Beyond Dermis Deep

There is something about tattoos, I'm the first to admit it. They really get (dare I say it) under your skin (yep, I said it) and become so much more a part of you than simple micro-pigment implantation (the technical term for that act of inserting pigment into the skin).

For years I was indifferent about tattoos and tattooing. I didn't mind them, even felt somewhat in awe of those that had them, but never wanted one myself. I used the old standby, "I don't know anything that I would want on my body for the rest of my life." I was past 30 that Halloween I stepped into Zebra tattoo shop in Berkeley, CA. An artist named Olmy did a small tattoo (relatively small anyway) on my upper left arm. Looking back, I can hardly believe how nervous I was (scared was more like it), because from that day on, I was hooked.

It was only a few months later that my wife and I met with Marie Wadman at her shop, Diving Swallow Tattoo, in Oakland and began our large scale pieces that I will cover at a later time. Now I'm coming up on a year since I've felt that familiar stinging tingle of the needle piercing skin ... and I miss it so much.