I have been wanting to do a price inspired by mandalas, Indian henna designs and some of the more current trends of stripling shading. Jennifer a repeat customer of mine brought in such a request. Today we did the first session on her arm. I am really looking forward to finishing it for her in a few weeks. :) pretty happy with my line work as well.

Catching up

Well so much for once a week. Haha we'll have to see if I can get better about it as the yet progresses. It is important to me to keep you guys up to date as much as possible. :)

A lot has happened this month already. I attended the 3rd annual tattoo convention in Washington D.C. with Ricky Cavaness, Cavan Infante, and Kris Roberts. Had a great time seeing old friends, making new ones, learning some new things and all in all realizing just how far I have not only come but how far I have to go.

Hit home running really. It's been a busy which is nice because I can try to implement all that I learns while its fresh. I'll share some of my favorites from the month so far.

Lots of changes at the shop as well. First art gallery showing of the year went well. They'll just get better and better from here on out. :)

Jay-Mean left us to work with one of his good friends who has just opened his own shop here in town.

I am moving into a new booth with our new artist Kim. Plus we have two new apprentices starting one for tattooing and one for piercing.

Goals for 2013

It's a new year and a great time to focus on what I want to get done or ahead on at work. 

I try to set goals for myself regularly, finding that it helps me kick my butt in gear. :) Lists drive me because I like crossing them off so I usually write them down and then loose them in the piles of papers and things life likes to accumulate. Which is also why I  like to write my goals down on some peice of nice stationary I was saving and then seal them in an envelope labeled Goals (the year) , do not open until next year. 

This is 2013's Goal List

*Get my own work Furniture. (Table, arm rest, standing light)

I have been borrowing or sharing these items from fellow shop mates and feel like it is time for me to become my own self sufficient artist. 

*Purchase new higher quality machines

In the beginning I bought or traded for the best machines that I could afford. This got me started and has been working out fine but I think its time to become a big kid artist and up my game. Newer higher quality machines are a step in that direction. 

*Finish getting my Personal Website up

Last year in March I bought a domain name and thought I'd gotten the ball rolling in regards to getting a site up. Unfortunately its 2 months shy of being a year since I started that project and two web designers later I have nothing but a picture up saying site in progress. Time to fix that. I probably need to update my work on the shops page as well so we'll add that on to this goal. 

*Post at least Weekly on this blog

This blog is a lot like the lists that I like to make. Its a personal motivator to not only help me get things done but to really evaluate what I am doing. I mean if I don't think anything is worth posting that is probably a sign that I need to work harder on my designs, techniques etc. Plus I like keeping you guys in the loop of what I am doing. ;)

*Quarterly Mail out to Friends, Family and Coworkers

I was already doing this in a kind of willie-nilly fashion as I thought of it or of people I wanted to keep get in touch with. However I noticed I could never seem to keep track of who I'd sent things to or what I had sent which lead to confusion on my end a few times. I don't want to mail the same card over and over again as I want to let people enjoy my progression as well a nice surprise. 

*Attend a convention as a Working Artist

I love going to conventions. Its a great place where people are everywhere, artists are put to the limits of their abilities, and art and ideas abound. In the past few years I have been to many conventions and always left exhausted but inspired and ready to attempt new things. I have yet to get to work at a convention as an artist though and this has made me very sad because I feel like its a wonderful proving ground. I can test myself to see how I hold up against the greats in the industry, to the stress of being under casual surveillance through every process of the tattoo, and having a very limited amount of time to finish a great amount of work. I think while I am still in the fledgling stages of my career that it is important to cultivate my skill in a public arena as well as a private one. 

*Update my Passport

This industry more than almost any other allows you to travel and work easily. I love traveling and have put it off more and more over the past decade due to school, my apprenticeship, family, boyfriends etc etc. Its easy to make excuses to not travel. Not enough money, not enough time, no place to stay, the list goes on. I've decided this needs to stop. There have been small trips here or there and several moves around the country but my real travel dream lies in going out of the country. Conventions and guest spots could be the key to my travel dreams but I can't do this with out a passport and so I decided it needed to be on my list. 

Well that concludes my goals for 2013. Not to terribly long but more than enough I think to get me started in the right direction. Hope you all have your goals set and are as excited as I am to go after them.  Maybe you'll even share some of your goals with me.