From as far back as I can remember, anything creative has excited and inspired me. As a child I loved everything that allowed me to explore this creative side of my personality and I always felt a natural gravitation towards asthetically pleasing aspects of the world around me. Both my mother and father had an influence on me in relation to creativity. I remember spending a lot of time with my father, teaching me about the many different mediums and techniques within art. I also spent hours sat with my mother as she created beautiful life-like bouquets of flowers made from sugar paste for the wedding cakes she used to make. Although nothing to do with tattooing and me sounding like the biggest geek on the planet!!!.... these memories I am most grateful for as it was the foundation on which my creative interest was born and for that I will be eternally grateful to my parents.

 When I graduated from  University, I really struggled with having a clear direction in life and knowing exactly what it was that I wanted to do. I always knew deep down that I wanted to do something that put my creative side to good use, but never had the confidence to dare to aspire to such things.

I developed a real interest in tattoo art in the coming years.  There is so much variety and diversity in the styles and techniques available to use.  I love the way in which the shape and form of the body can be used to create interesting and effective pieces of art that just wouldn't look that same on a piece of paper or any other material.  There is such a vast array of amazing artists out there at the minute and it really inspired me to want to be the best I possibly could.

I dreamt about being a tattoo artist for a long time  but never thought I could ever really do anything like that. I had found Artisan Tattoo studio through a friend who had some work done by Paul and it was brilliant so I started going to Paul for work doing on my sleeve. As it turned out, Paul was looking for an apprentice. I saw this as my opportunity to try and show my interest and follow through with something that really mattered to me. After showing Paul some of my doodles and sketches as well as designing the main part of my own half sleeve, luckily Paul decided to give me a chance.  

For the subsequent year or so, I worked in the shop and Paul took me under his wing teaching me about every aspect of tattooing. With each day I spent in the shop, I grew more interested and excited about tattooing. Something about the way in which people decorate their skin and the use of the body as a canvas fascinated me.

Since completing my apprenticeship in August 2011, I have worked as a Tattoo Artist at Artisan Tattoo Studio, Swinton. I have loved every minute of my tattooing experience and I look forward to having years of experience under my belt in the future. It is a huge learning curve and as with anything in life, you never reach the point where by you know everything about that given subject. I always strive to do my very best and hope one day to make a name for myself within the industry.