Introductions -I'm Cat

Hello folks. My name is Cat and I am  an artist from northern Virginia. I am 43, graduated from the University at Albany (NY), and work in a variety of mediums. My favorite things to draw as a fine artist are birds, bones and ladies; I believe my strong point is my versatility of style. My favorite things to tattoo are flora and fauna. I believe my best strength as a Tattooer is my black and grey but generally I consider my tattoos to pale in comparison to my fine art and have been trying hard to rectify that deficit.

I own and operate Dark Horse Tattoos and Body Piercing, founded in 2008, where I am blessed to work with my best friends Steve, our piercer, and Jon our other Tattooer. I have been tattooing professionally since 2003 when I was 33. I wanted to join this program to help develop my work and in improve in every way possible. Although I served a formal apprenticeship it was under a Hell's Angels style "prove your loyalty" structure and really didn't cover anything about tattooing so in that sense I'm generally self-taught.

I have not been fortunate in the past to have anyone ever share anything with me in terms of improvement so I have lots of DVDs, read a lot, follow many artists I admire, draw regularly, get tattooed regularly by someone I admire (Chris Garver) and generally keep my ear to the ground for any advantage I can acquire.

I currently use Cheyenne rotaries which I switched to last year after attending the Brussels, Belguim tattoo convention as a spectator. I use a variety of pigments: eternal, starbrite, intenze, and a dash of Fantasia, Dynamic, Waverly. For inks I like One and dynamic.

Something you should know about me is I suffer from social anxiety and rarely if ever attend tattoo events in the USA. I am working on this, but it's always a struggle. I was bullied pretty regularly and rather viciously through my career prior to opening my own studio and still have some issues with social interaction with other artists. As an introvert, you never really feel at home in groups.

My Instagram is @darkhorsetattoos and my website is darkhorsetattoos.com and I try to update them weekly. I've been lax lately, as I am recovering from surgery and home for one more week. Other things I do besides tattoo are study green and sustainable living, I'm a professional Haunter and I love cosplay.

Hope everyone has a blessed NewYear.
Cat