I have been tattooing since June of 1993, mostly in the local area, but also as a guest artist in various shops around the country. I enjoy doing custom work in black and grey, increasingly also color work,Eastern imagery, anything interesting, silly or clever...but am willing to do pretty much whatever a person would like me to do, with the exception of negative or hateful imagery...
I did not have a formal apprenticeship, but have tried to learn as much as I can by getting tattooed, watching others work, and by asking questions. I try to do my best at custom and/or flash tattoos. I try to give the client just what they want, within the limits of the technical boundaries of what is necessary to do a tattoo properly. I prefer to sit and talk with a person, research and collaborate on an original piece...
While there is nothing truly new under the sun, I believe it is possible to put a personal spin on any subject matter. A useful analogy is spaghetti sauce - although there are a limited number of possible ingredients to make sauce, everyone has their own recipe...
The more ideas/reference materials someone can bring to me, the more of a hand they have in designing their tattoo. If I think something is a bad idea for technical or aesthetic reasons, I'll try to explain why. Otherwise, I try to stress to people that I have no emotional attachment to any suggestions I may make - the client is free to accept or reject any ideas I put forward. In short, my goal is to be a worthy conduit for a tattoo clients aspirations...

My inluences and inspirations in the tattoo world include (but certainly are not limited to); Filip Leu, Kore Flatmo, Horiyoshi III, Guy Aitchison, Paul Rogers, Freddy Corbin, Don Ed Hardy, Scott Sylvia, Grime (and pretty much all the rest of the S.F. guys)...

Among the many artists who have directly influenced and helped me are; Sailor Woody, Tracey Sutton, the Professor (J. Boudreau,), Chris J'Tot at Phantom 8 in Denver CO, Dan Gilsdorf in Portland OR, Miz Jo-D Bones at Ink for Life in Ypsilanti MI, Mike Dorsey at Permanent Productions in Cincinatti OH, and, of course, Monk and the rest of the crew here at Infinite Art.

Artistic influences from the fine art world; Alphons Mucha, da Vinci, Goya, Picasso, Dali, Robert Williams, Shepard Fairey, Banksy, Alex Grey, the whole Juxtapoz collective (for lack of a better term). Also, I very much enjoy the work of the classic Edo period of Japan, ancient cave art, and tribal/traditional art from around the world.

I'll include here a few things I've heard over the years which I try to keep in mind every time I tattoo:
"The perfect tattoo is the one which turns an ass into a zebra" - Good Time Charlie Cartwright.
"A good tattoo is done with confidence" - Mike Malone.
"It's never too late to fuck it up" - Anonymous.

Finally I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has helped me over the years, even those who showed by example how not to do things. Most important though are the people who have honored me by allowing me to tattoo them, without whom none of this would have been possible...
Thank you all!