Tattoos and healing

I love tattoos and appreciate their artform and the canvas on which they are placed. I find it fascinating that people, including myself, sometimes wear chapters of their life in artwork on their bodies. Regardless of the pictures, I enjoy seeing how ink and a great tattoo artist can create such amazing work and to hear the stories behind the art. I also find it can be a bit healing when representing something so special.

I am so excited but also a bit emotional...My most recent tattoo is very personal to me and I have wanted it for awhile. It is a memorial piece, honoring a very difficult time in my life and after several years of waiting, it is finally being done. This is in memory of the baby I miscarried, my Grandma who died the day after I miscarried, and my trip to Malawi and Zambia that helped a part of me heal.

The first stage started a few weeks ago and was the scroll work on the outside of my arm. I went to Greg Pugh at White Lotus Tattoo in Laguna Hills and he is amazing. It was so fun to have Greg freehand it on my arm before and while he was tattooing. I usually have a vision of what I want and I love when the tattoo artist flows with it and freely creates what they see as well. I couldn't be more happy with it. For me this scroll work represents the journey I have been on; the changing directions or lack thereof at times, the flow and the twists and turns, the evolving and everchanging emotions, the beauty and the pain.

The second piece was finished Tuesday night and it was the rainbow plumerias and the dancing woman. Plumerias are my favorite flowers and remind me of trips I took with my Grandma to Hawaii as well as how when leaving, we throw our leis into the ocean in hopes of our return. Just as I look forward to seeing my Grandma and Grandpa again someday. The dancing woman comes from some beautiful artwork I purchased in Zambia. She represents the amazing and beautiful women I met in Malawi and Zambia who displayed so much grace, dignity, and strength, and who inspired me during my struggle then, and continue to inspire me today.

My tattoo is not finished, there are a few more things to be added and I can't wait. But, as much as I am in a hurry to have it done, I also find myself taking my time, savoring it, and allowing it to flow and reveal itself to me as I go along. It is almost as if each step and each piece is more personal, specific, emotional, and.....well, healing for me, and I am finding I am now ready for that.

With love and ink.....