Here’s my list of the artists I currently have art crushes on. Only some of them are people I know. They’re all over the place both in location and artistically, but they all grab my attention. The newer ones I may think have great potential, the older guys may be extra helpful or talented…it depends. But for some reason I have the mad art crush on them all lately.

Art crushes are good for me. I get all excited about what people are doing and how, I try to figure out how come they are so much better than I am…I pick attheir work the way I’d pick at my own. I learn from it. It makes me happy. I call it an art crush because I don’t even have to know who the tattoo artist IS- it’s the art I get all giddy about…I always want to tell everyone about this awesome artist I saw, and wish I was that good.

So here they are, the first art crush list. All tattoo artists, all people whose work I’ve been staring at recently with butterflies in my stomach.

Note: links may lead to myspace, shop sites, inkedn*tion, tattoodles, livejournal….wherever I have seen a good sample of their work is where the link will take you. Sorry if they lead to a site where you can’t see the work or you aren’t a member. I did the best I could.

MAJOR ART CRUSH (when I see new stuff from them I get weak in the knees)

Derek Noble in Seattle/
Markus Lenhard, Holland.
Will Bodnar, Seattle./
Jimmy Israel, Kansas.
Shige, Japan./
Jonas Nyburg, Sweden.

MINOR ART CRUSH (I’m keeping my eye on their stuff and think it’s awesome)

Darcy Nutt, Idaho.
Craig Driscoll, CA.
Sara Purr , NYstate.
Sean, Portland, Or.
Ron Decosta, Georgia.
Mike Adams, in PA/
Jackson, Sacto CA.
Mike Watson, PA.
Ang Sanders, Maryland.