With Happiness…Comes Pain

Finally-out of my stuffy, conservative work clothes and into more comfortable apparel; shorts, some Adidas, a t-shirt and hat was just what was needed to start off this Friday afternoon. The time was 11:45 am to be exact, and I was leaving work early, feeling great-at least for the time being.

Leaving early on a Friday is nothing new, but this was very early, as I had an appointment in Tampa to attend to-not a doctor or dentist, but with Mindy Stewart Burkhardt from Studio XIII Tattoo in Cocoa Beach, at the 2011 Tampa Bay Tattoo Fest. Studio XIII is a reputable shop with a whole crew of great artists of all specialties. I was pretty stoked as Mindy is a damn good tattooist, and a portrait of my daughter was on the agenda-as well as a little partying.

Today was the first day of the show, and being that the convention is so close to my work at the Doubletree Hotel, Friday was my planned day to attend. In my opinion, Tattoo Fest is a fairly good convention as far as Florida shows go. I’ve been to a few shows around the state and Tattoo Fest is worth heading out to; some others are a waste of time. Being in its 12th year, and having attended this event for a while, I knew a painfully good time was in store. Already having my supplies ready, it was time to get started.

After meeting Mindy at the hotel around 12:30 and bullshitting for a few minutes, she wanted to finish drawing up my daughter’s portrait. I struck a deal for the first sitting of her time at the show on Friday. Mindy was punctual and all business, at least about the piece, which was a pleasant surprise. She was even nice enough to buy me into the show; she wanted to enter the portrait in the “Tattoo of the Day” competition, which meant it would be a long night. After being told of our tattooing time of about five hours, I wanted a few (or more) beers to take the edge off. This would be a breeze; we would be done tattooing fairly early and I could start drinking more beer and get some cool pictures. It was just a back tattoo right? No big deal. I have tattoos in much more painful places. This would be easy…wrong.

Killing a little time was easy while the portrait stencil was finished. After drinking some beers, having a couple of smokes and shooting the shit with Mindy and her good friend Jessica, I started walking around for a little bit. After talking to some people and taking pictures, it was time for me to take a seat. Since the portrait would take some time, Jessica, who was running the booth and taking all customer questions and bookings, agreed to run around and get some pictures for me in her spare time throughout the day.

Mindy was extremely meticulous of course. Every detail has to be perfect; the picture used, the copy, shading lines, stencil, everything. With the stencil ready and placed flawlessly on my left shoulder, she finished her prep while it dried. Everything was in order and after taking a seat on the backwards chair I would become very familiar with, the machine was buzzing and Mindy was working.

The first two to three hours were fine, with me sitting still, making conversation and looking around at the scenery. No problems, except for the chair. It was tough on my neck making me a little uncomfortable, but hell, who is actually comfortable while getting a tattoo? With Mindy deciding we needed a break, getting a drink and a smoke was my plan. I went to the bathroom to sneak a peek, thinking the piece was only an hour or two from the end. Being completely wrong, I went outside to smoke and finish my beer.

The convention was starting to get a little crowded, the Sailor Jerry girls were in the house with free booze and schwag, and tattoo guns were blazing all over the convention hall. This was going to be a long night, but fun nonetheless. With my shoulder starting to hurt, I went back and knew the pain was coming-after the breaks are the worst.

Getting back in the chair, the tattooing resumed. I was still doing okay in that backwards chair, resting my neck on a shirt, and waiting-watching people walk by, some kicking tires on getting tattoos at all the various booths, others talking to Jessica and Mindy, some just watching for a second.

During the next hour, (maybe hour four) the pain was starting to get to me. I will go on record here and say that I underestimated the pain of this tattoo, which after another hour, turned to throbbing soreness. Hoping that we were close to finishing, Mindy advised me we had a long ways to go. The style of tattoo Mindy was doing was called a “true grey”, not just a black and grey portrait. Basically, grey and other shades of ink were used with some white in the tattoo as well, bringing out the grey. Very time consuming. Had I done a traditional black and grey portrait Miss Mindy said we would have been close to finishing, plus this tattoo was pretty big. The main thing was the same areas of the tattoo getting shaded over and over again.  I signed up for it, time to grin and bear it.

