray Large for my eagle and wizard scene on my chest and stomach,
and Best Full Back for my Don Quixote. I didn't win any of those.
but I had so much fun that I contracted another addiction: going to tattoo conventions!
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I went to the 2nd Annual Star Of Texas Tattoo Art Revival in Austin January 9-11, 2004.
I think there were more artists and collectors there than in Dallas.
I entered several contests and came out with second place Overall Male.
The prize was a "found Texas treasures" welded metal sculpture with a dog-tag
engraved with the award, which I later mounted on a plaque and gave to Mike.
And I had a photo shoot with International Tattoo Art magazine
and was included in their September 2004 coverage of the Star Of Texas Tattoo show.
And a guy from Japan (with whom I was unable to communicate meaningfully for some reason)
took alot of pictures, I think for a magazine published in Japan. And the best prize of the trip: I quit smoking the night the convention ended
to drive home on January 12, the six anniversary of my sober date.
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You know what? I just realized, I have not gotten any ink in over FIVE MONTHS.
For an addict like me, that is A Very Long Time to go without any ink.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I quit smoking before I left Austin.
Two months between cigarettes is A Very Long Time for an addict like me!
I must have been craving nicotine so bad I didn't realize how bad I needed an INK FIX ! ! !
I NEEDED SLEEVES. TWO OF 'EM ! ! !
Mike did all of the outline on the left arm (first pic at left) on Sunday, March 14.
Took about an hour and a half or so of applying stencils and drawing
and about two hours to ink it in. Eight grizzly bears, and water and trees.
And a salmon about to feed the bears. An Alaskan scene.
The right sleeve (second pic at left) got outlined on Sunday, March 28,
with a similar scene with wolves. A pack of five wolves in the distance
behind a very handsome head of a larger one above the wrist.
After several semi-weekly sessions, both arms were finished,
doing some touch-ups on Wednesday evening, May 19, which is
interestingly enough exactly four years to the day since Mike
worked on me the first time, doing the AA tat on my right upper arm.
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Mike and I both thought I needed something else above the chest eagle.
After alot of discussion, Mike had vetoed all the ideas I came up with.
He came up with the idea for a pair of snakes.
Well, AhhHmmmM, snakes have never been my favorite of Mother Nature's Critters.
But hell, I am just the canvas! So, Mike put two snakes circling most of the way
around my neck (mostly hidden by my beard), along with some more of his
famous Bhuddist clouds, done in shades of red and orange.
The left snake is shades of blue like the clouds of my right arm,
while the right snake uses the colors of the left arm clouds.
I think it really finishes me off, tying the colors of the arms together above the black & grey of my torso.
By the way, the septum ring in the bottom picture is a slight modifition I acquired in Los Angeles.
There is more about that on my HoleyGuy Page
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Mike thought I had a good chance at winning the Best Overall contest and maybe some others,
like maybe Best Sleeve, if I would go to the 13th Annual Inkslingers Ball.
It is one of the biggest conventions in the country and I thought it would be alot of fun. So I went.
It was September 17-19, 2004, at the famed Hollywood Palladium in North Los Angeles.
Turned out old Mike knew
 what he was talking about!
I won both First AND Second Places for Sleeve Design as well as Best Overall Male.
Not bad for a body suit collected over five years by a guy who was scared to death
to get that first little ankle band at the young old age of fifty!
And I had a LOT of FUN, going around the Paladium and all over LA
on the bus and the subway and the sidewalks showing off my ink.
Another award I received from Inkslingers of which I am especially proud is the
extra large endowment on display in the bottom picture of this section.
A man can never have too large an endowment.
This picture was sent to me by a friend. Thank You, Sir!
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The first picture at left shows the new snake tat around my neck
and the septum piercing (the straight one that Alex did, now at eight gauge) pretty well.
It also shows my new double zero (OH OHH) titanium circular bar bells,
which Alex ordered for me. They actually weigh only 1.2 ounces each, slightly more than
half of what similar stainless steel jewelry would weigh.
When you get up to jewelry that large, weight really matters!
I went back to the 6th Annual Texas Tattoo Round-Up in Dallas on November 5-7, 2004,
with Mike and the rest of the Big Buddha staff and some of Mike's other clients.
We didn't do too bad in the contests.
All contests gave awards for Top Three Artists Choices, like last year.
Mike's work won for Best Color Small, Best Color Large, and Most Unusual
Plus I won for Best Arm Sleeve for my wolves on the right arm and
Best Leg Sleeve for both left leg and right leg. And once again I also won Best Overall Male.
Pretty damn good for Mike to win SEVEN out of 42 awards!
The best anyone else got was maybe one artist with three winners.
I think I already told you that
MIKE IS THE BEST !
