What influence did H.P. Lovecraft have on Ligotti?

In a phone conversation I had with Mr. Ligotti in the Spring of 1998, he explained that Lovecraft's fiction had had the most profound influence on his life rather than his fiction, as reading HPL's work was the impetus for Ligotti's writing career. Aside from this fact, Lovecraft really has had very little to do with the subject or style of Ligotti's writing. It was Edgar Allan Poe, Ligotti pointed out, who had the most intrinsic influence on his actual fiction. He has stated that the supernatural interests me only in its experiential aspect, its power to disrupt our lives, and its symbolic value in alluding to the monstrous insanity of all creation (Tekeli-li! 30); so perhaps it is this philosophy, inspired by some of HPL's work, that has had at least an indirect influence on the content of Ligotti's fiction.