Painting Tutorial – Rooster

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acrylic painting, art, artist, instructional painting video, painting, painting tutorial, painting video, rooster painting, things to do during quarantine

As promised, here’s another of the acrylic painting tutorials I filmed a couple years ago. Sit back and enjoy watching, or get out your paints and canvas and paint along! This includes step-by-step instructions for how to both teach or just create the painting. Enjoy!

Painting Tutorial – Solace

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covid-19, how to paint, painting, painting tutorial, painting with acrylic, stuff to do, things to do, tutorial

Hey guess what? I haven’t posted anything in almost a year, but, like many of you, I’m stuck at home while covid-19 continues living it up and being a twatwaddle. So I thought I’d take a moment to repost some videos that might entertain you. These include step-by-step instructions for how to do some of the paintings I used to teach when I had the paint and sip studio. Or, just treat it like a Bob Ross video and get your zen on while watching me paint. First up, the painting titled Solace.

https://emilypageart.net/2018/04/23/acrylic-painting-tutorial-for-solace/

Tattoo Wrap-up #22

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art, elephant tattoo, filigree, filigree tattoo, flower tattoo, memorial tattoo, octopus tattoo, skull tattoo, tattoo, tattoo artist, tattoo cover up, tattoo studio, tattooing, willow tree tattoo

I wish I could say it’s been a hot minute since I last posted, but let’s be honest, a large portion of the country is in the grips of this polar vortex thing and it’s been damn cold out. I’m permanently cold, but when I tattoo I tend to overheat. Luckily, it’s been pretty busy at the studio the last couple weeks so I’ve stayed toasty and warm. Here are the highlights:

Super proud of this one. This was the winner of a holiday giveaway I did.

A little in love with this one, too. It’s something I could even envision on myself.

This one has sad story behind it. The customer got it because her son was shot and killed recently. After getting approval from the health department, we added some of his ashes to the ink so she’ll always have him with her.

A very cheerful cover-up.

It’s a symbol of inspiration for a woman on her 70th birthday.

How cute is this? The customer designed it herself.

Cute friendship tattoos.

No story here, it’s just cute. 

Same customer as the one above.

A couple came in and wanted different versions of a willow tree with their kids names/initials. 

This is the other version of the willow.

The customer wanted her parents’ birth flowers for this pretty tattoo.

Tattoo Wrap-up #21

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Absalom tattoo, alphabet blocks tattoo, butterfly tattoo, calico tattoo, commemorative tattoo, corgi tattoo, Emily Page, Emily Page tattoo, gecko tattoo, harry potter coat of arms, harry potter tattoo, lady tattooers, lizard tattoo, memorial tattoo, moth tattoo, nc tattooers, poppy tattoo, Ratatat Tats, salamander tattoo, sea horse tattoo, seahorse tattoo, sploof, tattoo, tattoo artist, tattooing

I don’t actually know if it’s been a week, or two weeks, or what. Life is a blur. Not because I’ve been doing anything particularly exciting. Mostly just because I must have traded brains with a goldfish at some point in a drunken stupor. Bourbon. It’ll get you every time, amiright? Anyway, here are some more tattoos I’ve done in the last several days:

Let Your Light Shine…for her grandfather, who she called Poppy.

The sploof!! With a heart tail!

I love that the customer requested a snaggle tooth when I was designing this sea horse for him.

Memorial tattoo for her little sister.

A tattoo to commemorate her trip to Barcelona.

For a true Harry Pitter fan. She’s a Slitherin, by the way, so don’t mess with her.

I didn’t get a great, clear shot of this one, but here is Absalom, dropping some wisdom on yo’ ass.

I felt so bad for this customer. Look at the one on the left. A local tattoo shop owner did that one. The wings don’t even match each other. I was able to even them up a bit and make it more dynamic, but there wasn’t anything I could do about the fuzzy antennae.

Engine #25

Tags

acrylic painting, art, dad, death, dementia, Emily Page, Emily Page Art, grief, painting, painting of train, train buff, train painting, what to give a train lover

I started 2019 off the correct way: in the art studio. And it felt so good. I’ve been so busy and exhausted that I haven’t been painting much lately. But I took Tuesday off and just painted what I wanted to paint. And it was a good thing. And it was a bad thing. Because what I chose to paint was this:

Engine #25 acrylic on canvas 24″ x 30″ $750  *links for purchasing the original and for prints and such at the end of the post

You know, ’cause my dad was a train freak. Next month will be the third anniversary of my dad’s death, and between that knowledge and the holidays, I’ve been missing him something fierce. About a month ago, S poppped in some of my old home movies, and I got to watch my dad in his 30’s – younger than I am now. And, for the first time since he was diagnosed with dementia, it made me actually feel happy to watch. I really enjoyed it. And then I started having nightmares about him again. WTF is that? I wasn’t sad watching those videos, so why did they spark a new round of “Dadmares?”

