What do you get when you mix a tattoo artist with European art from the 16th through 20th centuries?

Ray Bartley’s art show at Coco’s Cafe.

A local tattoo artist by day, Bartley has his easel set up waiting for those all important down times, when he brings out the oil paints and dedicates his time to painting.

“My main inspiration would be from the old European artists – from the Baroque era and Neo-Classical artists... I love Japanese tattoos, so that comes in there to sometimes,” he explained.

For now, this Jasperite will be showing off a variety of “tattoo imagery” in oil paintings at Coco’s for all to enjoy.

“Dragons and koi fish and skulls, and roses, and severed heads – that fun stuff,” he said adding that it was pretty hard to define what’s classed as tattoo imagery because there’s such a variety.

The last show he did was slightly different; an airbrush show in Edmonton with some other tattoo artists. According to Bartley though, he’s come a long way since then.

“Just the technical ability of making things look more realistic,” he said.

Before opening shop in Jasper last July, Bartley was working as a tattoo artist just outside of Edmonton for several years.

Enjoying the freedom and space of having his own store, Bartley said he’s had more time to paint and draw since moving to town.

“I think it’s boosted it having my own shop, and it’s more relaxed here. I was at a big crazy shop for the time that I was tattooing there. So now, in my downtime I have my easel set up in the back so I can actually paint here instead of just at home. So I think it’s definitely helped out.”

With a love for drawing since he was a boy, Bartley said his travels through Europe – prior to becoming a tattoo artist four years ago – always included a sketchbook.

“I wasn’t as much as now, but I always had a sketchbook and a set of watercolours so that whenever inspiration struck, I could do it.”

Though he moved back out to the mountains to enjoy the natural beauty of Jasper, where he was also schooled from Grade 3 to 7, Bartley has yet to make the move into landscape painting.

“I’ve done one scenery thing, that’s stuck in the corner here. I’m trying to do a little bit more landscape, but come spring when it’s warmer out I’d like to get out there and do more of that kind of thing.”

Instead it’s the old European artists, and the Japanese tattoos that keep Bartley interested for now with his evenings spent perusing his library of art books.

“I have a decent size library at home... so that’s what I do, chill out and look at my art books,” he said adding that the 17th Century Spanish artist Diego Velazquez and Rembrandt are two of his current favourites.