If you couldn’t tell, I have been neglecting my reef painting blog for the past few months. Believe me, it has been with good reason. My father was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer back in October. He is getting close to the end of his stay here on this world and may pass any day now. Since then, my wife Angela and I have started a new business; Inked Awareness.

I have always wanted to help people in one way or another. In the past I have contacted several non-profit awareness based organizations that had little interested in my ideas on how an artist can raise awareness of their cause. These causes ranged from ocean conservations, missing persons to elderly care and cancer awareness foundations. However, in my soul searching venture to find a way to help immortalize my dad, I founded Inked Awareness. What I have found is that the 30 something crowd is dealing with cancer more and more each day. I needed to find a way to reach out to my peers.

Inked Awareness is an awareness based t-shirt company. Our current focus is on cancer related awareness programs but we have other organizations in mind and will be presenting them in the next few weeks. The designs are completely customizable by the customer who can choose to change the ribbon color on the design and even add a personal message to the shirt. A portion of each shirt sale will go to an awareness charity, such as the American Cancer Society.

The thing that sets Inked Awareness shirts apart from others is that all designs feature tattoo inspired artwork. I have been a tattoo artist for several years in the past and to this day still do tattoos by request. What I loved about the tattoo process is the story behind the tattoo design. These tattoos will tell a story about the struggle, strength, loss and love involved in the struggle for awareness.

I am currently seeking other tattoo artists and tattoo lovers to help contribute to Inked Awareness. Ultimately I would love to see more tattoo inspired art from across the country and eventually the world. If you have a design you would like to submit, feel free to drop me a line at Christopher.Smart@InkedAwareness.com.