COQUILLE — Lisa Johnson has won awards for her artwork — best in show and first place at the Coos County Fair.

The 32-year-old Fairview resident took her natural ability and has made it work for her financially. After completing an art program at Southwestern Oregon Community College and specialized training, Johnson became a tattoo artist.

Her award-winning pencil drawings are now depicted on skin instead of paper.

“It’s perfect,” Johnson said. “You’re making money while you’re making art.”

Johnson began her career three years ago and in March the 1995 Coquille High School graduate opened her own shop, Lisa Johnson Tattoos, inside a 31-year-old business, Judy’s New Image Hair Salon & Spa in Coquille.

“As a facility, its setup is perfect,” Johnson said.

She honed her talents under the guidance of SOCC instructors, including Bill Blumberg, who taught her calligraphy, and now-retired Carol Vernon, who taught her basic design.

After college graduation in 1998, Johnson took a course at Attractive Touch Salon in Bandon, where she apprenticed under Dawn Bauer, a cosmetic makeup artist, for a year.

Johnson interned for 350 hours and did 50 tattoos before she could receive her state license.

She’s done one tattoo on herself, the initial “K” on her foot, which stands for her daughter’s name, Kaytlin. She did the tattoo to test a single needle instrument, technically called a sharp or liner, to see if she would want to use it on clients.

“Man it hurt,” she said.

Johnson now uses a three-needle liner, which can be less painful. The more needles, the more space is covered in less time, since each needle pricks the skin simultaneously. The tools can hold up to 11 needles. Ones with more needles are called magnums.

Her favorite tattoos are of living things such as flowers and koi, much like the drawings she used to enter in the fair. People choose designs that mean something to them personally. She just completed a blue star on Coquille resident Jeff Dieu’s forearm. The star is the logo for his favorite football team, the Dallas Cowboys.

“Ninety percent of what I do is custom tattooing — making things look real,” Johnson said.

Tattooing involves a lot of close-up detail work. It can be time-consuming. Johnson has to watch it so she doesn’t get tired, and so the procedure isn’t too painful for the client.

“It takes two and a half to three hours for a good-sized tattoo,” Johnson said. “Then you get to a point where it’s like, ‘ah, this is starting to hurt.’”

Johnson said the longest she’s ever spent creating one tattoo was eight hours. She was hired to draw over an existing tattoo. It was a tribal tattoo — a single black line that is drawn in a specific design.

Designs are available in a book in Johnson’s waiting room. She also has photographs of tattoos she’s done in the past.

This logger’s daughter’s dream is to someday open a tattoo business of her own. She’s not concerned about her only local competitor, Lucky 13 Tattoo in North Bend, and said she definitely wants to stay in the Bay Area.

“Once I get my name out there I want to open my own shop in Coos Bay on Highway 101,” Johnson said.