Hello, LST!

[Gnawa]

Good day to the LST community.

After lurking and availing myself of much of what this site has to offer, I felt it was finally time to become a participant.

I got my first tattoo when I was 20. It was done by a girl I was into in her dorm room back in college: a tiny Om on my ankle, and it cost me a pack of Marlboro Lights. I didn't get my next one until my 35th birthday, but it's been a pretty steady deluge of ink since. I think I waited so long to become more heavily tattooed because it took me that long to figure out who I am.

I am a big fan of black and grey fine line work, which represents the majority of my tattoos, and Japanese traditional, as well as some Americanized Japanese. I have a deep respect for American traditional, although I don't wear any in this style as yet. Most of my pieces are images of women and animals, particularly turtles, of which I currently wear four.

Much of my work was done by Willie Paredes at Brooklyn Tattoo in beautiful Downtown Brooklyn, NYC and I wear a gorgeous pin-up by Myles Karr, one of Brooklyn's Three Kings? My current projects are a westernized Japanese back piece from Darren Rosa at Rising Dragon here in NYC, the outlining for which is now complete and I eagerly await shading and color in coming months; and a calf piece done by Forrest Cavacco of Cobra Customs, Plymouth, MA, which is likewise missing color at the moment (although it stands on its own in black and grey). My next piece, a present to myself commemorating completion of my 10th year as a public school teacher, is going to be a portrait of Edgar Allen Poe from Vinnie at Red Rocket. I consider myself incredibly lucky to live in such an art-heavy city where I have the opportunity to be tattooed by such a variety of skilled artists and I am honored to wear their work.

[Pleadco]

Greetings and salutations. It sounds like you've been busy :)

Welcome to the forums!

[guitguy]

Yes welcome Gnawa! You are indeed lucky to be in NYC surrounded by so many awesome tattooers.

Look forward to seeing some pics of your pieces and works in process. Cheers!

[Graeme]

Welcome to LST! The amount of amazing tattooers in NYC is incredible. We'd love to see pictures of your tattoos.

[Jlurie91]

Would definitely like to see some pictures!

[Pleadco]

Loving the back piece so far! The kitsune is wicked :)