The beginning
of my arduous journey into the world of tattoo began at the age
of 12. My uncle had just moved to town, and before opening his
own shop, tattooed people out of my mom's kitchen. Shortly there
after he opened Lynnwood Tattoo, where I would begin work at 14.
I cut the grass, and cleaned the shop at nights. At 16 I started
working the counter, answering phones, dealing with clientele,
and to my dismay, still cleaning the shop. The whole while, I
was finishing school, and constantly working on art, trying to
ready myself for the coming years.
Finally
at 17 I was offered my future, an apprenticeship. After a 2 year
general apprenticeship under Richard Otten, and the rest of the
artists I grew up around, constantly having to figure out how
not to screw it up, or get fired, I began tattooing at the ripe
old age of 19 in 2001. I stayed in Seattle for the next 4 years.
Learning from, and probably bothering guest artists, and other
artists in town, trying to improve. I found my niche in traditional
Japanese, and Americana. I love working in those particular styles,
something about them just clicks with me. They also are really
conducive with my other outlets of art. Those
being watercolor, acrylic, and occasionally pen and ink.
Then in
the beginning of 2005, I made the move to Albuquerque. I worked
for a shop in town for the first 2 years I was here. I learned
a lot. But as it happened, we had to part ways.
January
2007, the guys at Custom Tattoo Co. opened their doors to me.
It's been so nice to be at a full custom shop. I never have to
do the same thing twice, which as you can imagine gets to be monotonous.
So here I am now, come by and check it out, but be sure to make
an appointment.