{"id":527,"date":"2026-02-06T07:40:50","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T07:40:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/honorandink.com\/Blog\/?p=527"},"modified":"2026-02-08T19:20:33","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T19:20:33","slug":"building-with-light-in-darkness-slow-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/honorandink.com\/Blog\/building-with-light-in-darkness-slow-start\/","title":{"rendered":"48 – Building With Light in Darkness \u00a0– The Slow Path"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why I Build Tattoos From Shadow First<\/span><\/h2>\n

I\u2019ve never been the fast path type. \u00a0From cars, to my education, to my military career.<\/p>\n

I respect speed.<\/p>\n

I admire efficiency.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019ve always chosen the slower, more deliberate and sometimes scenic road.<\/p>\n

Not because it\u2019s romantic.<\/p>\n

Not because it\u2019s trendy.<\/p>\n

But because meaningful things tend to require time<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When I was a young Soldier, I had an NCO that would tell me, slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. \u00a0It always seemed like such a contradiction. \u00a0My mind always worked much faster than those around me, and I was always ready to rush in as a kid a show everyone how I could do things better and faster. \u00a0The problem was I lacked experience, which leads to wisdom, which helps you see things you miss when you think you know it all and are in a hurry. \u00a0Thankfully that NCO had wisdom from his experiences, and was willing to not only share it with me, but in a controlled way that allowed me some painful lessons that did not get me or anyone else killed, but allowed me to learn and then start to seek that wisdom that come when you understand that slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.<\/p>\n

\"A
The texture inside the \u201cspray\u201d isn\u2019t smooth. It\u2019s granular. Almost noisy. That\u2019s important. In tattoos smooth gradients rarely survive skin long-term.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My sketch for today comes from a life lesson that almost ended me when I was 16 and fearless. \u00a0I<\/p>\n

t was a cool Northern California winter day and Steamers Lane was breaking really big. \u00a0I was young and strong, a great swimmer, and had been surfing for a couple years. So I paddled out into the 15 foot plus sets. \u00a0I remember a couple of my friends decided to watch from shore. \u00a0I caught my first wave and ripped down the face, carving back into spray and foam to try and pull into a barrel. \u00a0I realized that it was not breaking how the waves normally did in this spot on smaller days, so I decided to punch out and paddle back outside to catch another wave. \u00a0I grabbed my board and duck dived as the next wave came rolling in. \u00a0What I did not know was that there was an even larger wave just behind it, cresting as I came out of the back of the first wave. \u00a0I remember seeing the wall of water towering over me as I tried to gasp a quick breath, then the world exploded in a commotion of foam and noise and water, tumbling me against the sandy bottom and spinning me uncontrollably. \u00a0I felt my leash snap. I had no idea which way was up. My lungs ached and my muscles burned as I struggled to try and find the light that meant the surfaced . \u00a0I was known for being able to hold my breath underwater for the full length of an Olympic sized pool, but this was much longer than that. As the world started to darken around me and I realized this is how I would die, I washed up on shore. \u00a0My board was broken in two by the force of the wave, my body was battered and exhausted and I lay limp on the sand as my friends finally spotted me and ran to pull me from the surf. \u00a0It is an experience that I can\u2019t explain how or why I survived, \u00a0but it changed me and how I viewed myself in this world. \u00a0I wondered how many others lost this battle chasing the rush of speed and adrenaline before they were truly ready.<\/p>\n

Time is a gift<\/a>, and provides us with the stories that become the light in our darkness.<\/p>\n

That philosophy has shaped every part of my life, and it absolutely shapes how I tattoo.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not interested in chasing what\u2019s hot this year.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m interested in building works that still feels honest ten years from now.<\/p>\n

Lately, that has led me deeper into an idea that keeps unfolding the more I sit with it:<\/p>\n

Light inside darkness.<\/p>\n

Not as a look.<\/p>\n

Not as a gimmick.<\/p>\n

As a way of seeing.<\/p>\n

\n

If the idea of light living inside darkness resonates with you\u2026<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re drawn to contrast, negative space, and work that isn\u2019t trying to shout\u2026<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re willing to take the slower road with me\u2026 Then we should talk.<\/p>\n

If not, that\u2019s okay too. Not every path is meant for every person.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m simply walking the one that feels honest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve always chosen the slower, more deliberate and sometimes scenic road.
\nNot because it\u2019s romantic.
\nNot because it\u2019s trendy.
\nBut because meaningful things tend to require time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,34,26,30],"tags":[16,20,5,22,13,31,25],"class_list":["post-527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art-therapy","category-blog-series","category-reflection","category-tattoo-design","tag-artist-hour","tag-creative-growth","tag-healing","tag-perspective","tag-tattoo-artist-journey","tag-tattoo-design","tag-trusting-the-process"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/honorandink.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/honorandink.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/honorandink.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/honorandink.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/honorandink.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/honorandink.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":610,"href":"https:\/\/honorandink.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527\/revisions\/610"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/honorandink.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/honorandink.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/honorandink.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/honorandink.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}