First and foremost, I am an artist. I enjoy working with mixed media, especially making sculptures out of rusty cogs and old bones and stuff I find out in the woods. I also get great satisfaction out of sewing most of my clothes, and enjoy costuming in theatre, and in streetwear. As of late, I have been working a lot with water color and ink. I also practice martial and healing arts and have found a deep connection with ancient Chinese mysticism and wisdom.

In 1999, after working as a body piercer and shop-wynch at Blue Rose Tattoo for a few years, (a one-chair, owner-operated, old-school tattoo shop in my hometown, Redding, CA), the owner, Ken Cavaleras, was diagnosed with brain cancer, and he asked me to be his one last apprentice. I can not express with words how honored I was to be asked to apprentice under him. I was always doing art projects around the shop on slow days, and Ken knew I was a dedicated artist, and since I was already familliar with sterilization techniques I jumped into tattooing as soon as he made the offer. Ken was only able to give me a six month apprenticeship before he became too ill to continue. But luckily, his family helped to keep the shop runnung to generate money for Ken in the last years of his life, and I was able to continue tatting in the shop for another three years. After his shop closed (RIP, Ken), I made my way down to Chico to sharpen up my skills, and landed a job at New Creation Tattoo, working under Ronita Yvarra, who was a wonderful mentor and friend. I learned most of what I know about tattooing from Ronita. Soon, I found myself finishing up my MA at CSU, Chico, where I also earned my BFA, and I was ready to split that town. So, I headed off to the Bay Area where I planned on going to acupuncture school -- I guess I am obsessed with needles. When I got here, I got enrolled in an Acupuncture academy in Oakland, and I landed a job in Castro Valley where I tattooed for a while until a classmate told me that Sacred Rose was hiring artists and urged me to check it out. I was already familliar with the shop and was stoked when Karen accepted me onto the team. I have had the most wonderful experiences here, every one here is awesome to work with, and the environment is the best.

As a tattoo artist, I especially love doing black and grey fine detail work, though my recent watercolor kick has landed me a new fascination with color. My main gig is definately anything from the natural world, and I am passionate about celtic knotwork. Whatever it may be, I absolutely LOVE doing custom work. So bring me your ideas, big or small, and we can come up with something both of us would love to do!