Tattooed Designs That I Did

here are some samples so far of the designs i did that got tattooed on skin. tattoo artists are ariel, billy and nancy from cruz creations tattoo where i'm having my training and darius from underground tattoos both from san jose, california. it excites me to think that my designs will be permanently on people's skin. a lot different from paintings because your canvas are humans.

i tried selling my flashes in shops in hayward 2 weeks ago with no luck but one of the tattoo artists i was trying to sell my flashes to said that i was doing the right thing making flashes first before tattooing because he said that a tattoo artist must first develop his drawing style before using the needle. he also acknowledged the flashes i did. he has not seen any filipino flashes in his 15 years of tattoing. so that's nice to hear.

i used to think that tattooing should be the same as drawing but it's not. there are lots of different rules you have to follow in tattooing because of it's limitations like you cannot use too many lines because if you do, lines too close to each other will close out in time. in tattooing... bolder is better.

i'm also learning a bit about the japanese style through billy and some alibata through ariel.

thank you billy, ariel, nancy, robert and darius for your generosity.

First Tattoo Volunteer

Kennedy is my first human canvas. i'm going to tattoo him this afternoon at the shop. I've worked with kennedy for 9 years and i designed two of his tattoos. i was the resident artist in the company where we used to work so i guess that's the reason why he trusted me. i was nervous but after seeing the tv show inked last night, i relaxed a bit because the apprentice in the tv show was a 14 year old so i thought if he can do it i can too.

i've used kennedy in some of my paintings. see picture.

i haven't decided yet what kind of tattoo i'm going to do. kennedy is a super cool guy. astig pero malambot ang puso so i was thinking of an image of a heart with wings or a bleeding heart.

Alay Kay Nanay

hay naku. kung pag-uusapan natin ang tungkol kay inang ay madaming kwento at napaka kulay.

leonila castro po ang ngalan ng nanay ko. 78 years old. lumaki sya nung panahon ng hapon. tumira sila sa tubas, quezon. ang tubas po ay isang liblib na lugar about 6 miles from unisan, quezon sa bundok peninsula. noong 40's ay napaka rangya sa puno at wild animals ng lugar na ito. maswerte si nanay dahil nadanasan nya ang buhay na walang elektrisidad, walang running water... sa madaling salita po ay parang buhay tarzan. puno ang kwento nya ng tungkol sa mga baboy damo, wild deers, mga naglipanang unggoy sa paligid na hina-hunt para kainin. sa discovery channel ko na lang nakikita ang mga ito. natatawa nga ako dahil minsang may pinalabas sa discovery channel tungkol sa isang tribo sa south america. nagha-harvest sila ng some kind of tree trunk na ginagawa nilang parang harina para ma-bake at kainin. alam ni inang ang pangalan ng kahoy na pinanggagalingan at ginagawa din daw nila ito noon. uraro daw kung tawagin nila. a kind of palm tree.



hindi naabot ng hapon ang tubas dahil ito'y masyadong liblib para sa kanila kaya safe sila ermat sa tubas.

bago ang tag hapon ay valedictorian si ermat sa local school at madalas syang mapalaban sa mga regional school contests.

typical cinderella story po si ermat dahil after the war ay napangasawa nya ang anak ng pinakamayamang pamilya sa lugar namin. si erpat po yun. madalas namin syang biruin na gold digger ngunit di totoo yan dahil labintatlong supling po ang niluwal nya wid my erpat. waw! what an achievement. e si misis isang anak lang e suko na ata. hehe.

ang taguya naman kay erpat ay sa tinagal-tagal daw namalengke ay tinapa dn pala ang makukuha. masakit ang taguyang ito para kay ermat ngunit alam nya na madami lang naiinggit sa kanya.

artistic po ang family ng ermat ko. mga tiyuhin ko ay pulos musicians at comedians. siguro dyan ko nakuha ang pagka mabiro ko.

alam ko ang nakita ni erpat kay ermat. bukod sa maganda sya ay matalino, matapang at mababait ang mga ka-pamilya. napansin ko po yan kay erpat. ayaw nya sa mga pamilyang mandarambong. di nya pinahahalata ang diskriminasyon nya rito pero pansin ko po ang bias nya.

walang tumbas ang utang ko kay ermat. ang kabayaran nito sa tingin ko ay ang magpalaki rin ng bata gaya ni miro pero kung napansin nyo ang letrato sa taas ay sya pa din madalas ang nag-aalaga kay miro. wala na akong lusot.



