SEPTEMBER + OCTOBER BOOKING

It’s been two months!! I’ve been having some major art highs and lows, and some realizations caused by trying oil paint for the first time. I’m currently fixated on the concept of adding backgrounds to my art. It’s not something tattoo designs naturally force me to do and it seems necessary to tell more of a story.

I’m also trying to swap back and forth between using my eye to draw from life, and using my imagination to draw from a brain visualization(?). Both of these feel endlessly frustrating, like flexing two baby muscles I have little control over.

I want to draw the things that inspire me in daily life, and I would say the number one thing inspiring me in this summer has been…NYC :-p!!!!! Being in a place where every corner is so touched by human hands feels exciting every day, and seeing how quickly the streets change over the summer is pretty cool. I love living in a city and want to draw more city scenes.

I’ve also been getting deeply humbled by attempting plein air oil painting. Turns out it’s absolutely nothing like gouache, and requires a looseness that I can only hope to discover one day. I'm still very new to oil paint. It’s so hard!!!!

Tattooing pushes my art towards control and perfectionism, and I hope that practicing oil painting will help me embrace the spontaneity and “mistakes” in art.

Anyways, finishing it off back in the sweet sweet comfort of the sketchbook page. Here are some “character studies,” some of which could be cool tattoos.

And just a quick tattoo highlight as well. Huge thanks to Justin for getting these both in one long session this past week, so exciting to do color flash from my most recent sheets!!!!!

inspiration corner

This last month I haven’t done much research, so for inspiration corner I have this instead:

And city bird sightings <3

Enjoy the last months of summer and see you next month (or two?). Look forward to new merch and a jewelry collab come Fall ;-)

byeeeeeee

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After a month without a newsletter I am finally back with a newsletter containing new images and thoughts AND a tattoo booking form:

JULY+AUGUST BOOKING FORM

I had to put myself in art timeout (coffee shop) yesterday to finish these flash pages. They had been sitting in multiple sketchbooks unfinished, and are finally ready. They can all be done in black and grey as well as the color I’ve mocked up here.

I wanted to do some body template mockups too but am simply too tired!!!!

JULY+AUGUST BOOKING FORM

For the last month I was lucky enough to get a job for Hinge illustrating for an upcoming campaign, hence the lack of last month’s newsletter! I had never done an illustration job like this and learned a lot…..many new emotions were experienced… Shoutout to my boyfriend for helping me emotionally and technologically, and also apologies to my boyfriend for having to see me in such an obsessive and frantic state every day for a month. <333 I’ll be taking him out to dinner once the check hits…

Here’s some sketchbook

inspiration corner

I keep coming back to human made decorative items, whether mass produced pilgrim badges from 1300, or the slew of midcentury American kitsch produced from the post wwII economic boom. I think the current bizarre overload of items, information and slop that exemplifies late stage capitalism has me looking back to the “golden days” of capitalism. I wouldn’t quite call it nostalgia for a time I was never alive, because I feel no sense of yearning. The current economic state of walls of funko pops and heaps of labubus was always imminent. In 2024, adults bought more toys for themselves than preschoolers for the first time ever. So I guess it’s more of an investigation on the origins? Still thinking about my reasoning…

Continuing from last newsletter on my fixation on early plastics, I wanted to highlight Nosco Plastic’s line designed by Don Manning.

Nosco Plastics was created in 1936 by the National Organ Supply Company to diversify their business, since the demand for replacement pipe organs was declining. Plastic injection molding was a new and burgeoning industry in the 40’s, and Nosco Plastics specialized in “slum”— small plastic toys that could be mass produced cheaply, to be used for carnival prizes, charms, cake decorators, etc. Most famously, Nosco Plastics created crackerjack toys.

Don Manning and his brother William were engineers and designers from a young age, establishing Don Manning and Company, a tool and die shop, in 1936. They specialized in curious like toys, figurines, or wacky fishbowls.