We took another break. I grabbed hold of my supplies and went outside, drinking Bacardi out of a flask, hoping to aid the pain, but in the back of my head knowing nothing would help. It was starting to get pretty late and the pain was damn near unbearable. Having never sat this long for any tattoo, after hour six the fun had ended. Don’t get me wrong, the convention was a blast, but damn this shit hurt.

Sitting down again was tough; hopefully this would be the homestretch. Running out of time as the tattoo of the day competition was coming up at the end of the night, I had to stop pulling away from the needle, stay perfectly still, focus on breathing and just hold on in the same position that had been held for six hours. Mindy kept me in check, making sure these things were done, as this portrait needed to be completed-we were both worn out. Basically I just stopped talking and put my head down. It wasn’t Mindy’s fault, she isn’t slow-a good tattoo takes time and patience, and this was a big piece.

After what seemed to be forever, Mindy told me we would be putting the finishing touches on the portrait and cleaning it up for the contest. She tightened up lines and shading, then cleaned it up really well; done. Being super stoked at this point, I took a look in the mirror and was very impressed. Impressed at how nice the tattoo was, and also at how much of my bullshit Mindy put up with throughout the day. The tattoo took close to eight hours. Sitting that long in one position is very tough, but Mindy kept me in line, inking a great tat. The portrait was cleaned up and I headed straight outside for a smoke, then for some free Sailor Jerry rum. Finally, the sweet relief of knowing the pain was over. What an awesome feeling after a long tattoo. It’s actually an accomplishment for me to have sat that long, especially at a convention, all at once. Don’t get me wrong, I have some big tattoos, but to do it all at once was pretty cool in the long run.

After my short moment of peace, it was back inside to enter the tattoo contest. Following entering in, Mindy and I thought we had a pretty good chance of placing in the black and grey category, but since this was a true grey portrait, we were a bit skeptical. After showing the portrait to all the judges and getting great feedback I figured we would place, but there was strong competition. After a long judging process, the tattoo didn’t hit the top three. All of us were a little dejected, but still satisfied with the finished product; a great portrait. I bought Mindy a Bacardi and coke and hung out a little more, receiving compliment after compliment on the tattoo; Mindy as well…

The 2011 Tattoo Fest was a blast. I got a great portrait, saw some killer tattoos, beautiful tattooed women, had a good time with Mindy and Jessica, drank rum and met some cool people. Me and Jessica came up with some great pictures too. I would have liked to look around the convention a little more and take a few more pictures, but after the long tattoo time and contest, the show was pretty much over. I hung outside drinking beer for a while, reflecting on the day’s events, and then made the short drive home-definitely a long day.

A big thanks goes to Miss Mindy of Studio XIII for spending so much time to create such a great tattoo for me. If you’re in the Cocoa Beach area and are looking for a good tattooist, she is the one.

As in love and life…With Happiness…Comes Pain...

 

Here are some random pictures of the event from myself and Jessica. The images are pretty nice, but I didn’t get to talk to all that are in them…Still, nice work. 2012 here we come.

Beautiful women and Sailor Jerry Rum...Mans Ruin...

1603 Tattoo was in full force...

This is Midwest Rick from St. Louis...this tattoo placed in the color competition...I have no website for him but I'm sure he can be found at TRX Tattoos and Piercing. He seemed pretty cool.

Pain...

The crew from KAOZ Tattoo was pretty cool to talk to, look for them on Facebook.

Nice...

Freakin' loved this tattoo...

1603 Tattoo from Ybor was very involved in the event...

Robbie Ripoll of Ink Doktors...

Tattoo Of The Day Judging...

Make your own caption...

I sat next to Hurts So Good Tattoo all day...Stacie pictured here got to listen me cry in pain all day...they were really cool.