Ink Art

Since there is currently nothing on TV that I find interesting (not being a Big-Brother-Watches-Dancing-Celebrities-in-the-Jungle kind of girl), we got Sky in hopes of there being something interesting to watch, such as good reruns on SyFy Channel. (Yes, it still physically hurts me to write “SyFy”.) Erm…nope. Now we have 500 channels of reality TV shows and other assorted crap to watch. There is a show, however, that I’ve become addicted to…and yes it is a reality show. The show is LA Ink/Miami Ink.

Aside from having an interest in tattoo art, I love the individual stories. I love the fact that people honor relatives’ memories, or put images on their skin that symbolise concepts such as strength, or courage. There are so many stories of people who have survived cancer, or a tsunami or 9/11 or Katrina, or just wanted to honor the memory of a grandfather or other relative who was an essential part of their lives. Granted, there are probably a lot of people out there who get tattoos because they are drunk, or posssessed of enough bad taste to want to get really horrific tattoos on their bodies. The show isn’t about these people.

The tattoo artists are stunning. Although I personally don’t like Kat Von D (especially after the whole Jesse James thing), the others are incredibly creative and technically amazing. Corey Miller especially. I would kill to have a tattoo done by him.

At present, I am relatively ink-free. I have a fox-shaded kanji (Kitsune, for my favourite hunter) on the first big vertebrae at the base of the neck. On one shoulderblade, I have a blue-green dragonfly with the kanji for “family”, which my sisters and neices all got as a memorial for my mother after her death. Something that I have always found strange is that getting a tattoo is quite addictive; I never intended to have more than one hidden one for Kit. And yet, as soon as I’d done it, I started thinking about having more. Enough time has passed that I have developed a full-blown jonesing for more ink, and I never expected to feel that way.

What do I plan on having next? I think I want to continue the kanji going down my spine and have the ones for strength, serenity and courage done vertically down the spine. I’m also thinking about an Alice In Wonderland tattoo, specifically a Cheshire Cat. If I’m brave enough, I’m considering doing it on my upper arm. Eeek! For me, anything that is difficult to hide is pretty hardcore. But still…I’m working on drawings of a seated Cheshire Cat, surrounded by designs that kind of fade into the rest of the arm, with the banner “Curioser and Curioser” underneath.

Perhaps. :) In the meantime, I get my fix by watching LA Ink every chance I get.