Eyeliner Special for the New Year

Through January 15....Eyeliner is 250.00!! That includes tops and bottoms. This is a great way to ring in the New Year.
TucsonPermanentMakeup.com

2005 Maggie Maye's Commercial

Love this old commercial featuring Greg as Santa! lol
Hector played Santa the day that the public was invited to come and see him. They came with their little ones just to have pictures made. It was lots of fun. I took digital pictures and gave them out on disk. Still have them on my external.

Cookie Knows how to Chill

Do you think Cookie reads Little Buddha?

40 Ways to Let Go and Feel Less Pain

40 Ways to Let Go and Feel Less Pain

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Tattooed Feet

Yesterday I did this little elephant on Melanie's foot. Thanks for the skin, Melanie!

Maggie Maye's Tucson Tattoo Store Front

I've finished painting the store front of Maggie Maye's. The shop has always had a desert themed mural with the sun, mountains and cactus but I thought it needed to be jazzed up a bit. The mountains and cactus are popped out and plastered over for a bit of a 3-D effect. I actually enjoy doing this sort of thing and will be jumping into painting the east strip of our complex soon and starting a larger moon mural.

I've been busy working on the new mural for the front of Maggie Maye's. Of course I've had help. George is plastering in the mountains. They need one more coat and in the meantime I will finish painting the sun. Last but not least the "Maggie Maye's" lettering will go on top of the sun. I love the new and more dynamic mural. It's a nice way to celebrate the next 10 years at Maggie Mayes Tucson Tattoo Studio.

Fixing up old Tattoos at Maggie Mayes

Just some fix up work I was privileged to do. The first picture is the orchid before the fix up.

Big Day at Maggie Mayes Tattoo

I spent today scraping and patching the front exterior at Maggie Mayes. It hasn't been repainted in 10 years and it sure is time! I love doing this sort of thing and love it even more that I am prepping the wall at Maggie Mayes Tattoo. I'll try to remember to take before and after pictures of the progress. We are going to reconstruct the mountains, sun and cactus mural but with a lot more color and punch. The next 10 years are going to be even better!

Meanings of the Symbols in the Tattoo for Religious Tolerance

The symbols of fourteen religions are shown. Counterclockwise from the North Pole, they are Baha'i, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism, Wicca, Zoroastrianism, and Druidism.

Religious Tolerance

I had a wonderful time today tattooing this piece on Gilbert. It symbolizes religious tolerance. I learned that although Gilbert is Catholic he "wanted to be covered".

Maggie Maye's Tattoo Grand ReOpening

Maggie Maye's has a new website.
www.MaggieMayesTattoo.com
We have officially reopened the store front of Maggie Maye's Tucson Tattoo. Of course Greg and I have been busily tattooing in the back private studios all along, but now we have opened the store front again. It is and exciting time for us! We love the seclusion of the private courtyard studios and we aren't giving those up. But now I get to have that front room interaction with the public that I have sorely missed the last few months.
We are being joined by Jeff Scrivner and Mark Fowler. Both are experienced, mature tattoo artists.
Watch Cox Cable to see our new commercial (coming soon) commemorating our 10 Years in Tucson.
We will also celebrate our Grand ReOpening - 10 Year Anniversary with weekly giveaways that will include 50 Dollar Gift Cards and Maggie Maye's T-Shirts. Come share in the fun.

Black Widow Tattoo

Don't smash it! This was a fun tattoo. We are over run in our yard at home with these creepy crawlies.
Maggie Maye's Tucson Tattoo.

New Tattoos I've Done

These tattoos were done recently and I had so much fun doing them. I think I've said it before - but I love tattooing feet. I hadn't done a bracelet in a long time and this one was challenging with all the s curves. Kept me holding my breath and smiling :-)

Thanks for the Article

Recently, Charles Spillar wrote an article about the Tucson Artist Colony for the online Tucson Citizen. Charlie writes a weekly art blog called Artistic Tucson. It was a wonderful surprise to find that others view our little piece of Tucson as we do.
An Artist Shangi la in Tucson

New Tattoos I've done lately

I've been privileged to tattoo some wonderful ladies the last few weeks. Here is a sampling of some of the tattoos I had fun doing for them.

