I have been tattooing professionally since the late 90s although I had been dabbling with it since 1992, utilising tattoo techniques in my artwork and on myself.
Over the years my work developed into a graphic abstract style incorporating dotwork and greyshade techniques, and cycling through various graphic elements. Most of the work has been designed freehand, as the tattoo progressed, in an improvised and organic way. Rarely was any idea mapped out on paper first.
Driven by process
The main thread that runs through my tattoo work is not so much the final designs, but the process of achieving those designs. I have a long term process of incorporating certain motifs or elements, then over time, adapting and transforming them into newly added elements.
As each element informs the next one, so each tattoo informs the next. It is a process of adding something new while removing an old idea from the repertoire once it has served its purpose, then cycling back to revisit the old ideas with fresh eyes and experience.
This is not a linear process, and multiple streams of ideas can run simultaneously over many years. As time passes, various elements are combined and transformed, then recombined. For example, squares become cubes, become irregular blocks, triangles become prisms become crystals.
This is the first post on a new site. I’ll be adding examples of my work shortly.
nigel palmer 