As you can all see from the picture of me in my previous Halloween post, I have a rather large tattoo on my left arm. It's a specialized design, based on the art and architecture of the Scottish architect, Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Together with his wife Margaret MacDonald, they revolutionized the look and feel of Glasgow in the late 1800s.
Along with beautiful sculpted wooden roses (example on your left) and stunning Art Nouveau buildings, Mackintosh also created the most amazing chairs. Someday I hope to own an original Mackintosh chair. But I digress...
I love this tattoo for many reasons:
1. No one has one quite like it.
2. It incorporates both strong vertical lines and swooping art nouveau curves.
3. It features two irises, to symbolize the two women named Iris in my family: my aunt and my grandmother.
Last summer, while Miss Haws was having her own half sleeve worked on by Erika at Slave to the Needle, I plunked down my deposit to begin work on a half sleeve for my right arm.
My first design idea was very Asian-influenced with plum branches, sparrows, and cherry blossoms. But the idea kept gnawing at me and I woke up one day realizing the two different styles would look incongruous on my body.
I had Erika redesign the piece in an art nouveau style, but when I went in for the initial art review, I didn't love the look of it. It seemed too busy, too soft, and too much like so many other flower/bird motifs I had seen. I was set to start the ink in August but had to postpone due to my neck surgery. I also requested further revisions to the art.
Last night I walked into Slave to the Needle with many doubts. I was there to review the latest art in preparation for the first ink next week. When Erika sat down with me she confessed that she hadn't revised the drawing, or if she had, she'd misplaced it.
It didn't matter. I'd decided to hold off for now. When I do have my right arm done, the style will be very much in line with the left arm. There's no rush to do it now. But since I already had the deposit down, I asked if Erika would have a look at my back and see if she could do some free hand repair work.
We ducked into the back of the shop where I pulled off my blouse. Erika said she would have no problem realigning the art where it had gone whack-a-doo from all the back surgeries I've endured over the years. I did explain that there was a lot of nerve damage, and that it's possible I might scream profanities and ask her to stop once the needle hits the skin, but I was willing to try if she was. We booked four hours in January.
As I was waiting for my appointment reminder card, I thanked Erika for her flexibility. Her smart response stayed with me: "I do a lot of cover up work here," she said. "This is forever; I want you to like it."
That makes two of us.
