Matchless Tattoo

BOOKING OCTOBER and select dates in September. Small tattoos, big tattoos, Im happy to make em all.

Got a healed shot of this owl that's a little over a year old now. It's crazy how often I forget to photograph my work. Lucky for me my clients keep coming back for new stuff so I can get these groovy healed pics. Next time maybe I'll remember to moisturize the tattoo first 😆

Today my kiddo got her BA in Music Composition from UC Santa Cruz, and I couldn't be happier or prouder for her! She is carving a beautiful and admirable path through this world and I can't wait to see what she does next ❤️

Happy Pride month y'all! Our existence and our right to live free is not up for debate. It's equality or else. All my love for my LGBTQ+ family.

Puppy love portrait done with just lines. The nice thing about not really posting for a couple years is that I've got lots of pics to share that nobody has seen yet 😆.

This laughing hyena reminds me not to take things too seriously. Hope he gives you a giggle too.

Hey everyone, I've gone through a lot of changes in the past couple years, and in that spirit I am saying goodbye to the name "Matchless Tattoo" and reopening in yet another location as "Atypical". I'll still be working privately and by appointment. My plan is to work here in Sonoma County for a maximum of 2 years, and then I'm off to explore parts unknown. So if you have work in progress from me, or have been putting off starting a piece, there's no time like the present.

I'm going to be changing the way I work and how much I work. Keeping pace with Neurotypical and ableist expectations has kept me in a state of Autistic Burnout for most of my adult life. So it's time to slow things down. If I don't respond to a message for a few days it's just because I'm minding my work/life balance for the sake of my health. If it's been a couple of weeks just poke at me again.

Thanks to all of you for all of your support and trust over the years, and I hope to see you in my new space  before I go.

Cheers,
Mike

Here's a wider shot of this piece I've been working on lately, seen here in our "studio", aka the living room. Some paintings are about a message, some tell a story, or invoke a mood. But sometimes a painting is just a vision that must be made real. For weeks I had a recurring image in my head of a golden skull surrounded by blue peony flowers. I could feel my hands itching to make it. I wouldn't be happy until I saw it in real life. It didn't "mean" anything, but what is art without whimsy?
As a determinist, I'm astounded by the millenia of prior causes that wound it's way through the cosmos and propelled my hand across a canvas. And that my tiny act of obsessive creativity is but one domino in an ineffably vast Rube Goldberg contraption of unknowable intent. Whew! Okay, enough of that, I feel dizzy.
Oil on canvas, 24 inches x 48 inches.