I paint, draw & water color.. I will use whatever tool at my disposal to render my artwork. I love to create, if I am not creating something I feel empty, I feel incomplete as if something is missing from my life. My favorite medium to work with is skin, I love the buzz of the machines, the smell of green soap & the interaction with all sorts of people from all sorts of walks of life.. it truly is my passion. I long to work in an environment that strongly encourages creativity with people who are truly passionate about what they do. Unfortunately I have not yet had the opportunity to experience this sort of work environment, I have been tattooing professionally for nearly four years now & I have worked at four different shops. Not includint the few months I spent on an apprenticeship I never completed due to lack of transportation, this probably being the first & best shop I have ever worked at. The second shop I worked at was less than reputable & taught me mostly what not to do, the place seemed more of a cover up for a drug business than a legit studio, nevertheless this is where I completed my apprenticeship.. & I still had much to learn after quitting there. The third was an old school shop with a guy who claimed he couldn't work unless stoned, which caused the whole place to smell like pot & led to more than one of my clients feeling uncomfortable. I was fired for taking one of his customers, which I did not do on purpose.. either way I will remain grateful for the chance he gave me to work there which allowed me to further develope my skills as a tattooist. The fourth was a very well set up place, a stylized walk in style street shop with a small retail area, I would've thoroghly enjoyed working there if it were not for the manager who obviously didn't like me & believed he was a master tattooist when in reality he was an un-talented egocentric asshole who constantly tried to belittle me in front of customers.. again I thank the owner for the chance he gave me to work there which allowed me to further develope my talent. The fifth & most recent shop in this list was a well set up 60's themed street shop in historic downtown Marietta, Ohio where I really did enjoy working for the brief time that I did. Everthing seemed to be going good here, I got along with the other artist, I had my own clientelle & I got paid very well.. this came to a rather abrupt end one day when I showed up for work. I had asked to have the day off so I could go to the school & get enrolled for college & I forgot I had an appointment for a touch up scheduled that day. The next day I was fired without even a warning & this missed appointment was the reasoning behind it.. I believe it was something more tho because as I was leaving they were already making arrangements for the new artist they hired, my replacement.. to me it seems I was fired so that they could hire this new guy but that is only speculation & I will as always remain humble & thank them for the chance they gave me to work there. In all the places I have worked however I have noticed a few things that bug me, the lack of enthusiasm for the job for one & the feeling that most of these people are in it more for the money & have little to no motivation to truly get involved with the client & create an original piece of art that tells there story. I like to get paid as much as anybody else but I have always felt that in this business if you put your art first & really try to do the best work you are capable of the cash will follow a very close second. I have also always believed that any shop is only as good as the artist that work there which is something that seems to be over looked quite often. With all this being said & laid out in the open I will continue to search for a new studio to work at, one where I feel I will fit in, one that coincides with my own business ethics if you will. I do think that the best shops are the ones that follow these same values & from a clients point of view I will never get tattooed again at a place that does not or by an artist that just doesn't seem to care. This now leads me to the title of this journal entry "The Violent Gentleman" I have decided that my goal in life as far as my career goes will be to open my own tattoo studio & it will be called (The Violent Gentleman - electric tattoo art & gallery©) a custom style shop with a vintage layout built around my ethics & strong morale standing on how a tattoo studio should be run. We will never copy another artist work & I will only employ the most talented & passionate artist I can find. Every tattoo will be taylor built around the clients exact specifications & desires to express the story behind it & the personality of the wearer. This will be much more than your average tattoo shop, it will also double as an art gallery for my own art & the work of any other resident artist & contributors who wish to be a part of the gallery. This is my mission statement, & although I know it may be years before it happens, I know this is what I must do & it simply must happen.