By IAN CRAWFORD • icrawford@bakercityherald.com

Lindsay Whitney’s tattoo parlor in Baker City, Beloved Tattoo, is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it niche at 1917 Court Ave., down the block from where the metal zoo animal sculptures stand guard.

Although Whitney didn’t take up tattooing until she was 27, her inspiration is a painter, Maxfield Parrish, who worked in Baker City, on canvas rather than skin, close to a century ago.

“My mom had a print of his that I really enjoyed,” Whitney said. “I love Maxfield Parrish, just an amazing light source artist and painter. I don’t tattoo like Maxfield (painted), that’s for sure.”

Parrish was skilled in creating moody, atmospheric paintings, adorned with fair muses reposed in flowing robes.

Whitney’s waiting lounge rings true to that aesthetic, where her well-kept plants and furniture make for the definition of posh. You might wonder who will be feeding you grapes and painting you like “one of your french girls” as you listen to the occasional yelps and grunts inherent to the art.

“I went to school a couple times, and went to the Art Institute in Seattle last,” Whitney said. “I just wasn’t really into the computer end of it, I just wanted to study fine art. But, then I got pregnant with my son, and put everything on pause.”

The impact to her life spurred a change of trajectory for Whitney.

“I went to Idaho and started a (tattooing) apprenticeship, two to three years,” she said.

Once she’d developed a talent for it she worked enough to put down for her shopfront, opening Beloved Tattoo in downtown Baker City 2015.

Her hard work, demeanor and style didn’t go unnoticed, either.

Last year she was included in the Best Things Oregon travel magazine among the top 10 private tattoo parlors in the state.

Whitney credits the connections she’s made with her Baker clients, who campaigned on her behalf.

“I was humbled and honored to be included with the people on that list, for sure, they were definitely some world-renowned shops in Oregon,” she said.

Whitney said she’s also gratified that, with roughly 500 clients per year, she’s been able to make a living doing the art she loves.

She’s currently booked into March.

Whitney said some of her favorite designs involve vegetation.

“I really enjoy doing botanical stuff, so I do a lot of illustrative style — botanicals, flowers, plants, trees and stuff like that,” she said.

Her Instagram account and Facebook page both keep a log of some of her work.

Although tattoos were once known as a fixation of youth, Whitney said her clientiele defies that stereotype.

“Most of my clients are between the ages of 30 and 45, and probably 70% women,” she said.

As for her own tattoos, Whitney pulls up her right sleeve.

“My arm is dedicated to my grandmother, who hated tattoos,” she said with a smile. “It’s just kinda funny, she was super Catholic, so I have a lot of Catholic imagery. I really just like getting tattooed.”

The work from other tattoo artists is meticulous, naturally, featuring images with near photographic quality imbued neatly to her arm.

Some of her work, however, is purely service, and less a chance to be creative so much as make invisible an obvious mistake.

“Gosh, coverups,” she groaned a bit at the mention, humorously adding that among the more frequent edits she’s made were names once treasured but later regretted, as well as tattoos that were unintentionally, or intentionally, phallic.

“People get those a lot,” she said.

If you’re interested in getting a tattoo (or making one go away), you can learn more at Facebook.com/BelovedLindsay or instagram.com/ladyloohoo/.

Whitney’s shop is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“I was humbled and honored to be included with the people on that list, for sure, they were definitely some world-renowned shops in Oregon.”

— Lindsay Whitney, owner of Beloved Tattoo in Baker City, one of the top 10 private tattoo parlors according to Best Things Oregon travel magazine