Tattoo You? Aww come on!

Well ok, maybe not. I didn't get my first till I was forty. I always wanted one, but I couldn't ever find just the right thing. After all, it would be there forever... Forever is a long, long time. I haven't ever particularly cared much what anyone thought about me. I figured anyone who would judge me badly because I had a tattoo probably wouldn't like what is inside me either, so appearance wasn't much of a consideration. I just wanted it to be an image that said something about who I am, and what I like. So I looked. And looked... and looked some more. Do you have any idea how many horse drawings/gifs/jpegs/paintings/etc, ad naseum there are on the internet. Well I do. I probably spent several hundred hours searching and viewing pictures. I narrowed it down to a few favorites and let them stew in my brain for a while. I finally chose this:

It's on my right upper arm. I have to admit, (though I didn't know any better at the time), that I stole this design. The original did have different feathers, but for the most part, it is someone elses' design. I found it on an art group. I can't remember which one, but for the record, I have since asked for permission for all the designs I have considered using.

This design puts together two of my favorite things, horses and birds. I love the colors Lesa used. I need to take some new pictures, but it really hasn't changed much. It is still very vibrant, and I still love it.

The second one was about a year later. I had seen a picture online that I fell in love with. It was a Vavra photo. I wrote them to find out what a print would cost. Uh... yeah. $500. Sooo, instead, I hopped on Ebay and got a copy of the book cheap. Nice book by the way. I adore his pictures, and this book is just full of very creative shots. Here is the actual picture.

It fit right in with my theme of feathery horses. I took this picture, along with a ton of other pics and drawings showing anatomy to Lesa, and she drew up a design. She is an amazing artist. I watched her sketch a phoenix on a guy's arm as a pattern, and it took her about a minute. It was beautiful. I can't believe that she takes a picture and actually translates it onto (or into rather) skin. I am in awe of her talent. It does take her forever though. You should be prepared to wait, but the wait is well worth it. Here is the finished tattoo:

This is not a great picture, but it's the best one I have. Maybe I will get some new ones ;) This one is on my left arm. Now I have matching horses! Woot! My poor MIL about had a heart attack. I think she has gotten used to it now, which is a good thing, because I am nowhere near done yet. I still have lots of skin to use up. I love my horses. They make me happy.

The third tattoo was not what I had in mind. Since my mother had recently passed away, I had thought I wanted to have her and my dad tattooed as a memorial. I spent several days going through all of the pictures I had of them, and found two that I liked. I went in and showed Lesa my pictures. She was not comfortable doing them because she didn't think they would translate well. They were very old pictures, and there was not enough contrast and shadow to give a good result. I like that she is willing to tell me that my idea just won't work. She explained why she felt that I would be disappointed with the result, and was very nice about answering all my questions, and went into great detail about how the depth she felt was needed for portraits couldn't be done with what she had to work from. She is a hoot. She's about 30, and talks a mile a minute. She's very funny.

Anyhow, I asked her if she liked orchids. My mother raised them, and there were several blooming in the greenhouse. I love them. They are such delicate and strange flowers. The colors are just fantastic too. She said she loved them and had a few growing at her house, so I asked if she would like to do orchids for my tattoo. Good lord, you would think I had come in with a big bag of hundred dollar bills. She was jumping up and down. I told her how much space and how much money, and she told me to come back in about two weeks. Well, two weeks apparently wasn't enough time for her creative self. I got there and she was late. This is typical, and expected. It's safe to show up a bit late and know you won't be wasting her time :-) She was upset that she hadn't gotten the drawing done, and said it would only take her a little time. I waited a while, and she got more upset, so I told her that maybe it would be better to try next week. I trust her implicitly, having given her free rein over my arm, but I didn't think it was an excellent idea to have her work on me when she was less than happy. We waited a week. Here is my favorite of the four. I promise I will take a picture of the entire tattoo, but take a peek at this for now.

My mother loved this tattoo. She would grab my arm and run her finger over the flowers and say how pretty they were. She really loved her flowers. I miss her a lot. This one is on my left arm, below the yellow and blue horse, running down to my upper forearm. So, I feel good about this "tribute" to my mother. Anyone who knew her would appreciate how much she loved this tattoo. She told me that she wished I had gotten them all earlier, because she would have gone with me and gotten one of her own. That made me cry. Did I mention how much I miss her? I still can't believe she is gone....

The latest one is also one that was a favorite of my mother. She didn't get to see the finished product, but she did love this guy in the book. She loved fairies and strange beings. She was very artistic, (sheesh, what happened to my share of the art gene anyway?) and always liked things that were a little different. This guy is different. He is the Fairy of Honesty. He can see into your heart. He is in the upper middle of my back, and is the start of a full backpiece with other fairies. It is going to be awesome when it's done. It will take quite a while though. I am a weenie, and can't take more than a couple of hours at a time. This picture is at about 3 weeks, and it is still healing. The colors will be more vibrant when it finishes healing. I think he is pretty cool. My hubby hates him. Doesn't like to have something stare at him LOL!!! Here is a picture of the actual drawing. She changed the colors a bit as part of the overall plan, but he mostly looks like the drawing :-)

It's finished peeling pretty much, at least for the first round. It will peel again though.

If any of you are thinking about getting a tattoo, I say go for it. First, find a *good* tattoo artist. Look at their portfolios. Check out their studio. Make sure it is clean and licensed. I think tattoos are great. Your own personal art, and when they are well done, they really are works of art. Poorly done, they can be a major regret. They can be dangerous too. You can get dead if the artist doesn't sterilize things or use new sterile tubes and needles. And if you are afraid of the pain, well I am not going to lie. It doesn't feel like a swedish massage, but come on. Pain is relative, and yes it "hurts", but it doesn't hurt that much. That said, there are certain areas that i will not have tattooed again. The elbow was an adventure in pure, nerve burning pain. I was shocked at just how much that did hurt. I almost threw up. It didn't help that it was towards the end of a 5 hour session and my endorphines were apparently all used up. Now that I have scared you to death, I say go for it! Life is too short for regrets :-)

I will update the pictures soon, I promise, so check back.