People have asked me about the fact that
my beard has gotten progressively shorter over the last couple of years.
The main reason is that it hides the tattoos!
I was tired of having folks ask if they could see my chest eagle and having to lift my beard to show it!
And being a bit of an exhibitionist {{here he begins to turn very slightly red in the face}}
I want to be able to show them off ! ! !
In fact after the last trim, my beard has probably not been this short since it passed this length
in 1997, when I was first growing it. But I am still an unrepentant long beard fan,
so I expect the beard may have had its last major trim for some time.
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As I mentioned back in 2003, I seem to have gotten addicted to tattoo contests now.
I went to the 3rd Annual Star Of Texas Tattoo Art Revival in Austin January 13-16, 2005.
I am beginning to understand how the judging works. Why it took me so long I do not know.
The guy who won this show last year beat me again and I got Second Best Overall Male again.
Interestingly, I entered again in the Best Back category, as I have in five conventions. Never won anything for it before.
Well this year at Austin it won First Place in Best Backs! About f%&king time!
For the first time I entered my Water Dragon (upper left leg) in a contest. I put it in the
"Strangest Tattoo" category. The judges loved it when I pointed it out and told them
the story behind it. So it won Second Place in that category.
Another highlight was that an Austin-based commercial photographer, W.T. Fraser,
was there with a studio in the hotel. He took dozens of pictures of me
(including the ones below) and other folks who were at the convention.
He does it for his own pleasure and professional development and he does beautiful work.
He has a very cool web site, True Love Tattoo Photography, on which he posted some very nice
photographs of some very nice tattoos on some of the folks who were there, including ME.
So once again I had a great time at a tattoo convention. I love going to them and
will keep it up anytime I can. If you have an opportunity to attend one, go for it.
Maybe I will see you there. You will have lots of fun. You will meet some colorful people.
And you might even get a tattoo!
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Anyone who has a serious addiction to alcohol like I have understands the phenomenon of craving a drink.
Anyone who is seriously addicted to tattoos like I am understands the phenomenon of craving more ink!
In May, after about eight months of abstinence,
I HAD TO HAVE SOME INK!
I told you how I complained about the holes under my arms and how Mike really
didn't want to fill them in? Well, I had been similarly obsessed about the hole
in the middle of my belly, and Mike really didn't want to fill it in either.
But I made him do it! And TRUST ME IT DIDN'T HURT. Ask Mike. I didn't even scream.
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For a very long time now, when I meet new people, if they see my tattoos, they usually ask,
"What kinda bike do you ride?"
They almost never ask if I ride a bike; they just assume I do.
Don't know if it's the beard or the tattoos or the combination of the two.
When I said, "I don't ride," they looked at me like I was lying to them.
So I got a bike! A 2005 Yamaha V Star 1100 Silverado.
The top pic at left is at Lake Alan Henry, about fifty miles from home.
I have taken alot of trips since I got the bike on May 7, 2005.
As you can see, I was tying my beard up so it didn't beat me to death and get tangled.
Dreadlocks are fine for other folks, but they are just not me!
I have trimmed my beard quite a bit since I got the bike, as you can see in the bottom pic
at left, which was made at the top of a mountain in Raton, New Mexico, about 350 miles
from home. I think now I will probably keep it trimmed as long as I am riding bikes.
And I guess I will just have to keep riding since I have all of these tattoos.
I would hate to mislead people!
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I went with Mike and most of the rest of the Big Buddha shop to Toronto to the
Northern Ink Xposure 7 on June 17 - 19, 2005 at the Holiday Inn on King.
Mike had a booth and worked pretty steadily.
The NIX is a big, international show, and the competition was tough.
I won Best Sleeve Tattoo for my left leg. There is just something
about that big damned tiger that just downright gets everyone's attention!
They didn't have a best overall contest! {{{whine}}} I think I would have won it if they did,
since I saw no one else with as much ink as I have, and as I have told you, mine is Very Good!
Scott, Mike's apprentice, won Most Realistic and Best Large Color, so Mike's work won
a total of three awards, the only artist there to win more than two!
We had a great time at the show and enjoyed a beautiful city, everyone's first trip to Canada.
Friday afternoon, I was watching a guy get a tattoo on his butt. Turned out he was a reporter
for the Toronto Sun and was having the newspaper's logo engraved on his ass.
So I got interviewed for the story, a copy of which is at the second link at left.
Sunday morning, the last day of the show, I went out in search of breakfast.
I got a nice piece of cake and coffee at a good coffee shop I had found nearby
and was eating quietly when a man commented on my art. He was Mehdi Moazzami,
a Canadian citizen, an architect by profession, who immigrated from Iran.
