Miya Bailey....

Anyone who knows me can tell you I've mentioned Miya Bailey at least once in conversation. He is such a inspirational ARTIST and tattoos are just one of many avenues he uses to express himself. Miya Bailey (black & red jacket) is the co-owner of City Of Ink, based in Atlanta GA along with artist Tuki Carter (green shirt). Miya has been tattooing for over 15 years and does a damn good job!! He started out as a "scratcher" amongst a host of other "not so good" titles lol, in his hometown of Asheville, NC and evolved into the inspiring, successful artist he is today. Everything we do in life, good or bad serves a purpose! The bad surely prepares you for the good as well as allowing you to appreciate making it out of situations that others we know weren't so lucky to escape. I began following & communicating with Miya via twitter about tattoos, then I began following his awesome blog www.miyabailey.com where you get to know who he really is as an individual as well as an artist! Please check out this blog, there are tons of great posts and I'm sure there is a little something for everyone to get inspired by. His mind is amazing, just the way he views life and FREEDOM should get anyone excited to work hard and for a purpose.

As for myself, he's been an inspiration for me to work hard to become immortal, have freedom while loving everyone despite people's flaws. Although, some people have to be left behind to move forward we can still appreciate them for the lessons learned and hopefully inspire them to do better through our actions. Miya has beautiful paintings, I'm waiting for the site to get up and running so I can purchase the "Love Again" painting...crossing my fingers it hasn't already been purchased! In the near future, Miya will be publishing a book entitled "Before I'm Gone: The Art & Life of Miya Bailey" while he has also begun taping for his documentary on the struggles and lifestyles of black tattoo artists in America. He definitely has a lot on his plate while still being a family man and running his his Foundation "Inspire Your City"....

Miya and some of his City of Ink family go on tattoo tours all over the nation as well as oversees and be sure to book your appointment up to 3 months in advance or you will not get an appt! I learned that lesson when trying to get an appointment for DC but I was able to get my tattoo done by Tuki Carter and I LOVE it!! All COI artists are very talented individuals so you can never go wrong with a City Of Ink Tat...I did meet Miya while he was in DC and he was really cool, down to earth and his accent was very country! lol Tuki also has a really cool music group called Hollyweerd and I love their song "Weerdo" ....I told Tuki it reminds me of Outkast and the rapper on the second verse reminds me of Do or Die...that's "just my interpretation of the situation"

Sorry for the long windedness (yes I make up my own words at times) of this posting but when other black people are doing positive things, the light needs to be shined on it as much as possible...I hope you enjoyed it!!