In 1946, Nosco acquired the copyright to produce the toys designed by Don Manning.

I love the exaggerated proportions and dramatic lines of these figurines.

The Index of American Design by Erwin O. Christensen

Chapter 14: “Playthings”

Moving back 100 years prior plastic injection molding, I took some scans from a chapter on toys made in the US from the mid 1700s-1800s.

I removed some of the text here because this book was published in 1950 and I don’t like the author’s editorializing. The book intends to index folk art from the 17-1800’s, so it is recording art made at the very start of the United States. The descriptions of Native American and Mexican art have a much different tone than the Dutch, German, and Quaker art that is lauded by the author. It is very apparent that you’re reading something intended to reinforce American nationalism and create American history, with all the racism and omission of fact that entails.

Horseshoe crabs

Hard pivoting to my last part of inspiration corner, something CURRENT! (but also, horseshoe crabs are technically living fossils and have not evolved for 450 million years so in a way it’s not current at all)

I had the most magical night witnessing the horseshoe crabs mating on the full moon. We watched the moon rise over the water, and as it got later the water got warmer and the air started smelling incredible, like some sort of floral incense. We found the source of the smell, this huge oleander bush in full bloom.

I am still so overcome by meeting these creatures for the first time ever.

If you made it to the end congratttsssssss!!!! Thanks for reading. Until next time ;)

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MAY + JUNE BOOKING FORM

Lately I’ve been enjoying drawing in my small sketchbook. Because it is so small, I MUST flip through pages faster. Consequently my brain feels less pressure and less intimidated by a blank page, as I am now more used to flipping through faster. This is a great feeling that reminds me that drawing is FUN.

The drawings in the photos above are referenced from a variety of things:

• jury duty

• the most fucked up possible items from ebay

• medieval pilgrim badges

• sandcastles

• regular castles

• made up castle

• a couple celluloid plastic crackerjack toys

With the weather getting slightly warmer, I have been drawing from life more :3

This has been so fun and so rewarding and I want to make it a weekly routine…

here are two studies (?) of two different types of art. Left is from a medieval manuscript illustration, and right is from the beautiful folk art paintings from El Salvador I was browsing through on Ebay.

I read a great substack article about the man who invented this now national art form, Fernando Llort (1949-2018). Llort was born in San Salvador, and continuously made art and music throughout his life. After getting a Bachelors of Philosophy in France, then a degree in Theology in Belgium, Llort took at and architecture classes at Louisiana State in the United States before finally Returning to El Salvador:

“Shortly after returning to his country in 1971, Llort moved to the small agricultural village of La Palma in the northern mountains of El Salvador where he started a workshop which he titled “La Semilla de Dios” (The Seed of God). There he started training local villagers to draw and paint; shortly after that, La Palma started becoming known for the creations that emerged from their workshop. Shortly after the beginning of the Civil War in El Salvador, Llort moved to the capital where he opened a gallery that he named “El Arbol de Dios” (The Tree of God) where he continued exhibiting and selling his work. Over the years, the particular style of compositions that Llort and his artisans in La Palma modeled were adopted by others, to the point that they became a national folk art form.”

I could not for the life of me find what book this manuscript came from. It looks like it is an elaborate initial at the beginning of a page in a book, maybe 12th-14th century. Let me know if anyone knows about this specific one!

inspiration highlight

The Art of Sandcastling by Ted Siebert, which I found at Big Reuse in Gowanus for five bucks.

early plastics: Lucite Plastic

I’ve always had an interest in early plastics, starting with one of the first plastics called Bakelite. I recently started investigating (Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) AKA Lucite Plastic, plexiglas, or just “acrylic”. This plastic was developed in 1928 and brought to the market by 1933. Similar to bakelite’s many uses in World War I , this form of acrylic plastic was used in World War II for submarine periscopes and aircraft windscreen, canopies, and gun turrets. In the 50’s and 60’s, it became a popular material for jewelry. Sculptors and glass artists began experimenting with acrylic, noting it’s cheap price, flexibility, and light weight. They added chemicals to alter the color and ability to refract light, which brings me to my specific fixation with a few examples, Lucite “moonglow” plastic. I became struck by these midcentury plastic pins and toys, all made with various types of lucite plastic. Please enjoy!!!

