INKLING FOR INK
Atomic Cherry Tattoo
Julia says she loves being able to work with her daughter , Sam , who apprenticed with her five years ago when she was eighteen and fresh out of art school . Although Sam works part time at Atomic Cherry these days — the rest the time she ’ s at Good Point Tattoo in Oakville where she works with her boyfriend , Mike Kenny , a tattoo artist as well — Julia says she ’ s a huge asset to the shop .
“ What ’ s cool about Sam is that she ’ s the new blood , young , enthusiastic and passionate and always up on what ’ s happening in the tattoo industry ,” Julia says . “ She ’ s always suggesting new things I need to be doing , new products or artists I should be checking out , as well as pushing me to be more active on social media .”
The community within the tattoo industry was something uncommon when Julia began her tattoo career almost seventeen years ago . But she has watched that change and says that Sam , who is very involved in the tattoo community , even travelling around the continent to get tattooed by her favourite artists , is on the cutting edge of the industry .
“ I ’ ve been able to witness a huge evolution in Sam ’ s style since she began tattooing and it ’ s impressive . She has a lot of regular clients . Some have travelled from the states to see her .”
For herself , Julia doesn ’ t specialize in one particular style of tattooing and describes herself as a versatile artist . As a creative person she says she gets bored easily so she likes to keep growing and learning and challenging herself . What she does enjoy in particular though is creating original designs from someone ’ s non-specific idea of what they want .
“ I get this visual in my mind of the end result from what they ’ re describing and that ’ s when I get excited ,” says Julia . “ The best is when they come in to look at what I ’ ve created and they ’ re blown away . It ’ s such an awesome feeling .”
Besides giving up her possessions and running away to California , opening Atomic Cherry Tattoo was the other best thing Julia has done for herself in recent years .
“ We ’ re in an amazing location ,” says Julia . “ It ’ s been a huge success . And I get to work with my daughter who ’ s my favourite person in the world . What could be better ?”
79 Issue 20 | Missy Ink