Tattooing is my best friend.

This has circulated my mind from time to time and I feel compelled to write about it. I do have Jessie in mind because she is new to tattooing and is the stead fast apprentice~ I feel I should dedicate this blog to her. So, here it is, dedicated to my turkey girl Jess~ now you can just read this and be spared one of my lectures.

              When I first started tattooing it was like a harsh mistress to me that slapped me in the face over and over. Yes, I can remember that far ago-sorta- and basically it sucked. I wanted to quit tattooing for about the first three years because it was so hard and I sucked at it and everyone else that tattooed around me at that time was pulling it off.
               I knew though that I couldn't quit and at around year 3-4, I started to really focus on it. And paint as well. I painted on every day off I had from tattooing and I threw myself into it.
Around years 4-6 things in my personal life got really rocky. My relationship was failing and I focused harder on tattoos more than ever. I think in year 6 I moved to San Francisco and that is when my personal life (my ex relationship) got really really bad. My new shop job in the city became a nurturing mother that hugged me close. This is the shop that I think, is where I really learned how to tattoo. So this became the starting point of realizing how dear tattooing was to my heart and I despite what was going on in my personal life I must fight harder and delve into tattooing~ it was like taking a plunge into the wild ocean. And yet there was some calm serenity to it and as hard as tattooing was, it was once again a comfort and something that made going forward  in my life worth doing.
                 Years 7 and 8 were even harder in my personal life and I loved those moments of clarity I received when I was doing a tattoo. This is when I realized that doing tattoos became like a vacation from my life and I was able to be in a altered state. What a great comfort and a nice time out from all the stupidity and drama in my life outside the shop. Doing tattoos was and is my constant and I held onto like an anchor rooted deep into the earth.
              As I started growing older with tattooing at my side~ reaching a decade of tattooing it has become obvious to me by now, that my commitment to tattooing would always be there/here and I could never let it go. It would be a thing I could not bare to be without. As the years roll by and tattooing for more years continue I am in complete gratitude for the world of tattooing and the fortune it has brought me. From all the trials and tribulation I think I would be nothing without my best friend; tattooing. How lost and lonely I would be with out it.
             Now I have made the 15 year mark of tattooing, I know I am a lifer (knew that long ago) but I know I will have tattooing by my side forever.

Having an art show soon. Here is one of the 16 new pieces I have painted in the past 2 or 3 months...