Anyways, if you made it this far and forgot this is my tattoo booking mailing list, here is my booking form link once again ;)

MAY + JUNE BOOKING FORM

I hope you enjoyed the new inspiration section of this mailing list! I’m feeling inspired to add a little something I’ve been thinking about to my monthly posts. I try to remind myself that scrolling through algorithms on Instagram, Pinterest, etc will not inspire me and will not even allow me to find something different than expected…

until next month!!!

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It is almoooosssst spring……. I am deeply yearning....

This month Nice Try got the opportunity to have a group show through Harsh Collective at Baci Gallery in Dumbo, called “Body of Work.” There is currently work on show by myself and my extremely talented colleagues Cierson Zambo, Aya Galgani, and Sara Sremac. Sydney would’ve had her paintings in the group show if she didn’t have her own group show going on, “Day for Night” at IRL gallery in Tribeca!!

I spent around 26 hours in the painting studio in one week just to finish a new piece for this show. It’s another 3D airbrush painting, a second iteration of “We’re Here for Your Enjoyment”. That piece was a torment of shattering plaster and restarting from scratch, so for this new piece I had to try something different. Instead of plaster, I used joint compound, which was significantly stronger and easier to work with. And for the details and highlights, I used oil paint instead of acrylic. I had much more control, and I enjoyed the thickness and opacity of the oil over the acrylic.

Both of these pieces are on show until March 15th, so check them out in person! The 3D element is so hard to capture in a photo. See if you can spot the differences in mediums irl ;-)

“Body of Work” is open from February 19th- March 15th.

“Day for Night” is open February 20th- March 14th.

TATTOO!!!!!

Here is the flash I’ve accumulated for this month. No big pieces this month because I got too busy :( Some of this is from the valentines flash day, like these crazy birds I drew while sooo sick with a cold. I would love to do these.

APRIL BOOKING FORM

As far as merch and my online store, I have one new clear sticker! I wasted my money on a print that came out way too dark.. always remember to check your proofs on multiple different screens :((( I also restocked my computer lab sticker packs, airbrush sticker packs, and Harmony and Ebay Mall Dream prints!

Gnome Bird Stack Sticker

That’s all for February recap~~~ Until next month!! xoxo

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The months keep going through increasingly tragic times in the US… I hope everyone is staying warm and staying grounded with friends and community.

I have some new flash referenced from ceramic ebay finds and some old trad flash.

Here are the compiled pages that will be in my flash book:

MARCH BOOKING FORM

I finished a plaster relief piece and am already working on another, experimenting with slightly different mediums this time. This piece uses plaster of paris and acrylic, and the next one will use joint compound instead of plaster, and acrylic and oil mixture.

Here’s an instagram reel I made that shows a bit of the process in making it!

I’ve started drawing in three different sketchbooks at the same time in an attempt to split my work brain from non work art brain. Here’s a painting I’m started with one of my new sketchbooks, the designated painting sketchbook :D

That’s all for now… see u next month~~

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FEBRUARY BOOKING FORM

Happy holiday season!!!

2026 is around the corner and it has inspired me to start switching things up. After putting significant time and effort into running my online shop this past year, I found I was spreading myself thin between tattooing, making merch, making art that can be merch, making POSTS and CONTENT, and making personal art. It has left me feeling a bit lost in my artistic direction, and this year I’d like to buckle down and sort this out.

I’m going to delve back into tattooing by making a couple large scale tattoo designs every month. I’ll still have the online store but will take a slight step back, focusing on more personal work exploring different mediums like paint and sculpture. And I want to post less on instagram. These are my three goals for the new year!!! Wish me luck :D

Here are the large scale designs I just finished:

The bird mage design is from a risograph poster I made for a Secret Riso workshop this month, printed with red and bright olive. I also got some new stickers printed including a very cute and exciting sticker sheet!!!!

