Tattoo

I’ve been wanting a tattoo for some time. I have small tattoos of the words Jesus and Hope in cursive on the insides of my wrists that I got several years ago. This time, I knew I wanted flowers, maybe a sleeve or half sleeve. Its been on my mind for some time. Recently, I got the idea to have Leah’s flowers tattooed. I approached her and she was favorable, but hesitated about actually designing one.

A friend told me about art student, Freja, at Mash Up Gallery. A couple of weeks ago I decided to stop by to see her. She said she could look at Leah’s art and design something, a vine down my arm. Leah reminded me that her art is copyrighted so I assured her I would pay her.

Yesterday I went to Mash Up. Freja looked at Leah’s flowers and created the most beautiful vine design. She measured and fitted it to my arm and made a stencil.

Then she got started. Someone asked me if it hurt. I would say it was uncomfortable. At times, very uncomfortable. But not painful.

The design process took about and hour and a half. The tattoo itself a little over an hour. And then it was done!

I love it!

We will add color in a few weeks after my skin settles down.

Someone I love made a comment the other day on facebook. She said, “shaved hair, shooting guns, now a tattoo, who are you?” I reminded her that she forgot the belly button ring. And kickboxing. My true answer is this. On this healing journey, I have awoken the badass side of myself. This is an expression of me. Feminine, a little unpredictable, and fully badass.