yumao na si erpat kaya si ermat ang pinuno ng pamilya namin. kung tawagin namin sya ay 'the matriarch' o 5-star general. sya ang konsensya ng pamilya. madalas rin syang magbigay ng matatalas na opinyon pero pag binalanse natin ay masasabing nasa tama sya lagi. opo napaka balanse ng kanyang isip at oras na mag desisyon sya ay nakakasiguradong sa ikabubuti.

si ermat ang sentro namin. labingtatlo kami lahat at super close kami. syempre kasama din dyan ang inlaws at mga pamangkin at apo. sya ang nagbigay ng pundasyon ng isip sa aming magkakapatid. madalang sa obserbasyon ko ang pamilyang magkakasundo. well... exception kami dyan. all for one and one for all po kami kahit ang lalayo ng mga personalidad namin. siguro ang pagkaka iba-iba ng ng personalities namin ang nagpapayabong sa aming samahan so maiimagine nyo kung paano kami harapin ni ermat.

so ang section pong ito ay iniaalay ko sa aking ina. homage kumbaga. salamat nay!

Kumpirmado!

binalikan ko nung hapon ang mga inakay na insekto at opo na-confirm ko na ladybugs nga ang mga inakay dahil nakita ko ang kanilang ina na pagala-gala sa malapit na sanga.

ngunit meron pa akong nakitang ibang langkay ng mga insektong inakay. kulay itim naman so 'di ko nanaman sure kung kasamahan nila ito. kumuha din ako ng ilan pang letrato. eto...

Baby Ladybugs

di ko sigurado kung ladybugs nga ito pero mukang. kita ko kaninang 11am sa apple tree sa labas ng bahay habang pinapasyal ko si miro. nagbubusisi na sya dahil sa boredom but i managed to take a few shots.

Back Piece

i sketched this for somebody's back. my reference is a boris vallejo artwork. just tweaked and added some stuff. i'm not really a boris fan because i find most of his compositions stiff because of his models. he doesn't play too much on his models so most of his stuff are obviously posed. just my 2 cents.

the client already saw this while i was sketching and he really liked it. i don't know when ariel will do this.

Bulaklak Ng Dila

natapos ang bulaklak ng dila sa bindlestiff.

i'm satisfied with the outcome even if just a few people came on the last day. barbara jane reyes came with her fiance oscar borromeo from the bronx. i felt stupid because i forgot to take their picture. barbara jane gave miro 2 books about frida kahlo and salvador dali that i forgot to bring home last night. she said it was like force-feeding miro to be an artist. i don't mind really because i know i'm democratic. not a lot of kids get exposed to art and poetry at that early age. i know i wasn't.

it was nice talking with oscar. we talked about the similiarities between artists and poets. the best part being able to know and understand our directions and the down side of not being understood. i also found out a few things about ecuador like i didn't know there were black people there. they got there because of a slave shipwreck plus he told me he had gout. ARAY KU PO!!!

thank you ninang barb and ninong oscar.

friday was jampacked because of the bands that played. you know they have their own followers so the place was packed. i like alex's band tsubibo. they can sound heavy even if they're playing slow.

i love eskapo. max the drummer was great. he's awesome. i think eskapo matched my angst in my artworks. they just rocked without the cutesy stuff. england played guitar because bruce their guitarist recently passed away. rupert sprained his ankle during their set but they still delivered. great, great music guys. thanks!

we watched kidlat tahimik's film last night. very interesting. i think it was shot in 1975 and looking at those old scenes was exciting. i love the 'tuli' part. i didn't experience the pukpok while chewing banana leaves but i definitely know that story because of friends' accounts. mayaman kami noon kaya sa doctor ako tinulian. opo hindi ako supot.

i could relate to that film because i had the same experiences. coming from quezon province then manila to san francisco. dalawang immigrations ang nangyari sa akin. from 'syano' to being a FOB. i know kidlat is from baguio but i'm not sure if he shot this film there bacause it was very similar to my province like the coconuts, paragos and penitensya.

it was also great hanging out and art-talking with marcius, julius, angelica and lian. i love their works and i'm learning a lot from them. i like hanging out with younger people (and old people too) because of their fresh ideas. first time i'm being exposed to film and it's a very good experience for me.