SheilaM

Should have made it clearer - Portland's only a couple hours away, not a big deal to get to, so I'd consider artists there too.

I'm certainly open to suggestions, in fact that's exactly why I'm here! Bigjoe, thanks for the links; starting to look through them now...

Thanks for the welcome! Yes, Seattle is beautiful...now if only the sun would come out once in a while! The rest of the country is baking and it's like April here! I love the Bay Area too; have visited several times over the years. I like Josh Schwegel's style at Slave to the Needle, but one of the reasons I wanted to participate here was to see who you all would recommend in this area. Just because I like something doesn't mean it's good; I might just be showing my ignorance and lack of technical knowledge! Slave to the Needle, Laughing Buddha and Madame Lazonga's are the names that always seem to come up, but I'd guess it's more about the person than the shop, once you're past the "is the place clean?" question. I'm looking to do something pretty old school, I think, using a sacred heart, an anchor, and a swallow as elements. I have an old Mexican milagro that I'd like to use as a basis for the design of the sacred heart. Color, not black and grey. Not that I've thought about this much. Only about 5 years. Maybe more. (!) And I'm pretty certain this won't be the last, but it might be the last for a while; the Day Job frowns on visible tattoos so I am a bit limited in what I can do right now. Considering the other two I have in mind would be my right wrist and an ankle/foot. This will be left shoulder/tricep, I think, and since I don't go sleeveless at work I'm fine.

Hello all - My name is Sheila and I live in the Seattle area. I've decided to get my first tattoo this year in honor of a milestone birthday. I'm currently reading as much as I can about the process; if I'm going to do this, it won't be on a whim and I'm going to do it right since I realize the results will be with me for a lifetime. Knowledge is power, as they say... In my research I came across this forum and have learned a lot over the last few days of lurking. Thought I'd introduce myself since I may post a couple of questions here and there. Thanks to all of you for providing such a marvelous resource!