UnkeyMonkey -the art, music, and thoughts of Michael DeMatty

One thing Paul remembers fondly of growing up in the mid west was the vivid pink dogwood trees each spring. Someone told me the blooms are actually bracts, which is why they only have four petals.

I finally completed the dogwood flowers and touched up, (re-colored,) all of the psychedelic stuff and the matrioshka doll. I actually had done all but the flowers over a month ago, but so much of it had faded. The flowers and the re-coloring took 10 hours over 3 days.

Lesson learned: Never use the corner of a mag grouping to fill in solid color.

As i was watching the video for Lady GaGa’s “Bad Romance,” i realized that i had seen it before somewhere. It didn’t take me long to figure it out. It is the video for Madonna’s “Express Yourself,” almost scene for scene! I looked on the internet to see if anyone else had noticed this, or if Lady Gaga had spoken about it, but they had not. Someone did mention that their was one similarity, (the cat crawl,) but Lady Gaga herself has not mentioned any connection. She says that the video is inspired by everything EXCEPT Madonna. You be the judge. Below is a side by side comparison of 21 scenes from Madonna’s video, (which was based on a classic film,) to Lady Gaga’s.

Sitting in a weird tub.

The creepy cat.

The guy with the remote.

The crotch grab.

The sexy back silhouette dance.

The liquid pouring down the face.

The cat crawl.

Looking up at the camera close-up.

The gathering of the bad men.

The cold, hard beds with water element.

The black outfit leg spread.

The graceful gown walk with matching background pattern. (Window and ceiling.)

The green-gold dress.

The side lay with arm outstretched.

The broadcast.

The guy with facial hardware.

The dark, hard, wet setting with bright lights.

The arm curl pose.

The ghostly white figures in posed dance.

The weird hand thing with fingers curled into a ring.

The white bed at the very end, (where she beds the facial hardware guy.)

There are other similarities besides these as well, such as the troupe of dancers, and the element of shining light. Now, the only thing i see wrong with this is that no one has admitted to it yet. Another publicity stunt? Obviously.

Dear friends,

One of my bands, Happily Ever After, have released our 3 song ep entitled Deep Inside, including the songs “Frustrated,” “The Kill,” and “But Tonight” on iTunes, Amazon.com, and Emusic.com that you can purchase now for less than $3. You should get it and give it a listen and let me know what you think. I would be very grateful.

X

Michael

When Paul was in high school he spent 3 months in Pushkino, Russia, (studying microbiology of all things!),  and brought back an impressive collection of some really beautiful Russian folk art, including a set of the most beautiful matryoshka dolls i have ever seen.

They sit proudly on our mantle, and have given Mike Donahue’s youngest son hours of fun. Whenever they come over, the first thing he does is pull down the dolls and take them to the couch so he can open each one and put them back together again.

When it came time to decide what the next element in Paul’s sleeve would be, he thought about his fondest memories and remembered Russia. Then he thought about the dolls and how they represent a complex nature, not only because each doll contains another doll, but also because each one is a beautiful floral artwork within a simple depiction of a person. It may be that it represents his complexities, as well as his awareness of the complexity of others. We are not what we may appear to be.

I ordered special ink for this tattoo because he wanted the colors to be as bright as possible. I found a set of 3 fluorescent colors that happened to be the colors in the doll, (a pink, an orange, and a red.) However, when i started to apply the red, i quickly realized that it just did not want to stick in the skin. The pink was even worse. Plus, i couldn’t see the pink for the redness of the skin beneath. Since this is only my second color tattoo, it’s possible i just don’t know how to work with such an ink.

I quickly made the decision to lightly color the whole tattoo rather than make more of a bloody mess trying to get these stubborn colors in. In 2 weeks, after it fully heals, i will re-color the whole tattoo again to evenly deepen all the tones and bring out the super bright colors. And then, if necessary, i’ll do it again 2 weeks later. (Which will be so much fun for Paul, since the red part close to his elbow was almost unbearably painful!) =( Sorry babe!

Om, Aum, the sound that holds the universe together, representing all things and people, past, present, and future. Found in both Buddhism and Hinduism and reminding us that we are all one and connected, it is a spiritual tattoo.

I was nervous to do this because i have never done a color tattoo on a person before, but i found that it is actually easier in some ways than the black and gray work i did on myself and Ruben, because it’s just a matter of working the color in until it is intense enough without tearing up the skin too much, and using the feathering and hatching techniques i learned from my good friend Mike Donahue to blend the colors. There are 10 colors in this tattoo, and took about 5 hours, including time it took to mix some of the colors. It looks like it may need a bit of touching up after it heals.

Paul chose the colors himself. The color choice represents not only his favorite color, orange, but also the warm colors he looks best in. After this heals, I’ll go back in and touch up the outline so it will look really clean and crisp. I started by trying out an 8 round shader, but then switched to a 7 mag and was much happier with the color application. The inks are Intenze, Skin Candy, and Kuro Sumi, ordered from Element tattoo supply and Joker tattoo supply.

It started with 2 shows in one day with Total Eclipse. The first was a community barbeque fundraiser in Lafayette, immediately followed by rushing to San Francisco to make our show at Maggy McGary’s at Grant and Green.

The next day was a wedding gig in Livermore. Drank a bunch of wine, danced and sang, and had a blast.

We started outside in the olive orchard, and then moved inside where there was more light.

Finally, I started Paul’s tattoo that he has been begging me for, (since way before he even decided what he wanted!) So far I have only done the black, but after it heals I’m going to make it very colorful.

Then, I used the lotus design I made for Paul to make a design for my wrist. I like how it continues the water theme of my forearm.

I hate my job.

I actually couldn’t love it more. Do what you love. If you’re not doing it yet, at least make sure you’re working toward that ultimate goal, whatever your job is now. Yes, money can bring a great deal of happiness, but always remember that happiness is more important than money. Am I wrong?

On my leg, I added a lot of darker shading to add more contrast to the design. On Ruben’s Calendario Azteca back piece, we added another ring of the design as well as 4 more points. For now, we left the outer boxes empty in case he decides to put in words, such as “Oaxaca” or “VW” or “4:20″ maybe.

Finally, after a lot of hard work and amidst busy schedules, and complicated by my last minute re-write of “Frustrated,” (which became a fitting title,) we finally finished our 3 song demo.

Check out Happily Ever After’s demo here on imeem.

Find:

How many photos of Paul/Me singing for a crowd?

2 women related to me?

A woman and man related to Paul?

Ruben making a chicken burrito?

How many photos of drunkenness? (Trick question.)

This was our whirlwind Holidays. Leaving straight from Paul’s show with his other band to drive straight through to Texas to visit my family, then to Missouri to visit Paul’s family, then back to California JUST in time to play a New Year’s Eve show at Maggy McGary’s in San Francisco. And now it’s 3pm, and Paul’s still sleeping. =)

Paul and I with our dogs Gracie and Hudson and one of our cats, Zipper. Our other cat, Prince, was tired and could not perform. Happy holidays everybody!