How it started and a new chapter…
Hey you thank you for stopping in if your new welcome my name is Lisa, if your a friend already, thank you for taking the time.. This is my journey.. Lets start at the beginning..
A space I can call my own.
Im a proud mamma of 5, birthing 3 and two for free. Live in a wonderful blended household with 3 dogs, 4 cats. Love to grow my own kai, pottery dabbler. Proud ADHDer, neurospicy household conductor, travel enthusiast. Lover of the intuitive. armature crystal gather, recent lover of tarot cards. Lifelong student of figuring out how to live authentically, with intention and mastering the art of awareness.
In 2022 I was immersed in the corporate and start up world. I ran a start up that was trying to solve food sovereignty and inequity in Aotearoa, as well as contracting to large businesses to utilise my skills in ops management and marketing.. I was in the thick or corporate management and fuckery, and in the midst of a divorce to a less than desirable human who made me question who I was as a person. I was approaching 40 and life was feeling a little overwhelming, amongst the choas I went to get a tattoo. I partly wanted to cover a wedding date and partly cause I needed to feel something apart from the turmoil that was in my life.
So I met my business partner and what started as a bit of fun in my garage grew into a new studio; Paradiso Tattoos, hosting 8-10 artists at a time. After a year of bouncing between the drain of corporate ridiculousness and the exhaustion of trying to solve the worlds problems through start up I picked up a tattoo machine and unceremoniously did my first tattoo on a fellow artist.
Fast forward a few years I had a serious neck injury at the end of 2024 which had me laid up in hosiptal for two months and this gave me time to pause and reevaluate my journey. I started to realise the impact of jumping from corporate career to buisness, divorce, coparenting and all the glory of restructuring my life had on my mental health. What had served me a couple of years ago was no longer serving me and I needed to course correct (as we often to in life!). I sat back and for the first time in my life asked myself what I wanted and how I wanted my life to look. I remember saying to my partner “I want to live an extraudinary life”. Not for fame or fortune; but curiosity, authenticity, passion, love and peace. A quietly fulfilling life.
So I started to think about how that may look in the tattoo world and I started to realise that a busy walk in studio was not fitting with this vision I wanted for my life. I started to write a shopping list;
A better work life balance and the ability to take down time and travel
A quiet space where I was not distracted by my surroundings and I could focus 100% on my client
To spend more time learning and refining my skills, and have more confidence in my drawing specifically
To spend more time on my other crafts and ideas like painting and pottery
A space that was either at home or not too far
To explore ritual tattoos and realism
I truly believe we have one life, and we should never be left wondering, yet in my people pleasing, empath years I had curtailed my own dreams for everyone else. And it was time to reclaim that for myself.
I felt a sense of embarrassment and worry for letting people down, but thankfully my business parter supported me. And so over the next 8-9 months we have been working through how I support him to take over fully, and I step away. I started to look at buildings and spaces, working with so many real estate agents, and contacting businesses in the areas I wanted to be in.
I then went and studied my level 1 Reiki on a whim with my partner and I started to realise that energy I was feeling would impact my tattooing. I needed to move quickly so I felt authentic in my sessions with my clients. Not because the energy at Paradiso was wrong, it just no longer fitted who I was any longer.
I started to panick and honestly going out on my own seemed so hard and ridiculous, I see reels on instagram of newish tattoo artists doing private studios and the ridicule they would get. I reached out to a few other studios to see if they might have space, they were wonderful and have artists I admire but in my heart I knew that was not the right move either. And the universe made it clear that was not the path as those studios were full already! I spent a week in bed, depressed and stressed, I had a few properties I had looked at fall through. I felt like I was stuck and scared I had been hasty in trying to leave the only studio I had known.
On the friday of that week I drove past the Bruce Maclachlan Gallery. I have lived in this area for the last 20 years, and never visited this gallery, however something made me stop on this day. I felt if I cant change the space I work in I want to start working on my art. I wanted to feel inspired, maybe I thought I could get some wisdom from a lifelong artist. After a wonderful conversation with Bruce, sharing our stories and insecurities around a world of art, he offered me a spot in his gallery to rent. What are the chances? A quiet space surrounded by art only 5 minutes from home. Thank you universe xx
So I agreed on the spot and within a week I was moved in. Although I am still tidying up leaving my old studio, I have already begun to curate a this new space within the Bruce Maclachlan Gallery. I did my first tattoo and it feels great. I am still figuring out how the space flows, but it feels great. I know Im being intentional with this space, I know I am bringing my whole self to these appointments with my clients, and that gives me peace and enjoyment.
First tattoo in the new space xx
It is the year of the fire horse after all and we should all be unapologetically living our best lives!
So this is hopefully first of many blogs as I fumble and flow through this wonderful world of being a mum, partner, tattooer and human. If you have been pondering if you want to work with me hopefully this gives you a little insight into who I am. I am an open book to the right people, I am an empath who wants the best for everyone. I get low sometimes but I love life. Like all humans I am a complex bag of things that make me Lisa, and I am looking forward to getting to know you.
Lets do art
xx
Lisa