Maggie Maye's Tattoo has a New Website

Maggie Maye's has a new website.
www.MaggieMayesTattoo.com
Greg and I have been tattooing privately from our studios behind Maggie Maye's for the last few months. It has been blissful and secluded. I am going to once again take over managing the store front shop of Maggie Maye's and Greg will remain in his private studio in the back. I am being joined by Jeff Scrivner - his portfolio will be posted by the end of the day to the new website. I've missed the customer interaction that the street shop has and look forward to greeting new and old customers that walk through that front door. We have a few weeks of remodel to do as the last managers left us with a bit of a mess, but I'll be back up front soon.

My family good times at Sabino Canyon. It's our favorite Tucson place to hang out.

Tucson Artist Colony booth at Historical Tour

May 9th the Gateway Business Alliance hosted a historical tour of the historic motor hotel strip on Tucson's Miracle Mile/Oracle Rd. The Tucson Artist Colony had a booth. It was a good event. Lots of wonderful and interesting people attended. I manned the booth and was honored to have examples of several of the artists' art work with me. Robert Goldman, Brenda Semanick, Phil Starke and Sarah Weber all sent some of their work with me. I also had painting by some of the students of the colony. I was there really just to smile and meet people - tell them about our colony and what we do. I love events like that. There is that continuous flow of faces and comments and I have fun trying to keep up with it all.

mi familia

Tattoos on feet

My favorite body part to tattoo - the foot. And from what I understand I am unique in that predilection. I had lots of fun designing and doing this tattoo this week.

Jasmine in the air

Today the scent of jasmine pervaded my back patio. Made me just want to lay out there and snooze all day. Of course I didn't do that - but the heavily perfumed air sure was tempting me. I know that this time last year I was way too stressed to appreciate my jasmine vines this much.
The economy and the wear and tear of the day to day grind of running a business had all but burned me out.
Now Greg and I are appreciating the up sides of the slow economy. More time to stop and smell the jasmine means more time at home with family. And now that we tattoo by appointment only from our private courtyard studio we don't have the stresses of balancing the art with the needs of the employees and the vendors and the keeping the doors open the posted hours....it is endless and then there's the paperwork...it never stops.
Even though Greg and I are tattooing as much as we ever did. It doesn't seem like a job anymore. It is once again fun and rewarding. We can enjoy the art and the time spent with our customers.
Some of our regular customers have commented to us over the last couple of weeks that we seem somehow different - happier and more relaxed. And they like it better. It's more relaxing for them. There isn't any jasmine planted in the courtyard at work (we'll have to fix that) but the feeling of that scent is there. That seductive lure that compels you to sit with the sun on your face and relax for a few minutes. Can't wait to go tomorrow.

Pink Tattoos

I had a blast today tattooing. First I tattooed lips. Of course the lips weren't really pink. They were deep earthy pink. And toned down from there. I'll share that picture when I have a healed one to go with it. Fresh lip pictures can be stunningly bright but it's interesting to see the fresh picture next to the healed picture.
And then I had the pleasure of tattooing a newborn baby girl's footprint on her proud momma's foot. Baby footprints are always a neat and gratifying tattoo to do but today stood out for me because I got to do it in color. It was a lot of fun.
'

John Farnsworth at Tucson Artist Colony

THE (UN)LIMITED PALETTE
an intense 2 day workshop
with John Farnsworth
March 22-23, 2009


COST: $240 - limited to 10 participants

LOCATION: Tucson Artist Colony, 2409 N. Castro, Tucson
located in Placita de la Luna at Grant & Castro

INFORMATION & REGISTRATION: Contact Bernita Barfield, 520-455-5953 or e-mail BernitaBarfield@aol.com

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This class is all about color and mixing whatever color you need by using just the 3 primaries. John Farnsworth ( www.johnfarnsworth.com ) has painted for over 30 years using this system.

You will delight in the freedom and ease that this system brings to your work. Avoid bad color habits. Learn good color habits. Enjoy mixing just the color you need. I will help you to simplify your palette and concentrate on your statement.

www.TucsonArtistColony.com

Working on ideas for websites - You run across some good stuff

Tucson Permanent Makeup

I've been busy this last couple of weeks building a new website for me. This is fun - always before I built sites that centered around other people and what they did. Now it's my turn. I must say I've had a hard time writing a bio - so Greg did it for me. But now I'm kinda liking talking up myself :-) Today I'm adding links to other peoples websites. So let me know if you'd like to be there. Currently I have added Tucson Cowgirl and Turn It Green Today. Check out my new site.

This lawn is you lawn.

I am on a break from painting the last week or so. Still thinking about color and value...but just doing other things right now. I came upon this video. I found this on a website my sister created http://turnitgreentoday.com/. I really DIG it!
This Lawn is Your Lawn from roger doiron on Vimeo.