He asked to take a picture of me, which he kindly emailed to me (second pic at left).
We had a nice long conversation. He is a very interesting man; politically correct, of course: a liberal!
That afternoon, I was approached by a man named Steve Horan in the lobby of the
convention area. He is a pro photographer and asked to take my picture. He works with
three dimensional cameras and took alot of pictures (including three and four at left).
They look a bit blurry because they are 3d. Try looking at them with some
of those fashionable red & blue 3d glasses if you can find some!
All in all I think I had more fun at NIX than at any other convention I have attended.
And Toronto is a very beautiful city. If it wasn't too cold
in winter and too expensive always, I might move there!
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The Big Buddha crew went back to the 7th Annual Texas Tattoo Round-Up in Dallas
on November 4-6, 2005. As before, most contests gave awards for Top Three Artists Choices,
and as last year, we did very well in the contests. Kenny and I won ALL THREE
of the awards for Best Leg Sleeve, Kenny for his samuri-themed right leg and me for both my left leg and my right leg! And my beautiful big tiger won Best Large Color again.
Mike's work also won another Best Large Color and one for Best Small Color and Most Unusual.
YEP, once again, Mike's work won SEVEN out of 42 awards!
I rode my bike for the trip and had a little accident on the way home.
You can read about it in my article, WHEN I'M SIXTY-FOUR.
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Mike and his family, Scott, and I went to San Antonio to the Second Annual Alamo City Tattoo Expo
from Friday, July 7, until Sunday, July 9, 2006. Mike and Scott had a booth and worked.
Mike did a piece on his wife, a beautiful sea turtle on her foot, which won Tattoo of the Day
on Friday. I entered several contests and won First Place Best Overall Male.
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I went with the Big Buddha shop again to the 8th Annual Texas Tattoo Round-Up in Dallas again
November 3-5, 2006. I won Best Overall Male and Top Three Artists Choice Leg Sleeve
for my left leg. Kenny also won again for his Leg Sleeve.
As usual we had a great time and (unlike last year) I did not have a wreck.
Could that be because I traded my bike for a Mustang GT convertible? Probably!
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I went to the 5th Annual Star Of Texas Tattoo Art Revival in Austin January 5-7, 2007.
I think there were more artists and collectors there than in Dallas.
I entered several contests and came out with second place Overall Male. |
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I went to Mario Barth's Starlight Tattoo Meadowlands Tattoo Convention on September 21-23, 2007.
It is billed as "The Biggest Tattoo Show on Earth," and I think that might be the truth.
This was about the twelfth tattoo convention I had ever attended, and for the first time,
I got tattooed at a convention. It was really fun. The top four pictures at left show Mike
tattooing my neck with animals, creating a collar of wildlife, including
a lion, an elk, a tiger, an owl, an octapus, a bear, and a wolf.
That tattoo was my present to myself, celebrating my retirement from law practice!
I won the Starlight Tattoo First Place award for Best Overall Tattooed Person.
Click the picture of the trophy at left for a page of pictures from the tattoo contest.
Since I won the contest for Best Overall Male at the Inkslingers Convention in Los Angeles in 2004,
have won that award several times at Dallas and at San Antonio, and now at Meadolands,
I think it is fair to say that I have won tattoo shows from coast to coast.
That tells me all I need to know about my artist:
Mike Peluso is one of the great tattoo artists in the United States.
And there is no room for disputing that fact!
That convention was the last one held by Starlight at the
Meadowlands venue in Secaucus; they are now held in Las Vegas.
The four bottom pictures at left are pictures of my neck tattoo taken by my friend
W.T. Fraser in January, 2008, at the Austin tattoo convention.
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I went with the Big Buddha shop again to the 9th Annual
Texas Tattoo Round-Up in Dallas again November 2007.
I had so much fun getting tattooed at the Meadowlands show that I had to do it again.
So Mike engraved a big brown bear on my left hand.
I guess you could say that was another retirement present to myself!
At left top is a picture of the new bear.
I won Best Overall Male and Top Three Artists Choice Leg Sleeve for my left leg.
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I went to the 6th Annual Star Of Texas Tattoo Art Revival in Austin January 4-6, 2008.
I HAD TO GO so I could continue to feed my new addiction of getting my hands tattooed.
The big wolf in the top two pics was done on Friday, while the smaller one
behind the other and the work on my fingers was added at the shop on January 28.
As I mentioned above in the section about the Meadowlands, my friend Fraser took more pictures,
including some cool shots of my hands, the one at left being my favorite.
I entered several contests and came out with second place Overall Male. Again.
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I went with the Big Buddha shop again to the
10th Annual Texas Tattoo Round-Up in Dallas again November 7-9, 2008.
