Thomas Pendelton

Archive for July, 2009

I feel like I went to sleep and the tattoo industry completely changed overnight. There is artists out there now that are doing things that have re-ignited my love for tattooing. Cecil Porter is one of these artists. I was lucky enough to get an appointment at Under the Gun Tattoo with Cecil Porter this week and watch him tattoo. He is the kind of artist that is so confident in his abilities that he had no problem sharing his technics and his tattoo knowledge with me. Cecil has respect for the industry and more importantly respect for the collector. So often tattooers are such cocky fucking ego maniacs that they shit all over the people that keep the industry growing. “You fuck heads no who you are, anytime you want to step up mother fucker, anytime….” Anyway, I too have respect for the industry and for the man who got me into it. This tattoo is a tribute to Rick Walters the man who taught me how to tattoo. I rode to work every morning with this guy drank coffee and smoked because he did. We got of work went to the Blue Cafe and we fought together, we shot pool, we smoked cigars, road Harley’s and we built old cars.
But most of all he put his life long reputation on me and called me his tattoo apprentice. Cecil Porter is a color realism tattooist. He to has a respect for the tradition of tattooing and was equally excited to do this piece.
This was an 8 hour tattoo session mostly because we bullshitted so much while tattooing. We finished and headed to Mark Mahoney’s shamrock social club where Rick was doing his Monday night guest spot. Cecil and I both were so proud to show Rick this amazing tattoo and we got lucky enough to show him in front of Mark and Baba. Thank you Cecil I look forward to working with you in the future my friend… You can get a hold of Cecil at www.cecilportertattoos.com Drop him a line and say hello…