Paintings from my men

The first one is by William. That's his painting this week. "Mustard and Ketchup". Maybe we'll get him to do the lettering on the ketchup bottle. And the second one is by Greg. This is from a photo I took as we were driving into Seattle on that unbelievable journey in our big green bus. We had been on the road for awhile and we were anxious to see the family in Seattle and everything around us was exciting. That was my point of view. Greg remembers it slightly differently. We had just a few days before bounced off the side of a mountain on highway 1 and now he was about to enter some hair raising traffice. So he has entitled this "White Knuckles"

Another day of oil painting class

This is as far as I took the dog before class on Saturday. And I'll just stop here for now. It's not about a finished painting to frame and hang but about what I'm learning. And I know that I've taken this one as far as I can. I probably should have tried the paws again...but now it's too dry. I like painting wet into wet and that's what I want to learn to do well. Got home today without any canvas so I won't paint again until tomorrow. Really do need to work on taxes anyway....

Life Drawing Class with Robert Goldman

Monday a new adventure starts. I am enrolled in Robert Goldman's Life Drawing class. So for 3 weeks I'll have 2 classes a week. Looks like I might need to start painting the things I'm drawing in Robert's class. I'm excited but nervous about this new class. I am in over my head there. I am in awe of his paintings. He is a painter's painter. Like Sorolla or Bongart. And the class is full of accomplished artists. But I am not the only beginner. It will just push me to draw better. We will draw from models every week. This will really be a challenge. I have no idea how to even start. There are some artists enrolled that I really admire. Stephanie Birdsall being one of them. And then there will be little ol' me....struggling beginner. But Robert assures me his class is geared for all different levels. Greg is currently attending Robert's painting class and so I've gotten glimpses of Robert's teaching style and I think I'll be okay. He just doesn't know what a temper I have and how mad with myself I can get. But as usual I'll reserve that for our little dining room studio at home where I work out my artistic frustrations.

Just Blocking in

I'm working on the block in for another homework piece for Brenda - is she sounding like a slave driver?? If your reading this, Brenda, (first I'll be flattered) some of us NEED slave drivers or we'd procrastinate. I admit I feel some pressure to have my assignments done for the next class. The first thing we do is share with the whole class what we did that week. This is a good thing or I might find excuses everyday to avoid the challenge. Brenda does not let you take the easy way out. But that's what makes her a good teacher.

I will finish blocking in some values and then I will get rid of some hard lines between some of them and then I think I will just develop the eye area and the highlights in the muscles around them. I'm not having much success with the paws without making them look too prominant so I might just ignore them for now. By looking at the photo I can easier see how the whole right side is in shadow and so tonight I'll make that one dark shape. That will be a good move towards finishing the block in.

Struggling Art Student

I have had a tough and unproductive week in oil painting. I'm not sure Brenda will believe me but I really have painted every day for atleast an hour - usually 2 - except for yesterday when I just blew everything off. I took most of the day to cook with my 8 year old son - subject for a different blog - but it was the stuff the good life is made of...
Tonight I decided if I didn't make some visible progress in painting then I might as well hang it up for a while. One thing I knew I couldn't face again was that danged black and grey paint. If you've ever been into any spaces I inhabit/work in you know I am all about the color of life. The relationships of colors to light and spaces and the emotions they evoke. I look back at my kitten painting and have decided to name it "Shades of Death - Kitten". The lifeless blue that the black becomes when mixed with the white overwhelmingly reminds me of death and just flat out depresses me.
So the little rebel in me used a burnt sienna tonight. And once again I had fun. All week before this I had drawn with the deathly grey paint and wiped it off, drawn again....cried a bit...drank a little wine....wiped it off...it never felt right.
And once again my drawing in sienna is off - but I don't care. It felt right this time. I'm too old to spend my evenings suffering over ugly paint. Next week we are suppossed to get to break out the tubes of color. YIPPEE!

Super Bowl Portrait Demo with Romel dela Torre

Super Bowl Sunday at The Tucson Artist Colony was a big hit. Romel dela Torre was our guest artist. He put on a wonderful demo session with the help of Stephanie Birdsall and her accomplished daughter as the model. We watched Romel paint the portrait wet into wet from beginning to end. The entire session was around 4 hours with a few short breaks. Romel shared valuable insight with us down to the nitty gritty of brush selection palette layout. Even as a beginning art student I learned a great deal yesterday watching the drawing and block in and I was particularly interested in when and how Romel put in his darkest darks.

