I really don't know what to say about this, other than I have been humbled various times through my career as a working artist and this is another such occasion... There have been times in my career where my confidence has been to the point of arrogance, there has also been points of being humbled almost to humiliation... I think I have found the spot I need to be, being able to keep my head down staying humble has allowed me to produce enough work to display in my first SOLO exhibit at the gallery... I'm so humbled by this and I hope you can come out and check it out... THANK YOU very much for looking at this blog....
~ART

A Fresh Start

Sometimes things have to change, after tattooing for 4 years at the grand tattoo lodge in redlands I have moved on. I will be making tattoos at my good friend Jon Sanchez' shop called "Sanchez Ink" in Fontana Ca. I would like to say thank you to John Montgomery for the opportunity to tattoo alongside him for the last 4 years, I learned a ton about tattooing from him and will always consider him a close friend, in an industry where good friends are difficult to come by. I never considered leaving the lodge until an unfortunate turn of events came about and I felt like I was no longer having fun, which is important to me... Anyhow onward and upward!! I will be continuing to tattoo and if you would like to contact me HMU creativeart00@hotmail.com

A new direction

So, as I had last posted last month, I started work for a solo exhibition that I have coming up. However, inspiration has struck and forced me to change the direction and subject matter for the show, hopefully you will enjoy the upcoming progress shots of the works and maybe come out in the summer for the still "untitled" show... Thanks for reading
~Art Minas

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Ryu!!

Super excited to start work for my solo exhibition at the GOPA in riverside happening in August... Dragons are one of my most favorite images of all the japanese mythical creatures, very powerful images of strength and protection... "RYU" is a word of japanese origin that means DRAGON....
Sent from my iPhone
Sent from my iPhone

Carp

Here is a little carp sketch, I love doing irezumi, drawing and tattooing it, traditional japanese tattooing and designs are just so powerful and just look like they're meant to be on the body, thank you for looking...

G.O.P.A

Today I received awesome news, I am now a resident artist at the Gallery of Progressive Arts in riverside ca., alongside some awesome graffiti artists and artists in other mediums. I'm so stoked on this achievement, big thanks to Louie Solano for this awesome news, I am currently prepping for my second solo exhibition and first solo show at the G.O.P.A, thanks for looking... Check out the gallery at www.gopagallery.com

KAPPA, TENGU, SQUID N SKULL

Here's a Lil sleeve I just had the pleasure of finishing on a cool redlands local, thanks again Marcus...

Meditation can help the creative process...

"Meditate, live purely, quietly, and do your work masterfully"

~Buddha

WHY MEDITATE?

The regular practice of meditation can help:

• Unlock artist block
• Create a flow of ideas for new paintings
• Clear the mind of junk
• Enable you to better focus on your craft.       

WHAT IS MEDITATION?

In simple terms, meditation is the self-directed practice for relaxing the body and calming the mind.  There are many different ways to meditate.  For me, its finding stillness in the mind by sitting quietly and ridding my mind of thought of anything other than where I am at that moment.  One way of stilling the mind is to focus on your breath, which keeps you in the present moment.

It's not easy, stilling the mind, especially for someone like me who is super-hyper, full of ideas, one right after another.

When learning to meditate, instructors will advise that "if a thought arises, gently acknowledge it and bring your mind back to your breath."  Good advice.  It's really taken me a lot of practice just to go a few minutes without a racing mind!  But each time I meditate, I get better and better at it. 

I bought a book from Nick Baxter recently, who also in his book talks about the benefits of meditation for the creative process. There have been countless times where I've had a "block" and meditation has helped break through.  This is just another of the many ways mindful meditation has helped me.

Negativity in tattooing and life in general...

I haven't been tattooing long enough to understand why tattooers feel the need to be angry or hateful toward each other. I have been tattooing long enough to have some of that hate directed at me, and I've had it affect my life outside of tattooing. I feel like I have a hard enough time dealing with difficult clients. So I have decided to try to ignore negativity and not try to involve myself in talking negatively about people. I have found this very difficult to do, especially when it's happening all around me. Meditation has helped me tremendously with this, since I have started mindful meditation I have been able to think a little more clearly. Now I'm no guru or lama, i can only keep my concentration for about 5 minutes so far, but I can only imagine the benefits of this if I could meditate for longer periods of time. I don't know what attracted me to this, I'm definately not a new age hippy or anything like that but I needed something and I found this. It is helping me manage stress, negativity, and negative people that come into my life, hopefully it only gets better.

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Another RYU!!

I did this dragon on an awesome client who had some awesome stories to tell from his time as a cultural anthropologist, good times tattooing this guy....

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RAIJIN

Did this raijin a while back on a super cool dude that just walked in one day... Raijin is the japanese god of thunder...

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Just finished this sleeve...

I love doing japanese themed tattoos... Thank you to all my clients that allow me to tattoo these images on them

Exhibition at Augies Coffee house in redlands ca

These and several other paintings will be displayed for the month of July at Augies coffee house which is an awesome Little spot in downtown redlands, check it out grab some coffee and look at some art...

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Hanya

Little hanya jam

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ONI

I drew this oni, after some serious introspection about my art and style, and where I want to take it, and the following paintings will reflect a small change to my color theory and line work... Thanks for looking...

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Spitshade???

I haven't watercolored in years, but I've found it fun to be able to draw obscure Yokai (ghosts) that I can't convince clients to get tattooed, and then paint them, FUN!!! I'll be posting those more n more... Stay tuned!!

New dragon tatt

On an awesome client, this tattoo was fun to do...

DRAGON!!

Shi shi, peonie, and Sakura chest panel...

I did this on a good client of mine who originally wanted a Hanya, but changed his mind to a Shi Shi... It was super fun...
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Koi!!!

Finally finished this mystical carp on another cool client... This one was super fun...
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