Check out all the new merch on my store :p

Thanks for looking and reading, excited to share new art in the new year.

xoxoxoxo

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winter booking form!

First announcement that I am most excited about is a long sleeve shirt I designed. I designed this shirt for my talented friends Devon and Mikey who are opening a brand new screen printing press in Bushwick called Underwater Press.

I’ve never made a shirt before, and it was so wonderful working with them for their first shirt launch. Those guys are seriously awesome… I can’t wait to see the artists they collaborate with in the future and what they make at Underwater!

You can preorder the shirts here!

(in these photos, Genevieve and I are both wearing size smalls. She is 5’6 and I am 5’2.)

Huge thank you to Genevieve my extremely multitalented friend and studiomate for modeling this shirt (she is a model, designer, painter, illustrator, and ceramicist and we did an art show together) <3333

Get urs now in time for the holiday season!

Back to tattoos!

October absolutely flew by… as I looked back through my sketchbook last night to start making this post, I realized I did not draw a single piece of flash aside from the Halloween flash sheet. But I needed to have something to show you to bulk up this substack, so I went back into my sketchbook and discovered some drawings that I forgot I ever drew— a new flash page was birthed out of thin air! I often forget to work smarter not harder…

Booking December and January together, submit a form here:

winter booking form!

And in some final news, I’ll be making new merch that will be for sale either at the beginning or right before December rolls around. Nothing too crazy since summer and fall have been a nonstop blur of fun and work, and daddy is tired... I plan on reprinting a small run of my sold out art books, making my 2025 sketchbook zine, and one large sticker sheets full of silly small stickers.

Excited about the seasons changing and looking forward to doing more tattoos and art in the coming months :3

xoxoxo

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Come get a spooky tattoo and say hi!!!

Flash day specifications:

• $100-150 each (depending on size+complexity)

• designs are repeatable

• each design is pre sized

• all color optional

• any placement other than neck and torso!

FLASH DAY SIGN UP

I only have 6 remaining spots available— the form will be open for only a short time, and I will follow up to 6 people with confirmations. Look out for an email from bookings@luwalstad.com!

My coworkers also have slots available!! Check out their amazing work:

Sydney @sydneyhuntertattoos:

Ella @sklaw_

Cierson @honeypokes

Aya @aya2heaven

See ya on Saturday!!!!

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NOVEMBER BOOKING FORM

I’m in a rush to get out this substack post because my mom is in town and I’m supposed to be hanging out with her right now!! So I’ll keep it short and sweet. Some announcements coming up:

• This Friday at 11am EST, I’ll be dropping a large amount of original drawings and paintings for purchase on my store. Set your alarms!! Here’s a sneak peek:

• Nice Try Tattoo will be having a halloween flash day Saturday, October 25th.

  (and we will be releasing a new t-shirt 😎) Each artist will be booking their slots individually, and I highly recommend checking out all of my talented coworkers’ work!!! Our shop instagram is here.

And… that’s it for announcements. On to some sketchbook pages that have stuff you might want as a tattoo…

That’s all!! Happy October, and looking forward to seeing some new and old faces in November for tattoos <3

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OCTOBER BOOKING FORM

I’ll be working on some new flash this month so be sure to keep an eye for my instagram posts!!!! Also, Nice Try will be hosting a flash day in October as well so keep an eye out for that- I’ll probably send out another mailing list about it too.

Thank you to those who came to the show opening, it was so much fun and such an amazing turnout full of extremely kind and wonderful people!!!!

CASTLE PRINTS

AIRBRUSH STICKERS

With tattoos I’ve been enjoying dabbling a bit more in color:

Finally with the show over I feel like I can dedicate some real time to drawing new tattoo designs— specifically for large scale pieces and pieces with some color!