And now I’m struggling again. Every time I feel like I’m getting back to normal, thinking about him a little less and with less pain, I get thrown back in. And what I’m thrown into, more than anything, is those final, horrible days with him, when he was hurting so much and my mom and I couldn’t make it better for him. It just fucking haunts me. I worked so hard to make sure that I had as few regrets as possible as we cared for him following his diagnosis. I’ve dealt with enough death to know that regret that can’t ever be remedied is not something I want to deal with again. So I set out to do things right with my dad. And I did. I’m proud of how fiercely I worked to love him and advocate for him. But there wasn’t anything we could do at the end.

It’s not so much regret, I suppose, as just grief that I was so helpless to make his pain stop. Watching someone you love suffer for that long…it just stays with you. And most of the time, when I think of him, that’s what I think of. I flashback to sitting in the hallway outside of his room after about 48 hours of watching him writhe and moan, and just losing my shit while a CNA watched helplessly. I flashback to lying on his bed and whispering soothing things in his ear to try to distract him from the pain. I flashback to feeling so tired it made me queasy, and ignoring the death rattle for close to an hour because I just couldn’t make myself open my eyes and get out of the recliner one more time to check on him.

Here I am, three years later, still desperate to make his pain stop, even though he’s already long gone. I don’t know how to let it go. So for now, I’m just painting something that made him happy in the hopes that it’ll make me happy.

*Original available here. Prints and stickers and phone cases and t-shirts and such available here, here, and here.

Tattoo Wrap-Up #20

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butterfly tattoo, catdog tattoo, Emily Page, Emily Page tattoo, greyhound tattoo, lady tattooer, Maine tattoo, nc tattooer, owl tattoo, Ratatat Tats, raven tattoo, starfish tattoo, tattoo, tattoo artist, tattoo love, tiger tattoo, trash polka tattoo, tree tattoo, yin yang tattoo

Notice that I’ve totally ditched the word “weekly” in the title. It’s 2019. Time for more realistic expectations, and realistically, based on past history, I’m not going to manage weekly tattoo wrap-ups. So here are the tattoos that I closed out the year with:

Aaahhh, bull. Looking forward to seeing this one healed so that the lighter grays are easier to distinguish.

 

Fairly self-explanatory.

I actually did 2 of these for a brother/sister duo.

Follow your arrow wherever it points.

I love this one. The customer had part of his liver removed, so he’s been “de-livered.”

This one and the one below were to memorialize their rescued greyhound.

The numbers were tattooed in the ears of the actual dog.

As a surprise for his wife.

This customer is going for a good vs. evil theme. The other shoulder has a dove and a rose and a beautiful time piece. For this side, we’re going more trash polka.

This is to remind himself of the story of the little boy walking on the beach and throwing starfish back into the ocean. If you don’t know it, look it up.

I’m so glad the customer decided not to add color to this one. His original plan was to include color in the tiger, but I love it as a black and gray tattoo.

The space in the roots is Maine.

Just a lovely little watercolor yin yang.

No story here, just a nice tattoo.

Cute little own.

And that’s it for 2018!! It’s been a long, crazy year, but I’ve learned so much – mostly that I love calf and forearm skin. So good for tattooing.

Weekly Tattoo Wrap-Up #19

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bulldog tattoo, cary tattoo, cover-up tattoo, eagles logo, female tattoo artist, floral tattoo, flying pig tattoo, lady gaga tattoo, mom tattoo, polar bear tattoo, raleigh tattoo, Ratatat Tats, tattoo, tattoo artist, tattoo cover up, tulip poplar tattoo, wolf tattoo

It’s SLOW here. Soooooo sloooooow. It huuuuuuuurts. So there hasn’t been a ton of stuff to post. But here’s what I can share from the last couple of weeks:

For a customer who is slowly getting tattoos that represent all of her dogs. This is for a dog she calls Polar Bear because he’s so big and white and fluffy.

No explanation needed.

Doggie portrait

I don’t really recommend foot tattoos, but the customer was forwarned that they don’t last as well. But since she went ahead and got it, it’s pretty darn cute, I think.

This customer’s first tattoo – because she believes anything is possible.

Nice twist on MOM in a heart.

From a Shel Silverstein book. Yes, it IS supposed to say “Ki Hids.”

