D.O.A.

FWD:FWD:

2009-09-15T16:14:00.000-07:00

I am trying out a new way to update this Blog through the cell phone. Hope this works. If it does. there should be a picture of LP's new tattoo based off of the Iron Maiden / Seventh Son of a Seventh Son album with a PWTS twist. Hope you like! Later

2009-07-02T17:28:00.001-07:00

I NEED YOUR HELP!
I'm going behind bars for "GOOD" PLEASE HELP BAIL ME OUT! Your donation is my key to freedom! Be proud of the fact that together we're providing help and hope to kids and adults served by MDA in our community. https://www.joinmda.org/valleycity09/million
Valley City Lockup 2009: Michael McGough

A new medium for me!

2009-03-30T08:53:00.001-07:00

I have officially started oil painting. Here is the first piece that I have done.

It is monochromatic. Using only Burnt Sienna, Titanium White and Ivory Black.

The only information that I have recieved about oil painting thus far is from Shawn Barbers DVD - Foundation Painting, found on the Massive Black website. Hope you like it, and more to come.

2009-02-24T11:07:00.000-08:00

Here is the latest on Buddha's tins. I am waiting to do the rest of the details until they are on the bike, but until then here are the pics

2009-02-13T13:50:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday the 13th. I told you I was going to get you some new photos. And ...

Here is the base grafix that I did on Buddha's tins for his bagger. The base coat is called Chevy Switchblade Silver. That was done by Cy and Yokom. I am not a auto body man nor do I want to be, so I don't even try. The graphix on here are all going to be done with 1shots lettering enamel. I first laid down the base tan with a 2.5 inch brush. that is right I am doing this entirely by hand. no vinyl stencils and no airbrush. Alot of people around here are a bit put off by that, but I want this to be different. When asked most people haven't seen hand painted vehicle job for 10 to 20 years, including pinstriping, and I think that is bogus. While some beautiful things can be done with air power, there is alot to be said for the craftsmanship of things done by hand.

Now that I got way off subject. I followed up the tan after a two day dry (because I had tattoos to do and kids to watch) with thin medium brown overcoat. I used this coat more as an opaque glaze than transparent overcoat. While it was still wet I used a paper towel as quickly as I could to dab off the excess and let the tan show thru. Not exactly the pro way to do it, but there isn't alot of pros out there hand painting anymore either, at least they are not advertising it. I was a little worried about the paint having an uneven sheen, then I thought maybe I should have used a matte paste in the paint to flatten it out a bit, but I have some more things to put over the top of the leather look so maybe it will dull it down just enough to contrast. We will soon find out. I hope to get the rest of this done by the end of next week. Wish me luck.

2009-02-11T12:44:00.000-08:00

Hey just got over one hellashis cold and am back at work. Sorry still don't have any pics of Buddha's tins yet, but I will be trying to get some tonight. Hang in there folks I am trying.

2009-02-06T11:03:00.000-08:00

Well oh well, christmas time is upon us in Valley City. Dakota Rider Xmas Party that is. So that is what I plan on doing for the weekend. If you have never been to a Dakota Rider Xmas Party before, than you really do owe it to yourself to check it out. Must be 21 or over. The party is Saturday February 7th at the AmericInn in Valley City. Start time is 6:00pm and the party ends Sunday morning at 11:00am at the latest. (The hotel would like us to leave at some point.)WARNING: It does get a little wild and that is an understatement.
Hopefully I will have some picks for you by monday or tuesday from the progress on Buddha's bike. Until then... I gotta go.

2009-02-05T11:08:00.000-08:00

I know it has been a long time since I have even looked at this thing, and if anyone else is still looking at this then you will be happy to know that I have updated. I have had a busy year full of new and more stylized work along with some tragic losses. In fact now that I think about it I haven't updated since my brother Troy died last March. Since then we have lost a few others including Buddha's wife Julie.
On a brighter note I have started painting Buddha's bike which we will be showing at the FM Crusaders MC Bike show in March. More of that to come.

Spring is on its way!

2008-03-19T15:10:00.000-07:00

That is what my Harley keeps on saying. I seriously cannot wait until the weather levels out. I need to get outside for awhile. I think cabin fever is about break down my entire being. Okay a little overboard, I know but still.

Now back to the tattoo thing. The first pick I have is off of Buddha's daughter's leg. It is the first asian style dragon that I have done to date. She has been buggin' the hell out of me to post this photo, so here it is. Thanks again Kayla, I love you.

