ipaintflesh.

Back home from two big gigs in LA towing @buxom_bettie_travel_trailer safe & sound. Booked another gig back in LA on the way back - in a week. Definitely on a growth journey rn. Also Definitely time for #selfcarefirst Taking a day off. 🤪🥴😳 #lasvegasbusinessowners #growthjouney (at Las Vegas, Nevada) https://www.instagram.com/p/Ceo_7gJPEiQ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

More test tattoos for some AWESOME people @tatbarlasvegas These would match her hubby's. She's thinking about it... I think I was able to capture the look. 🤩 (at Tat.Bar) https://www.instagram.com/p/COlSwjZHAHN/?igshid=1ounmmc2q5rry

Check out the custom work I did on @claudebaruk yesterday! I've said and done this for a decade: Real tattoo art can be enjoyed temporarily. 🤩 • • • • • • • • • #airbrushtattoo #airbrushedtattoos #airbrushedtattoostudio #fauxtattoos #fauxtattoostudios #tatbarlasvegas #tatbar #gracextattoos #temporarytattoo #fxtattoo #fxtattoostudio #airbrushmakeupartist #blackdesigners #blackartistsofinstagram (at Las Vegas, Nevada) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMsFndRnQ74/?igshid=129qkfj4f0ogc

VACCINATED! Part 1. No side effects so far! 🤩 I'm REALLY excited to get back to something better than this last year. 😝 I hope you get yours soon. It doesn't hurt at all. 💉💦 (at Las Vegas, Nevada) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMTbBjanyfN/?igshid=9qvver8bd8bu

A test for a memorial tattoo.🕊 • • • • • • • #airbrushtattoo #airbrushedtattoos #airbrushlife #airbrushmakeupartist #airbrushedtattoo #airbrushtattoos #airbrushtattoostencils #fauxtattoos #fauxtattoostencils #fauxtattoostudios #fxtattoo #fxtattoostudio #tatbarlasvegas #ipaintflesh #gracexstudios (at Las Vegas, Nevada) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMKnDUYn23S/?igshid=1egyv8ofn4qvu

Monarch Butterflies for the memories of those we have lost. 💙🦋💙 @tatbarlasvegas • • • • • #airbrushtattoo #airbrushedtattoos #airbrushlife #airbrushmakeupartist #fauxtattoos #fauxtattoostudios #fauxtattoostencils #fxmakeup #fxtattoo #fxtattoostudio #tatbarlasvegas (at Las Vegas, Nevada) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMC6ieBHPpr/?igshid=1by9sv3goc3mx

My adventures took me to LA a few days ago for a commercial needing very specific tattoos recreated for pickup shots. This is my specialty. I created this technique and I designed these stencils as tools for airbrushed tattoo excellence. This took me 1.5hrs to airbrush. Without these high level tattoo recreations the job wouldn't have been possible. This is what I do behind the scenes for all levels of productions and stills. The problem is I can't be everywhere. It's now my mission to teach my method and share my stencils with anyone who wants to learn this much needed technique. We're filming the online lessions now. Very excited to finally open it up to the world. (at Paradise, Nevada) https://www.instagram.com/p/CL3KrA4HDtL/?igshid=co3elv44uqv6

#tbt💙 This photo was November 26th, 2016 right before going into surgery after being diagnosed with colon cancer. I didn't know yet at the time for months that it was stage 3B. In this pic I was waving goodbye to my son and my partner & caregiver @laffinglotus because I was just told I was in dire critical condition. I found out 3 days earlier on my birthday in a bill emailed to me by the clinic that did the scope, that they detected a 100% blockage. They waited a week to send that biopsy bill and no one notified me I had cancer. I had to Google adenocarcinoma. I cried for 5 minutes before I came to terms with my situation and decided to LIVE. By the time I was hospitalized my gut was shutting down and docs weren't certain what the damage was. The tumor was too large to remove without killing me so they created a colostomy and elected to shrink it down with chemo and radiation. That decision by my surgeons saved my life. This was the beginning of my cancer journey. THANKFULLY 8 surgeries later I am living a post cancer "normal" life. But the fact that no one in my family reached out. Few friends knew or cared. That changed me. Hardened my heart in a way I never knew possible. (I'm a hermit because I'm damaged) I stayed in that hospital room alone. No one came but the nurses. They were so nice to me. In this photo I was alone waving goodbye to my son. I didn't know it then but my mother and sister conspired to keep me that way, alone. They told no one in my family. My Cinderella-like situation growing up, the abuse I suffered at their hands continued even then. They would continue to torture me until 2021 when I finally changed my name to Grace Lovejoy severing those toxic ties forever. I am finally free. I have been through too much in this life but one thing I can be thankful for is the family and support system I found through Instagram. Those people (who will certainly read this fully) I've never met in person but love me more than my own mother, they keep me going. Thank you. I will never forget you. Celebrating my 3rd year in remission living my best life! (Even during covid) 💙 (at Paradise, Nevada) https://www.instagram.com/p/CLKPNCnHVd9/?igshid=yqd8l932pwi4

