It’s Monday. That wasn’t the best weekend. The weather sucked and my girlfriend was in a crapload of pain throughout the entire weekend. It wasn’t her knee that was giving her problems, instead she’s aggravated a nerve in her hip that she had problems with in the past. She was miserable, which made me miserable. And, have I mentioned that she doesn’t handle pain very well. I’ll just leave it at that.

Surprisingly, the race in Talladega was tame until the last lap when the typical mayhem broke loose. It was looking like Michael McDowell had it in the bag until his efforts to block advancing competitors spawned a huge wreck, allowing Tyler Reddick to slip through with the win. Next week it’s Dover, Delaware.

Okay, I don’t have much confidence in this week being much of an improvement, but what choice do we have, eh?

-keep

It’s Friday! Well, my girlfriend’s recovery from knee surgery continues. She still relies on the walker to get around, but is now able to put more of her weight on the new knee. She gets physical therapy three times a week and she’s able to do stairs now. Slow and steady progress is the plan.

I don’t really have any plans for the weekend. Although, I know where I’ll be on Sunday afternoon because Nascar is at my favorite track this weekend—the largest track on the schedule—Talladega, baby! Start those engines!

Okay, it’s Friday so the babes & jokes are doubled today. I also have a new amateur photo to share with all of you. So enjoy and I’ll be back next week!

-keep

Hi Keep! I just submitted a photo for potential amateur. I’ve submitted and you’ve posted before from a different email. Keep the good life going!! -Anonymous

It’s Thursday. It’s called “Ark of the Apocalypse” and was created by tattoo artist Jason Stieva. Using old cases and clock mechanisms, he created this hauntingly beautiful ghostly pirate ship sculpture over the course of 15 months. Coming in at 8 feet high, 7.5 feet long, and about 2.5 feet wide, he says it was the most daunting project he had ever worked on—or ever will.

Check out the image gallery and story below.

-keep

Artist Spends 15 Months Constructing Ghostly Pirate Ship With Ordinary Found Materials

Tattooist Jason Stieva has been creating assemblage art for almost 20 years, extending his creativity beyond the flesh and into three-dimensional space. For the past nine years, he’s been working on his Gothic Times series, which began when he acquired a portion of an old clockmakers estate. Mixing cases and mechanisms with other found materials, his sculptures are wildly surreal and filled with detail.

For Leviathan – Ark of the Apocalypse, Stieva spent about 15 months creating the ghostly pirate ship filled with savage characters. As the owner of his own tattoo studio, Sinful Inflictions, his artistic work is done in his spare time. “Sculpting is a lot different than tattooing which I can do anytime,” he tells My Modern Met. “With sculptures, I have to be in the mood to work on them and not be forced with deadlines.”

The inspiration for the piece began when Stieva spied a scale model of a tallship mounted to the ceiling of a store he often visited. After admiring it for some time, he began work creating an ark that would carry all sorts of mutated animals and creatures. The final product measures 8 feet high, 7.5 feet long, and about 2.5 feet wide.

“Overall it was the most daunting project I’ve ever worked on and will probably ever create,” he shares. “There is a lot of extremely tedious detail from front to back, top to bottom. Just severing the army heads alone and sanding the back of each to be certain they would sit flush once applied with tweezers took weeks. Sourcing all the characters took quite a while. Redesigning, taking apart, rebuilding, and making the ark structurally sound long before any sculpting began took quite a while.”

Now, the ship sits in the home of one of Stieva’s clients, an avid collector who had the artist tattoo a ship on his chest. And Stieva continues to build—scouring garage sales, flea markets, auctions, and thrift shops for more materials to bring his fantastical sculptures to life.