This piece is on the newest Dakota Rider prospect, and a very good friend of mine. There is a group of people who all have this bracelet, the problem with his bracelet is that he is allergic to the metal. So we tattooed it on permanently. I like to think it is sort of a medic alert bracelet but for bikers. It should say "CAUTION: BLOOD TYPE - HARLEY DAVIDSON NEGATIVE" on the back.

This is a photo of the smallest tattoo ever done at Prairie Wynde Studio in Valley City. I tried to talk her into a larger design, but she just wasn't going to do it. The tattoo is of a butterfly. It took 60 seconds to complete the design which consisted of an outline, shadow, color, and white highlite. The actual time spent with needle in the skin = 20 seconds. But she was fun and really appreciated what she got. What can I say, not everyone is planning a sleeve.

This next piece is my new personal favorite. While working on Korky Grease we realized that his past couple of weeks of self-abusive behavior (getting shmammered in Vegas) tattooing his
pinup on his ribs was not going to be the very productive. So we decided to quite. But Jesus Grise was not going to be deterred from his goal of getting a tattoo fix. So he asked "Can we try a different body part, I am just really feening for a tattoo?" Well we will try. "Is there anything that you have been really wanting to tattoo lately?" he asked. Why yes there was. So I broke out my Big Book of Shit I Like and we stumbled upon this photo that I found online a while back. "Fuck Yeah" says Kracky McGross and on we go with the tattoo. The next time someone asks what I think is cool, I am going to pull out this picture and say Strange Shit.

One lump sum

2008-02-20T15:32:00.000-08:00

Here is a small handful of the tattoos done this year.
Check them out.

Dead Sexy

2008-01-18T10:32:00.000-08:00

I have really been getting into depth in tattoos lately. As with this young lady's tattoo I wanted to put alot more dark to light contrast. I have been using way more black in the tattos as of late.
Doing it this way has made for a more dynamic style to the design. The greens and pinks are so much brighter, only because there is way more darkness in the tattoo. Which also makes the white highlights alot crisper.
I have just been stoked on all of these cool canvases with general ideas.
In this tattoo she came in to get stars and the chinese symbol for 'beautiful'. While I did put that design together, I also drew this one. I figured that her parents would be against this design and since she was only 17 at the time, it was really up to them. I also thought if it was a no, I should be able to find someone else who would. Well, the best possible scenario prevailed and not only did her parents consent to the design, she was in shock and awe at how perfect the design was for her, and fit her personality so well. I know she is only 17 and may regret it. I however believe that no matter what you get for a tattoo, that is something you should never regret, because the tattoo represents that time in your life more than the design does.
Anyway, she got the tattoo full size, covering the entire top of her foot, and this was her first tattoo. Even still she sat like a champ. Hell yeah it hurt, but she still sat for 2.5 hours and we knocked this one right out of the park.

2008-01-16T08:27:00.000-08:00

Wow what busy finish to 2007. 1 wedding, 1 birthday party, 1 baptizm, 3 Xmas partys, and that doesn't include Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Eve with four different households. Did I mention that I was tattooing in between all of this. Yeah, the slow time wasn't all that slow.

I haven't forgotten all of you who who keep reminding me to update my online information. Sorry, but I haven't exactly been sitting around with a PS2 controller in my hands. Actually I forgot I owned one.

With all of this online neglect, I have been busy doing some Grade A stabbings. Thanks to the coolest tattoo collectors in the midwest I have also had alot of free reign to do what I want with there pieces. Honestly, Prairie Wynde Studio has by far the best customers around with some all out awesome ideas.

What have I been doing for example? Well I will show you.

Bedroom eyes, I think that was the only thing I was told when I started drawing.
The whole group was just an absolute blast. I would have done with a little less man hating, but under the circumstances, a little venting was in order. I will say that I was not the cause for the man hating.

My little brother Luke got this piece as a coverup. The whole idea is pretty straight forward, but I just love the depth that the design has.
This young lady came in originally wanting a couple different things then settled on this design with the skull. I thought it came out really cool, and I always like any piece that is bi-polar. I mean this translates alot better as than the words "Life and Death".
Amber came back to fill this space in on her hip.
Again, how can you go wrong with a heaven and hell peice like this. And as always she sat like a rockstar. At 5 and a half foot, and 110 pounds or so, she holds up under the needle better than most guys. In my opinion, if she calls you a pussy, you are.
Well that is all for right now, I will try to be more on top of this web stuff in the future.
So until next time,
Peace, Love and OMERTA!