Looking forward to working with everyone in the fall :3

Until next month xoxoxo

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SEPTEMBER TATTOO BOOKING FORM

My painting studiomate Genevieve and I are having a duo show at the end of the month! I’ll be showing some drawings and paintings from 2023-now, including some medieval style hellmouths and creatures, and my ceramic airbrush series. There will also be one sculpture of mine that has yet to be completed. Here are some sneak peeks:

come see the airbrush paintings irl please hehe

We will have merch tables at the show opening, with prints and stickers. Original drawings and paintings will also be for sale, in the show and extras for the merch table!

After opening night, I’ll be releasing prints of the big castle painting on my online store :3

Here’s a little sample of some of Genevieve’s incredible work that you will simply need to come see in person:

Genevieve’s website here to see more!!!

Incredibly excited to showcase work from the past couple years! Hope to see you there on opening night, but the show will also be open from august 28th-30th.

I’ll put the booking link for September tattoos here one more time in case you missed it at the beginning ;)

SEPTEMBER TATTOO BOOKING FORM

My booking forms for appointments in August are now open! Send in a submission here:

AUGUST JOTFORM

Unfortunately with summer activities, I do not have much new art from the last 30 days. I did do two plein air gouache paintings, the first one at the park and the other while camping in the catskills with my boyfriend.

Enjoying outdoors and summertime :) Camping for 5 days and we went on bug hunts every night with our headlamps. <3

I hope everyone is also enjoying their summers hanging out with people AND making art. I look forward to doing some fun tattoos in August! I’ll definitely have some new flash drawn soon :)

Until next time xoxoxo

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July books are now open 😎

And I drew new flash too

This next one wasn’t drawn to be flash necessarily. Just for fun drawn from instagram prompts.

I also finished two new downloadable flash sheets!!!!!! I now have three available in my store. It’s funny how it sucks when art gets copied or stolen, but when designed with the intention to be replicated, it’s exciting to see other artists tattooing my designs.

Check them out on my store:

Downloadable flash sheets

And last but not least, I finished my castle painting ;;;;

I only have a shitty late night iphone photo but am going to get it photographed on Monday at kick art studio near Bed-Stuy. I have a decent camera and lighting setup at the studio but I got some pieces photographed professionally around a year ago from them and the difference in quality really really shows. And I do not want to deal with lighting and editing this giant background gradient!

thinking of peeling off the tape motivates me to finish the painting…….

Thats all for now!!!!

xoxo

Lu

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The online shop is getting some sprucing for the summer. New mini prints and business card stickers for larger orders, and two new square stickers plus a sweet little sticker sheet perfect for using in a journal or sketchbook!!

And two bundles for a little deal ;-)

CHECK OUT THE STORE

Huge thank you to everyone I met in Chicago this month! It was my first time visiting and I had a blast, I’m sure to be back doing more tats soon. But I am so glad to be back to enjoy the NYC summer… and excited to tattoo you (in between your swimming and sunbathing and soaking sessions!!!!)

Summer tattoos are the best and worst— competing with the need to be in a body of water and therefore hard to heal, but also inevitable because we’re all seeing our bodies for the first time in months and, well, tattoos are sexy. Jump on it now before August rolls around and you’ll all be sweating off the second skin the minute you step out of the shop!

JUNE NYC BOOKING FORM

Although I love the spring flowers, this week I’ve decided I love leaves even more. Growing up in California with mild seasons and more evergreens than perennials, every year I am baffled by the way the leaves on the trees here in New York completely transform the blocks. I’m walking around feeling lost and confused because I don’t recognize my surroundings!!!