This customer had had a bad experience at another tattoo shop and didn’t trust the tattoo artist to finish and fix the tattoo. Luckily, we were able to finish it up so that she was happy with it.

This is my brush with fame. This guy is the cousin of Esther the Wonder Pig (i.e., his cousin owns Esther).

This was a cover-up I posted a while back. It used to be a dream catcher. Finally got to finish it.

A tulip poplar for a customer who I’ve known for years thanks to the sip and paint business I used to own.

 

HOLIDAY SALES – They’re a Thing Around These Here Parts

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art, artist, artwork for sale, coupon, discount, Emily Page, Emily Page Art, Emily Page artist, holiday sales, painting, painting for sale, sales

That’s right. You may not have heard, but holiday sales are a thing, apparently. And guess what? They’re a thing on my website. I’ve got more paintings than I know what to do with, and you’ve got friends and family that need art to brighten up their homes and offices. Sounds like a perfect match. Come to think of it, your home and office could really use some brightening, too. No judgment, but you should really fix that.

Now until December 31st, I’m offering 25% off all orders over $100. Use Coupon Code HOLIDAY2018 when you check out. And note that I’m running the sale until the end of the year, so, if you want, you can sit down with the person you’re buying for and let them choose what painting they’re getting. Because I’m nice like that. And because I’m desperate like that.

So go to https://shop.emilypageart.com and order your artwork now! If you’re more interested in prints of my art or merchandise with my artwork on it, you can find those here, here, here, and here.

Treat Yo Self

Tags

art merchandise, discounts, Fine Art America, holiday sales, holiday shopping

Just a heads up for anyone interested in buying prints of my art or merchandise with my art on it, Fine Art America is scheduled to run the following sales:

 

November 29th

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25% Off Tote Bags, Weekender Tote Bags, and Zip Pouches

 

 

December 3rd

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25% Off Wall Art (Canvas Prints, Framed Prints, Posters, Wood Prints, Metal Prints, Acrylic Prints, and Tapestries)

 

 

December 5th

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25% Off Home Decor (Throw Pillows, Duvet Covers, Shower Curtains, Bath Towels, Coffee Mugs, and Fleece Blankets)

 

 

December 7th

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25% Off Phone Cases

 

You can find my work here: https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/1-emily-page.html

Happy shopping!

(Not So) Weekly Tattoo Wrap-up #18 (Part 2)

Tags

black and gray tattoo, black and grey tattoo, cabin tattoo, chesapeake bridge, cover-up tattoo, dream catcher tattoo, duck tattoo, evergreen tattoo, full moon, mandala tattoo, moon tattoo, nature tattoo, pine tree tattoo, pocket watch tattoo, sanskrit, skull and flowers tattoo, skull tattoo, stop watch tattoo, tattoo cover up, UFO tattoo, wolf tattoo

As promised, here is part 2 of the sorta-kinda-almost weekly tattoo wrap-up #18:

A mandala for a friend I haven’t seen in 20 something years. I love people who you can go that long without seeing and it still feels totally natural to hang out. It was also nice to do some color work, since so many people have been requesting black and gray tattoos.

Yes, I wrote down what this means. Yes, I threw the piece of paper out that I wrote it on. So no, I can’t tell you the meaning of the sanskrit.

A fun walk-in on a random Thursday night. Looking forward to tattooing this marine’s other shoulder soon!

The Chesapeake Bridge.

I love this little tattoo. I ended up doing a bunch of tree tattoos over that week…

…including on this guy underneath the wolf and moon I did for him the same day.

And still more trees as part of this cover-up for a customer who found out via DNA testing that he wasn’t actually Native American after all. I really loved doing this one, in part because I got to use his grandfather’s train-engraved pocket watch as reference, and it was on my dad’s birthday. So I channeled my inner train-lover.

The guy that got the wolf tattoo above was here for work from Texas, and he came in with his buddy who got this cover-up, and the next 2 tattoos below. More trees anyone?

Okay, I never got the story for why he wanted the motorcycle helmet in the same scene as the ducks, but what the customer wants is what the customer gets…within reason. This is on the other side of the arm as the UFO and cabin scene.

A moon a little farther up the arm from the UFO and cabin scene. I’m guessing he’ll eventually fill in the space between.

Another walk-in who was excited to not have to wait several weeks to get her tattoo like so many other places had told her.

And that’s that! Several weeks of tattoos that were interesting enough to share with you. Several of these were walk-ins, which was really freaking cool, because I’ve been starting my weeks with almost nothing on the books, and by the end of the week I’m doing half sleeves. Loving it!