If anyone is interested in a workshop with Romel contact Stephanie or me (Susan). It would be great to have him here in Tucson for more than a few hours.

Homework Assignment #2 - Tucson Artist Colony

Tonight the homework for my painting class with Brenda Semanick was to render a kitten. She provided the photo reference and it was up to me to make sense of the paint. I have a confession....this is getting addictive. I was just going to paint for a bit and then make dinner. Eight o'clock rolled around, I was still painting and Greg made dinner :-)

I am sharing my kitten with you. And let me tell you, if I can do this - you can too! You just relax and study the reference and then go for it with the paint. I love the way the oil paint feels. It is positively lushous. Add oil painting to the list of things everyone should try atleast once in their lives. It feels a bit like gardening. The soil and the smell of the soil and the feel of the soil and the sun on your face....all those sensuous tactile pleasures....And then I could draw insipid parallels between germinating a seed and developing a painting....but that would just be soppy.

Homework assignments for Brenda Semanick's Class

I'm not asking for critiques - I live with "The Critic" and I am an extremely harsh critic also. I know, I got the drawing wrong and it fell apart there. But I want to share anyway because the thing I'm really proud of in this picture is that I did it. My first 3 attempts turned into little temper tantrums and I told Greg I wasn't going back to class and that this was "stupid". He settled me down with a glass of wine - what a good husband he is....and I started again. Ironically, I think the drawings of the first 3 attempts were more accurate but the paint was a muddy mess. I also highly recommend the book Brushwork Essentials by Weber. As I read it I realized he was repeating almost verbatim ideas that Brenda had stressed in class. It was good to hear it again. Today I am working on a kitten. I am slow and so I won't have much to show for class, but I am learning. And I think our family is bonding with us all having this oil paint bug together. I still smile everytime I see the palettes in the freezer.

Palettes in the freezer - Oil painting classes at the Tucson Artist Colony

Do you know what it means when your're trying to make dinner and you have to take 4 palettes out of the freezer to get to the peas??
Well, I've found it is the secret to happiness :-)
Recently, Maggie Maye and I have started art classes at the Tucson Artist Colony. Our first session was beginning drawing with Brenda Semanick and now we are taking Beginning Oil Painting, also with Brenda. The homework assignment is challenging enough to require me to paint daily. Just what I need. At the same time Greg is taking a painting class with Robert Goldman and he is obsessively painting every morning - in breaks during the day - and late into the night. And William seems to have caught the bug. Two days in a row he has come home from school, opened his paint box and worked on a desert scene he is painting. It must be quite a picture to outsiders. ...our dining area lost in easels, paint boxes and reference pictures. But to me it is a scene fit for Better Homes and Gardens.
Downside - I can't spell anymore - Brenda said that might happen when the right brain really starts to work and the left brain has to be quiet. I think I've gotten most of the blatant spelling errors corrected in this ditty - forgive the rest - I have a kitten to block in.

Becoming a Family of Artists

How many paint palettes can you get in a freezer??? So far we can put 4 in ours!! How do we know this and why?
Recently I find my mind with a little "time on its hands". This is a result of selling the tattoo business (don't forget - I'm still tattooing - but independently - I don't manage a shop anymore). And so I am enrolled in a beginning oil painting class. Maggie Maye and I attend painting classes on Saturdays at the Tucson Artist Colony. Brenda Semanick is a wonderful instructor with enough patience for difficult students like me. Greg already was painting every day and now Maggie and I are also. So the freezer is stacking up in paint pallets so we don't have to scrape our pallet every night and waste so much paint.
Our beginning exercises are fairly simple mono chromatic studies. The challenge for me at this point is picking up the paint in the right amounts and consistency and being able to lay wet onto wet. I've sat at my hubby's side and watched him paint for years. It's been exciting to watch him grow as an artist. And he tells me those problems never go away - oh boy - something to look forward to! lol!
Tonight I will attempt the eye study yet one more time. So far I've made mud. But I'm trying to keep my chin up and remember that my best times in life have included mud. Make whatever you want out of that statement - but I've always loved playing in mud. Now the challenge is to NOT PLAY in mud. So I will struggle for clarity with the paint just as I do with words and we'll see what happens.