In between looking at leaves and trees, my artistic goals this summer are to draw some large scale flash pieces (back pieces?) and finish my paintings (i keep saying this) so that I can start some new paintings! I miss my hellmouths and want to bring back the hellmouth motif. I also need to release a couple more downloadable flash sheets/tattoo tickets as I am getting more and more requests to bring my flash to other artists… I would just like to be drawing constantly and generating new ideas that feel connected to the real world around me, and not just connected to work or tattoo or career (I downloaded an instagram blocker and it has been helping with this). The latter is the root of my terrifying neurotic art block spiral which I am always running away from ;-)

Thank you always and happy start to SUMMER!!!!!

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»BOOKING FORM«

I’ve assembled a FLASH REJECTS page of designs I’ve never done that I’ve been wanting to do:

Besides flash, I’ve been drawing in my sketchbook a little bit.. I’m also planning on releasing some digital downloads of my full unedited sketchbook on my store sometime soon.

And outside of the sketchbook I’m preparing a painting. Heres the ambiguous goopy mess and I’ll leave the rest to your imagination ;)

Until next month!!!!!

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APRIL NYC BOOKING FORM

I am traveling to Chicago at the end of April!!! It will be my first time visiting Chicago and I cant wait 🏃🏃🏃 If you want a tattoo, fill out my guest spot booking form:

CHICAGO GUEST SPOT BOOKING FORM

Now for something new on the store………

5 brand new computer wizard stickers for you available nowwwww

^the original sketchbook scan of the computer page.. mystery scribble computer vetoed. Enough painstaking pencil drawings of tiny keyboards for at least 8 months!

Thanks for looking, I wonder what will be in store for next month.

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Some delightful valentines flash waiting for you this Saturday! xoxoxo

>FLASH DAY BOOKING FORM<

Specs for flash day:

• $125-150 each (depending on size+complexity)

• designs are repeatable

• each design is pre sized

• can do red+black or just black

• placement is limited to arms and legs (just no torso/neck!)

~will be requiring a 20$ deposit!

Flash day is also an open studio, come check out artist merch <3 I spent many hours assembling a Nice Try flash zine, and if all goes according to plan they will be here in time to have their flash day debut. I can’t wait for you guys to see them!!

And for those wanting a regular tattoo appointment in March, I have just the thing for you:

>MARCH NYC BOOKING FORM<

I recently made a special downloadable flash page to be tattooed by other artists which is available on my store. It feels like sending kids off to college :’)

These last couple months have been extremely flash heavy. Next will hopefully be some more paintings and weird stuff.. and stickers :)

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Happy New Year! ~ At the end of 2024 I finished my first Real(not just airbrushed) acrylic painting. It is referenced from medieval pilgrim badges and I’ve already started planning to turn this into a series that tells more of a story..

I have some 11x14 very soft and nice glicee prints of this piece which you can purchase here. :)

While I was home in SF for the special occasion of getting my wisdom teeth removed (and Christmas) I made a new linocut printed on two types of paper:

A run of 11 of these prints are available on my store here!

I look forward to more art making in 2025.. something to hold on to and keep grounded through increasingly fraught times.

Thanks for looking <3333

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A new sketchbook zine, 32 pages A5 size made to look just like my real sketchbook. Selections from sketches and collages throughout 2024.

And glossy vinyl stickers of the airbrush paintings I made this year:

You could grab a book + sticker bundle to flip through both my art book and sketchbook and stick 7 different stickers on whatever your heart’s desire.

Or one of my digital prints of the aforementioned airbrush paintings.

I hope you enjoy these new items. I have many ideas for more exciting additions to the store (and one special one that is already made and will release soon). Think sticker sheets, higher quality glicee prints, and eventually clothing.

Thanks for looking and have a great winter!

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In June I finally made an online store and came out with my first 42 page digitally printed art book:

And once I get home from traveling I’m planning on adding some prints and stickers to the store! :D

Here’s a couple flash pages that I made recently, the second one I drew in Herbert von King park while browsing my catalog of medieval pilgrim badges. Great 6 hour park activity. Anyways my flash books are looking ripe and plentiful and full of designs, and I’m looking forward to being back in NYC and doing some tattoos!! xoxoxo