I got tattooed again on Friday at the convention.
This time Mike turned my hand over and hurt my palm.
Hurt it Really Bad! He put a Haida bear on my left palm.
I won Best Overall Male and Top Three Artists Choice Leg Sleeve for my left leg.
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I went to the 7th Annual Star Of Texas Tattoo Art Revival in Austin January 9-11, 2009.
I HAD to go so I could continue to feed my new addiction of getting my hands tattooed.
Like he did last year with the backs of my hands, Fraser took pictures of my palms,
including the one at left, which is one of the best he has ever taken of me.
Of course I entered several contests and of course came out with second place Overall Male. Again. |
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I went to the Seattle Tattoo Expo at the Seattle Center on August 7-9, 2009.
Seattle Center was the site of the Seattle World's Fair in 1962 and is still home to the
Space Needle, a 605 foot tower which is the symbol of their World's Fair and of modern Seattle.
Seattle is also home of Utilikilts. I had one, which I had bought over the www, so I went to
their store in downtown Seattle and got another one. The top picture at left is Stew
(who sold me my new kilt) and me in front of the store located at 620 First Avenue in Seattle.
I wore one of my kilts most of the time while I was in Seattle and really enjoyed it.
I don't wear them around home for some reason, I guess mainly because
everybody in Lubbock already thinks I am kind of odd or crazy or something.
HMMMM -- So I guess I really don't have a reason not to wear it at home!
I entered a couple of contests at the convention, but I didn't win anything.
But I had a great time anyway. And I loved Seattle.
You might notice in the picture at left that my hair has gotten really short.
That is because I buzzed it off on August 1, right before I went to Seattle.
Everybody I know really wondered why and old hippy like me would suddenly do that.
Can you guess?
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On August 31, 2009, Mike hammered the outline of a beautiful lion head into my skull!
Well, not really into the skull; I guess it is only really into my scalp,
but it felt like the needles went all the way into the my skull!
So now you probably get the reason for the haircut!
Neither of us had ever thought I would ever be shaving my head every day, did we?
The outline Mike drew on my head is pictured at the top left.
At the top of the picture by the light switch you can see half of Mike's head
(he was taking the picture) behind my head (I'm the bald one with the white beard).
The second picture at the left is the finished outline, which took about an hour
and a half that session. Color was added on October 5 and 12, about two hours each session,
and touch-ups finished the job on October 20 after a total of around six hours.
The bottom three pics at left are the finished tattoo.
You know what? This might be MY LAST TATTOO ! ! !
Since I got serious about getting tattooed,
I really never thought that would ever happen!
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My friend Wes and I went to the 11th Annual Texas Tattoo Round-Up in Dallas again
November 6-8, 2009. As usual I entered my arm and leg sleeves and best overall.
I didn't win any of those. But I did win a Top Three Artists Choice Most Unusual Tattoo
for my lion's head on MY head tattoo.
I am beginning to think my contest career is over. My tattoos are getting old.
Hell, I am getting old! Like me, my tats are getting a little wrinkled and fuzzy and faded!
And there are just a lot more people out there every year with really great tattoos.
I have won a lot of awards since I started competing in tattoo contests in 2003.
And I have had a great time doing it!
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While I was arguing with myself about whether to get my head tattooed,
two of the arguments which I found persuasive in favor of it were, first,
"it is only skin, no different than biceps" and second,
"I can always grow my hair back to cover it up."
I finally decided to do it based on the first argument, I told myself.
I would never go the pain and expense of getting a tattoo
and then keep it covered up so that I cannot even see it myself!
Well, for some reason,
curiousity I guess, I let it grow back beginning after I shaved it on November 15.
The pictures at left are November 30, 2009, fifteen days without shaving.
The lion is still pretty clearly there, and a lot of my friends say he looks
really cool with the hair. I am telling myself that I am just curious
how long it will take to completely hide the lion, if indeed it ever will!
I am planning to go to the Austin tattoo convention the first weekend of
January 15, 2010, and I am thinking that I will keep it shaved after that.
ONLY TIME WILL TELL ! ! !
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Well,I just couldn't keep the hair growing any longer. I had to shave on December 28.
If you have lost a lot of your hair, or are, like me, beginning to lose your natural mane, or
if you have come to realize that it is absolutely cool to be Bald By Choice, or
even better, if you want to show off your beautiful lion tattoo's mane like me, JUST DO IT!
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SO, here I am now, covered with tattoos all over,
covering about ninety-four percent of my skin,
from my fingertips up to the top of my head and down to my toes.
I have nothing left uninked but my face and the bottom of my feet.
I had always thought those areas were definitely off limits.
But for some reason my face is beginning to itch just a little ! ! !
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what he was talking about!
