A year of tattoo conventions...

When Jason first started working in Portsmouth NH we traveled a good amount to various tattoo conventions, both to work at and just to attend and have a good time. Along the way we made some great friends and made many great memories. When he bought the shop he slowed down the convention circuit, mostly choosing to stick close to home. When his mom became sick, conventions and traveling for anything tattoo related stopped completely.

Fast forward to last summer. With money he inherited from his mom's estate, he built the shop of his dreams...our second location, Congress St. Tattoo. Over the past few years, he's hired a great group of tattoo artists who we consider our family. We had the beautiful new second shop, an amazing crew of artists that made sure our shops ran smooth but one thing was missing...it was time to start attending tattoo conventions again. Jason missed meeting new people and being surrounded by the art he loves so much.

Last August he was asked to attend the Hollywood tattoo convention and after much prodding we convinced him to go. He had a great time and got to hang out with friends he rarely gets to see. Move on to October, Scott Bramble invites him to work at the tattoo convention in Philly being held on the USS Olympia.

Here's a picture of Scott working on the boat...

This June he was lucky enough to once again share a convention booth Scott Bramble. Scott invited him to work at the Toronto Tattoo Convention with him. It was our first time out of the country for work or play. We absolutely fell in love with Canada and can't wait to go back. It was a busy convention filled to the brim with the nicest people you'll meet.

Scott and Jason working side by side at the Toronto convention:

The one convention we always try to do is the Live Free or Die tattoo convention that takes place each July in downtown Manchester NH. It is a fun and busy show and we always enjoy working at it. This year Tony, Jason, and Beth all worked at the show with our nephew Spencer as our floor person. It was Tony's first time working a tattoo convention (long overdue!) and Beth's first time attending a convention with us since she joined the Hobo's family. The five of us had a great time and there is only one picture I can think to post that will show just how happy we were...I'll let Tony show you:

Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words!

Jason and I have two more conventions coming up this year. Labor day weekend we will be heading down to Boston for the Boston Tattoo Convention. It's been a few years since Jason has worked at this show so we are looking forward to it. Joining Jason at this 4 day show will be Tony on Friday and Saturday and Beth on Sunday and Monday. Tony and Jason will both have prints available for sale and all three are hoping to have new paintings for sale as well.

The following week Jason and I will be exploring a bit more of Canada as we head up to Montreal for the Montreal tattoo convention. We are completely thrilled that Jason was able to get a half-booth at this convention as it's someplace we've wanted to visit and it's another road trip! Who doesn't love a good road trip.

~Kim~

Hobo's Tattoo/Congress St. Tattoo will be at the NH Live Free or Die Tattoo Convention...

On July 23-25 Jason, Tony, Beth, and Bill will be working the Live Free or Die Tattoo Convention at the Radisson Hotel on Elm Street in downtown Manchester NH. If you get a chance you should take a day (or three!) and stop by and check out this show. Spider Bite Tattoo does a great job running this convention and it's definitely worth a look-see.

Jason will be working all three days, Beth will be there on Friday (and maybe Saturday too), Tony will be working the show on Saturday and Sunday, and Bill may stop by and work on Sunday. All are available for walk-ins or appointments on their scheduled days, give us a call at either shop if you'd like to set up an appointment.

Jason has some new items for sale. He has a new print for sale, limited run of 25 and all signed and numbered. He will have them available at the show both framed and unframed. He also has about 10 to 15 paintings that will be for sale at the show. We will have T-shirts for sale as well.

The show hours are Friday from 5pm to 12am, Saturday from 10am to 12am, and Sunday from 10am to 6pm. Tickets are available at the door. We hope to see everyone there...!

Traditional Tattoo Sleeve...

For the past few months Jason has been working on a traditional sleeve. The sleeve in question only had one small tattoo at the wrist so he has an almost blank canvas to work with. After watching him complete another piece of the sleeve last night I felt compelled to write about it. I think this sleeve is amazing and encompasses the exact type of work Jason loves to do the most and I know he hopes to do more like this in the future.

It all started with a couple of penguins on the upper inner arm. I've never seen such cute penguin feet in my life.



















Then it moved on to a couple of mice...equally as adorable and very personal to the owner of the tattoo.


















The next tattoo was in the ditch of the arm. Jason didn't go easy, he put a full color traditional tattoo there and it came out beautiful.


















Along comes a pink panther on the forearm...absolutely traditional with a pink twist.


















The next tattoo was on the upper back of the arm. It came about on a whim when the owner of the tattoo's other half was half way down the east coast also getting a similar tattoo. Sometimes tattoos just need to be spontaneous and fun!


















One last big spot was left to fill on the upper arm. A scorpion is what Jason's client wanted and he drew one up that fit the space perfectly...


















Last but not least and certainly not the end of the sleeve is yesterday's tattoo. One last big piece was needed on the forearm, his client wanted a snake but nothing too fancy. He adapted one from a Dan Higg's flash sheet and added flowers that are also in other parts of the sleeve.


















There is still more to go on the sleeve...an elbow tattoo, a small piece on the wrist and maybe a few more flowers and filler. I'll post a completed picture when the sleeve is done but like I mentioned in the beginning, I was compelled to write after watching Jason tattoo this last tattoo yesterday. I'm not being biased but very honest when I say that if you are in to traditional tattoos I don't feel your collection of tattoos is complete until you've gotten a Jason Scott tattoo.

Hellos and Goodbyes...

So here it is finally, a blog for both of our locations penned by yours truly; wife of owner, coffee fetcher, sometimes bookkeeper, website maker, photo uploader, all around shop bitch...Kim. You never know what I'll be posting...pictures, stories from the day, shop news, important dates, convention schedules; this is basically a blog of all the antics from the artists at our shops.

I wanted to start off our blog by handing out some hellos and goodbyes. 2010 began with us saying goodbye to one of our long time artists and good friends Al Benedetti who moved on to work in greener pastures in California. We know he is loving life out there and although we miss him we are happy for him and hope he comes back for a visit soon! Since he left the shop, it left us needing to say hello to a new artist. Hello Beth Potter we are happy to have you with us! More on Beth to follow in a later blog (or blogs!).

This month marks the 28th anniversary of our first shop, Hobo's Tattoo. We celebrated by planning a shop field trip to say hello and get tattooed by our friends at Smith St. Tattoo in Brooklyn, NY. It was a long day but a wonderful time and a great way to wind down before the summer season starts. Our 2nd shop, Congress St. Tattoo, will be marking its one year anniversary on August 15th of this year. Help us celebrate by joining us on Friday the 13th for a $31 tattoo followed by an after-party at a soon to be revealed location.

Goodbye for now but I'll be back soon with a new blog...