I am Ian.

Hello. Thanks for being interested in a little about me. Let’s see if i can give you a brief, but helpful, look into the relationship between art, and myself.

I have been interested in art my whole life. It was always what i gravitated towards. I began my professional art career in 2003 when i finished my apprenticeship as a tattoo artist. I have been tattooing full time ever since, and opened my own studio, Safe House Tattoo, in 2012. I had always had an interest in learning to work with oil paints, but was always a bit intimidated by them. I would watch tutorials, webinars, and workshops but be too scared to start a painting. Then, in 2013 i broke my wrist in a scooter accident and was not able to tattoo for a while. So i ran out of excuses and started painting for hours every day. Once i got a few under my belt i realized how fun and forgiving a medium oils are.

That led to my journey into instruction. As i would meet people who have an interest in art, i would hear a lot of “man, oils seem scary.” So i began to teach to dispel these myths and evangelize people into the beauty of not just working in oils, but in diving into art as a whole. I see art as a literal “If I can do it, anyone can do it.” world. You have to put in the work though. Thats all it takes, is all the work.