I'm painting like my life depends on it these days... Oh wait. I've always done that. Good thing I filmed it! I'm just now posting the footage. Please follow @gracexoriginals 😅 We could use the support. (at Paradise, Nevada) https://www.instagram.com/p/CLIW9R7HyBC/?igshid=1e71mjlf901yb

These nice ladies visited for some fun tats the other day. I started taking limited appointments for temp tats at my studio again recently. I've been putting in 200% on @gracexoriginals while @tatbarlasvegas has been mothballed due to covid. The @gracexoriginals effort has yet to take hold after a year of producing. It is by far the best work I've ever produced. It got me thinking. The issue I've come to find is something that has been a constant issue my entire artistic career: Exposure. Or the lack thereof. I have never had the privilege of having my work acknowledged or celebrated in any way. Honestly for many years I didn't care. I began to care after Refinery29 treated me and my team like utter trash throughout 29Rooms in 2018. I began to care more later after the biggest gig I ever landed. But now as it feels like time is running out for my efforts, I realize it REALLY matters. It matters that other makeup artists took credit for my work like that huge back tattoo I did for a popstar music video while I was "not permitted" to post my work on social media. It matters because I was silenced by one of the most powerful people in the music industry by producing something so good they wanted to monetize it without paying for it. They threatened to blacklist me and sue me for 1M per instance if I ever said I did this work (Google : giant butterfly back tattoo) on the highest paid pop star in the world at the time. All so they could make money on merchandise with my tattoo imagery on it. When my work was mentioned in Vogue it was labeled that "fake tattoo". It didn't just appear there, I pulled out all the stops for these people. No one else could do it so they hired my elite team. We were NDA silenced and that in itself was blacklisting. I remain the only artist that is capable of the work I do. No one knows I ever existed and that hurts my career to this day. I'm still not able to name this person because they are notoriously litigious & can destroy little me but I will say this: My work matters. When people talk about celebrating Black History Month I wish they would actually celebrate those of us black artists who continue to create in a vacuum of silence. 🕳 (at Paradise, Nevada) https://www.instagram.com/p/CK__6SsnLhH/?igshid=1d9y3pgpmprwf

Our President and Vice President have convinced me that this is worth fighting for. After long thought I changed my mind. I will stay and stand up to hate & white supremacy and fight for what my ancestors didn't have. Freedom and Justice for All. 🥲 (at Paradise, Nevada) https://www.instagram.com/p/CKT4Kr0nSkb/?igshid=upeh3jt7z0w9

I'm OFFICIALLY declaring that our family is immigrating to Canada. I do not want anything to do with this dumpster fire anymore. I can no longer stay in a country that doesn't love me and my people back. I can no longer stand in allegiance with this flag when Confederate flags are raised while the US Capital building is vandalized by racist thugs. I can't stay and raise my son in a country that would harm him and me while allowing those thugs to desecrate our Capital. I WILL NO LONGER STAND BY AND LIVE IN VEILED APARTHEID. I detest white supremacy in all its ugly forms so... 🎵Fuck this shit I'm out.🎵 I've had enough. For Harriet Tubmin, immigration was hope for a better future in the North. Looking forward to joining my friends in Toronto. 😘💙 (at Paradise, Nevada) https://www.instagram.com/p/CJw7I82HiL5/?igshid=xaw1y3ppcfn7

Justin Combs @princejdc 10/31/20 ••• 📸:☆Me☆ ••• A few more pics of the work I did that night (but not all the pics by far). More to come sometime soon. 🙃 (at Hollywood, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CJlzhqPH1gt/?igshid=u9xp7fbj6b3o

Justin Combs @princejdc 10/31/20 ••• 📸: ☆Me☆ ••• Looking back at my photos taken on jobs I had last year I'm realizing I'm an artistic hermit. I have some absolute gold in my photos folders! I will post more this year starting with this one. Justin hired me in 2016 for his Joker costume and I liked it. He called me back in 2020 for his "Fresh Out" look. I put out a few hundred stencils for him to choose from and he chose these from my Chicano, Bieber, Chris Brown collections with filler roses and web 🕸 for that authentic look w/shading. I took some amazing footage too. Whatever you do don't call my tats "fake". It takes too much art and skill to call it that. 😉 Stay tuned for more pics and the video from that incredible session coming soon! (at Hollywood, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CJlxlu3HAe-/?igshid=eiufme2tadmi