New Year's Resolutions - Huge Changes at Maggie Maye's Tucson Tattoo

I have finally started my New Year's Resolutions. It just didn't seem like the new year until January 20th. Having Barack Obama as the president is giving me hope to make the resolutions. But on a more personal level Greg and I made some seismic changes in our life that same day.
Some would say that we've owned Maggie Maye's Tucson Tattoo since 1998. But the truth is Maggie Maye's has owned us. Everything we did on a business and a personal level was dictated by the needs of the shop. If you haven't owned your own business before - start one. I think everyone should have at least a taste of it (as I think everyone should do some form of community service in life). When you own your own business you are NEVER off. The closest we came was when we took that wonderfully adventurous vacation in the big green bus on highway 1. That's a whole other blog I might get to write soon.....But there was about a week when I did not have cell phone service and the pay phone was quite a hike from where we had set up camp in the bus (a blissful week in Nirvana).
Don't get me wrong - we have loved owning Maggie Maye's. But it is time for Greg and I to include other things in our life.
So with great excitement we welcome Theresa Barksdale as the new owner of Maggie Maye's Tucson Tattoo Studio. Theresa has been with us in lots of ways since we opened. Some of you have seen the tattoo work Greg has done on her back. She has a full back memorial to Stevie Ray Vaughn. Her son Jesse will be tattooing with her at Maggie Maye's.

You'll still find Steve Gray at Maggie Maye's.
SO ARE WE! Greg and I are still in our same booth. We are still tattooing and piercing. We have just closed up the shop in the middle and we have a private entrance through the courtyard behind Maggie Maye's. We're easy to find - but you must CALL FIRST. We work by appointment only now 520-270-6351.

So now this weekend I can write my New Year's Resolutions. And this year they can include personal improvement goals like learning to play the guitar and becoming a plein air painter. Huge smile. And this leaves a lot more time for us to dedicate ourselves to the Tucson Artist Colony and to working on the grounds of Placita de la Luna (the complex that houses all this good stuff).
This weekend we will finally pop the cork on the champagne - CHEERS!

Inauguration

Well, today is the day we've been waiting for. I feel like I've been holding my breath. Just waiting for the new President. New Hope. New Beginnings. I sat and stared at my T.V. this afternoon just as people all over the country - all over the world did. If nothing else we were all united in watching this ceremony together. And I am resolved to let myself be vulnerable enough to BELIEVE. Maybe it will all end in disappointment but I am willing to risk it. We all need a dose of BELIEF. "Yes we can". And so we will.
God Bless Barack Obama. Keep him safe and give him guidance.

New Beginings

What an exciting week. Tomorrow we will have a new President. Not just any new President. I got tingles today when I read Tucson Cowgirl's blog about this inauguration. Last night we had a little family party to celebrate and even though Greg and I have decided to lose weight as one of our New Year's resolutions (how stereotypical can we be?) I made a cake for the party.
I wanted to write "YES WE CAN!" But I'm really not very talented with cake writing icing so I thought I'd stick to the simple "Go Bama".
That says it all anyway.
I salute this new President of ours. Hail to the Chief.

Going too fast or too slow??

I look at the date of my last entry and realize I've lost a couple of months. With the holidays and guests and shopping and cooking and cleaning and of course continuing to work...the Artist Colony and the Grand Opening....I'm not sure if time has gone on without me or if I've just been caught up along in it.
I have met absolutely fascinating people. Among them Monica Surfaro Spigelman and her husband Leigh (check out her blog - it's the Tucson Cowgirl listed in my blogs to the right). Greg and I attended their Exhibit downtown and purchased some wonderful photographs.
Then at the Grand Opening of the Tucson Artist Colony there were so many interesting visitors to our little classroom. We were honored to have George Strickland and his lovely wife, Carolita, attend.

Greg and I foundered ourselves at Thanksgiving. It was just us two and our beautiful 2 children William and Maggie and of course the dog, Cookie, and the 2 cats, Strawberry and Bagheera. But I cooked as if the whole family from Texas was arriving at any moment (secretly wishing they would).

My mother and step dad came for Christmas which really made it a special holiday. I think they stayed longer than they have before and we were able to enjoy them more. No rushing about. Fun times shopping and eating and movie going.

Maggie and I started Beginning Drawing Classes at the Colony with Brenda Semanick (her blog is also to the right). And I have homework for the first time in years!! I've loved every minute of it. Not only have my drawing skills improved, but the time I've had doing this along side Maggie Maye has been priceless. I know this memory of art class together is one we will share always. I hope it sustains us through the rocky teenage years soon to be here.

And now it's time for New Year's Resolutions - but by the time I get mine done it might be the Chinese New Year. So either it's all moving too fast or I'm moving too slowly.