cassy[makesart]

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Two quick posts today. Firstly, here are a couple of tattoos.  (This is really b/c my 2nd post will be to promote myself, so I feel like I should show you some other stuff as well.)

An inky/stampy watercolor compass. I’ve been thinking about quitting this blog. It’s updated so infrequently as it is, and while I used to actually write life/tattoo-life posts here, I’ve been quiet about my private life in the last months. So, so much has happened, good and bad. I need to just start throwing it all into poetry and zines again.

Can I please just tattoo nature stuff forever? More progress on Kristen’s arm from today. <3

This weekend I have a couple of consults for flower tattoos, which are my favorite lately. I suppose that’s not surprising, since all I really draw for funsies are nature-based things. This week I’ll also be finishing up and framing pieces for my May show at the Ugly Mug here in Salem. I feel like I have so much to do still, and not a whole lot of time to do it in.

Kristen and I started in on her arm yesterday. Next session will be leaves and shading. I lovelovelove tattooing/drawing flowers (or really anything nature-related, gimme it all). She let me steal her black and white photo, because I’m bad at pictures. It probably doesn’t help that I always take them immediately after a session, so the tattoo is always swollen/irritated.

I haven’t posted any behind the scenes sketches and things here in a while (I’m slightly better at instagram: @align).  1) Preliminary sketch for an illustration going into my May show at the Ugly Mug. 2) Bear, who climbs all over my frames in the office whenever I’m in there. 3) Sparkly watercolor paints! Which I haven’t experimented with yet. They’ll be used minimally, for subtle details. 4) Lily of the valley sketches, which will be used in part of a client’s flower forearm that we’ll be outlining on Sunday.

I had a cancellation today so I'm spending some time this afternoon catching up on emails and things. If you've been wanting to reach out to me about your new tattoo, this is a perfect time to catch me for a consult at the shop or via facebook message/email (since I'll be able to respond quickly, hooray!). [email protected]

I’ve tattooed SO MANY THINGS in the last week, and totally forgot to take pictures of most of them. But on Wednesday we did Tuly’s other leg, which was a lot of fun!

I'll have a bunch of new work hanging at the Ugly Mug here in Salem, MA in May. Here is the first completed piece for it. (Inspired by: Anxiety. How horribly overwhelming and dangerous it can feel, isolating, a complicated maze.. I seem to be unable to put it into words, hence the attempt to draw it out.)

This is T's first tattoo! The flower, based on a Turkish tulip, begins above her knee, and ends at the achilles. Some of the watercolor splashes cover mild varicose veins that she wanted to hide. We'll be doing the other leg in a couple of weeks.

Truth: The last couple of months (or realistically, the whole of 2015) have been a struggle that has led to me becoming seriously antisocial. Which has in turn led to accidentally becoming internet-antisocial. Depression and anxiety are huge jerks. And apparently transitioning into a new job after being stationary for nearly half a decade is not as easy as I had assumed. I haven’t finished a painting, or seen so many of my friends, or written a poem, or taken pictures of anything I’ve made, in months. That’s ridiculous. And I suppose I don’t really want to talk about it. I’ve tried to be transparent here, I feel it’s important to be openly human, not just an artist who sometimes manages to post pretty things. But after being so beaten up and attempting to fight my way out of it, I simply want to dust myself off and keep walking forward.  I want to become more brutal. You know, in a good way. As in, “do no harm but take no shit.”  One thing I have managed to do is update my etsy shop. Although this technically happened in November, I’ve just been so bad at things like tumblr that I never posted it here. There are so many things that I need to become better at.

I can finally talk about this! I’m terribly afraid of jinxing things, so Salem Ink and I didn’t make any announcements in regards to me joining their team until I had my tattoo permit in hand. Which was a battle that I can’t really talk about on the internet. It’s frustrating that I haven’t been able to tattoo in weeks. It’s frustrating for my clients who have had to wait for me. My new schedule will be finalized tomorrow (I hope), and I’ll be able to start putting everyone in there again. That is a relief.

Email me at [email protected] and we can talk about your ideas! They'll definitely be done and shipped to you before Christmas. **Note: As of this post, 1 of 3 has already been claimed. 

I am no longer working at Witch City Ink. I sincerely thank all of the coworkers that I have worked with in the last 4+ years, who have selflessly shared their knowledge, support, and kindness with me. I have learned an incredible amount from all of them, and will be forever grateful. I am taking this in-between job time to focus on art and other projects, but will keep you all posted as soon as my next step in the tattoo world is taken (soon!). Thank you all for your patience and support. xo