Dear Reader,
Greetings.
Painting has taken a back seat for now, but still, the pursuit of artistic expression and growth abounds. What an adventure this year has been. There is this sprouting instinct in the back of my mind that once I'm able to reintegrate painting into my schedule on a regular basis, something magical will happen. I think tattooing will unlock a new level of creative freedom in my paintings, but I'm not quite sure what form it will take. There is much to look forward to on that front.
Right now, tattooing is the thing. I opened a private tattoo studio in downtown Olympia! I'm still apprenticing under my friend Colt Brown, owner of tattoo ink company Empire Inks and Colt's Timeless Tattoos, his shop in Wisconson. I'm learning and improving constantly. My favorite days are tattooing days... I absolutely love it. Difficult and rewarding in equal measure. Isn't that how it always goes? |
I've been continuing projects on existing clients and I'm currently booking new consultations for the end of January. Click through the image above to check out the new website for my tattoo studio. If you're curious about getting tattooed by me, there is a FAQ with lots of info. If you have additional questions, feel free to reach out to me by replying to this email and we can chat.
Turningshadow Tattoo, yep, that's the name of my PLLC. It's a bit of a callback. Some of you OGs will remember my profile name "turningshadow" from WAY back on the art sharing platform deviantart (Apparently I started posting there 18 years ago). "Turning shadow" is a term I learned while studying at the Schuler School in Baltimore, and it's a part of the shadow that instantly captured my fascination. It's also called "core shadow" by people in art education. There are multiple parts of a shadow on and from a rounded form: turning shadow, reflected light, occlusion shadow, cast shadow. It's all very fascinating to an artist, but if you're not an artist, you can just take my word for it, haha.
Here are some tattoos I'm currently working on. I build up tattoos over multiple sessions. Clients return every 4-6 weeks! Until it's done. It's a collaborative process. It takes patience. And we get to make something unique and special. It's an amazing journey to share with a client. All of these are IN PROGRESS: |
This one I need to finish next time I'm out in Wisconsin: |
These two tattoos are finished: |
Recently I did find just enough time to paint a little commission for an awesome collector. This is a 5x5 inch mini. With the knife, from imagination. |
"A Time & Place"
5x5in oil on cradled panel, 2025 sold |
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Scottsdale Artists' School Workshop Recap |
My workshop at the Scottsdale Artists' School was a good time. This was the first time a did a combination of teaching my traditional approach first and then my new abstract/imagination approach in the same workshop. It's a lot to take in, but we had 5 days, and everyone enjoyed it (I think haha). At the very least, attendees worked their asses off and pushed themselves through places of creative discomfort. Always glorious to witness.
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Demonstration painting #1. Composing and painting from life. Setup on top, finished demo below. (9x12in oil on artefex aluminum panel, SOLD): |
SAS 2025 Demo #1
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Demo #2. Painting from abstraction and imagination! Abstract composition stage on the left, finished representational painting from imagination on the right. (12x9in oil on artefex aluminum panel, SOLD): |
SAS 2025 Demo #2
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I took requests for extra demo-ettes. One attendee gave me an interesting challenge--paint a gem from imagination! Here is my attempt. It was fun: |
I think I'll do more of these combo workshops in the future. I would enjoy that. |
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For the second year in a row I attended the Empire Inks Retreat, a creative learning/refreshing/communing retreat in Wisconsin for an incredibly talented group of tattoo artists. This time I had no teaching role, so I got to experience it in a different way. It was awesome, and I was able to learn a lot from my tattooing elders. Colt Brown and I are working on a pair of collaboration paintings. One I started and he will finish, and the other he started and I will finish. Here was our progress at the retreat: |
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Herald Of Change
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From the recent show at Jawbone Gallery (Victor Grasso's gallery in NJ!) |
I'd better run off to set up for a tattoo session! Thank you for reading. Until next time, -David |
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