Ltdtattooing

Over this last weekend I hit kinda a big milestone. Sunday was 20 years tattooing for me. When I think back to who I was when I started tattooing it truly feels like it was multiple lifetimes ago. Tattooing has given me a life I could never imagine as a wide eyed kid completely entranced by the site of pictures placed permanently on skin. My apprenticeship pulled me out of the gutter, and the magic of this weird family we have quite literally kept me from going back. This thing so many of us share has taken me around the world all in the name of art and at multiple times throughout my career I have struggled with feeling worthy of any of it. I was blessed early on and throughout my ride of being put in situations and environments filled with people who took me under their wing and gave freely with their knowledge to a wide eyed kid filled with p**s and vinegar who tried his best to always be teachable, though not always successfully but truth is inside I was always terrified that any minute those around me would see me as a fraud and this thing I loved would be ripped away from me. It took a long time for me to settle into the fact that I deserved to be here and even longer to transfer from being the one always thinking they need to soak up the knowledge to allowing myself to be the one to give it to the next generation coming up behind me. So many people have helped me along the way those that are still alive will know who they are. But none of who I am as a Tattooer or a man would have at all been possible without all the amazing clients that have honored me with the privilege of adding to their collection no matter how big or small of art they wear on their skin permanently they will always deserve the biggest thank you one I don’t think I could ever repay!

Nine years ago today I woke up in the king county jail. Now this in and of itself was not necessarily anything new, but the level of desperation and brokenness that I felt was. I had racked up an extremely long list of felonies I I knew I had two choices either surrender or die. This year is really bitter, sweet as one of the people who was absolutely influential in me getting sober was my Nana, who passed away on Friday evening.  I tend to always be extremely hard on myself, and everything I do, but even I can look back at the last nine years and see how far I’ve come, and what I’ve accomplished, but I wouldn’t have been able to do any of it without the support of those around me. Keep those you love close and always make sure you tell them how much you love them because they are always going to be the ones that are there to pick up the pieces and to hold your hope for you when you’re not strong enough.

Quick sketch for the other side of this zippo project. I’m doing 2 matching zippos that I’m going to engrave for a couple guys as a thank you for all the help they’ve given me with the branding direction for my jewelry company. If you don’t know their LA based brand you definitely need to check them out and are two of the hardest working dudes I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.