The Lion, The Skull, and The Pink Freak

2007-10-03T07:56:00.000-07:00

Well its about time I get around to updating. Last week was kind of mellow, but I got alot accomplished in the way of misc. projects. Now all of my drawings are caught up and all things are smooth once again. The first piece this week was done on JJ. He wanted alot of symbolism placed in the design, which fit quite well I think. The lion was taken from the classic heraldry design, with a few tweeks we put on a bit more mass and depth in the otherwise flat standard lion. He wanted a few things layed in there with the idea that the tattoo has a tattoo for example, the numbers and letters. You can see that the look a bit off in color. What we did is placed a dark almost indigo blue in for those parts of the tattoo so that when it heals it will actually look like a slightly faded blueish tattoo. Stay tuned for the healed picture.

Here is a piece that will be colored in, but I thought it would be good to have a comparison piece for those of you contemplating color or black and gray for your next design. we will hopefully have the colored picture in a month.

This is one that I have been waiting to get a picture of. Kory stopped in last night just to see what was up, andwhile he was here we took a quick snap shot of his newest piece. This is the healed picture of about a 1-1.5 month old piece. I just love how bright those colors are. In person the design looks like a fake tattoo because it is so bright. And that is how you properly take care of a tattoo. Thanx to Kory for caring about his ink.

And all of this healed up talk has got me thinking. Maybe I should do an FAQ blog. Alright, you talked me into it. I will try to put something together. Until next time...

The Body of a God

2007-09-25T12:25:00.001-07:00

Buddha came in needing to get tattooed. So I started back in on a project that has been so far about four years in the making. I always had a Pagoda in mind for the background, but I recently thought of putting a Jade Dragon in the design. So we put the dragon to Buddha's right, and will be placing the Pagoda to his left. Then, who know what direction we will take.

Hunting Season Approaches

2007-09-18T09:22:00.000-07:00

This week was pretty uneventful. As things wind down and school starts the only two things left to do are watch football and start the killing season. I was talking about hunting. Bird seasons have already begun and the Whitetail is on its way, and in honor of North Dakota's favorite holiday I decided to post Matt's new tattoo. The design is fairly straight forward, a buck skull with barbwire. Then Matt brings in this t-shirt with this kick ass pinstripe style barbwire in this wild rust and white color combo. I laid it in without an outling to seperate it from the primary element of the design. I can't wait for the healed picture.

Stay Tuned... Same bat time, same bat channel

Second Week of September

2007-09-09T15:28:00.000-07:00

It has been a pretty cool week. Kory stopped in to get his inner bicep finished, which we will have pictures of as soon as it heals, and while he was here I took a few snapshots of his Legends sleeve that we started a couple of years ago. Not sure what guitarists to put on next, we have been holding off on getting more done to it.

Tim came in for his half sleeve dragon. He had a lot of symbolism he wanted in the design, and he said that we achieved it. Plus at the end of the tattoo session the Vikings demolished the Falcons 24 - 3. So all together it was a pretty cool week.

Dragon Country

2007-08-31T12:18:00.000-07:00

I just finished this piece about a half hour ago. It took us 5 hours over 2 sittings. The thing that was really cool was that when Mike came in he really new what he wanted. Even down to how many horns and where. Of course I got to draw it up my style, but he had a portfolio full of designs to use as a reference.

Brenda's Seahorse

2007-08-24T13:10:00.000-07:00

A gal I haven't really seen since high school came in for her first tattoo. She found some temporary tattoos that she thought she might like with a few alterations. The design was a butterfly with tribal around it, but she wanted something similar with a seahorse and seaweed.
Here is what I drew up and put on her
.

Avoiding an earache

2007-08-20T14:17:00.000-07:00

I figured that I had better get some picture posted or I wouldn't hear the end of it.

The First Post

2007-08-20T13:47:00.001-07:00

Welcome to D.O.A. Disciples of Art. The personal blog of Michael (Million) McGough.With the new tattoo studio and everything else going on I needed a good chunk of time to concentrate on other things, like family and work. Now with being down to one job I have a little time to spare for finishing the website, myspace, and starting this blog. Sorry to everyone who has been waiting, and thank you for your patience.