I have one resolution this year, and it’s to get a tattoo. I’ve waffled long enough.
Some progress I’ve already made over the past few years is to find the tattoo artist I want. This was no small task. Any time I saw anyone with a tattoo I liked, I’d ask where they’d gotten it done, and I kept a list. I have a preference for a non-male artist, though I was willing to be flexible on that; but also I want flowers, and a lot of times I’d be looking through an artist’s portfolio and it would be all, like, skulls and snakes and SpongeBob. It’s hard to tell from that how they’d do with the nice pretty flowers I wanted.
Then one of my co-workers came in with some new flower tattoos of exactly the sort I was looking for, and it turns out the artist SPECIALIZES in the realistic flower tattoos I like. And also she is so booked up, she is not even adding to her waiting list anymore. If, however, you are on her email list, she will email when she has cancellations; I don’t know how likely it is to get one of those appointments because I haven’t yet tried, because I’m not yet ready. I am still dithering. I am dithering about LOCATION and I am dithering about ART. I wonder if you would want to discuss this.
For LOCATION I am considering:
• side of calf
• upper arm / shoulder cap
For ART I am considering:
• rose
• peony
• tulip
The main issue for location is this: if I love having a tattoo and I want MORE of them, what I would want would be an entire bouquet on my upper arm and up/over/around the shoulder. But I don’t want to START with that, because that’s wildly ambitious and time-consuming and expensive for something I don’t even know if I’ll like. If I started with one single flower on my upper arm / shoulder cap, it would have to be with the ability to expand it into a bouquet, and that means compromising the design, both of the flower and of the bouquet.
So I could instead do one flower on the side of my calf. I don’t have any grand plans for the calf. And I have seen some cute tattoos where there’s, say, a tulip that starts at the ankle, like it’s growing out of your sock; I don’t know that I want that much whimsy, but it’s an option. Or I like the idea of a big rose or peony there, NOT seeming to grow out of the sock. And so the calf seems like the perfect solution—except that when I think of it, I feel some disappointment that it’s not my upper arm / shoulder cap.
I have to tell you that it only just now occurred to me as I was writing this that I have TWO shoulders/upper-arms. I could get a tattoo on ONE of them now, and then if I love it do the big grand project on the OTHER one. This changes everything: TWO arms! I have TWO!!
The main issue for the art is this: it’s hard to decide, when I love all the options. The rose is so classic it’s cliché, but that’s one of the things I like about it: it’s a TATTOO-tattoo. Plus, roses are the kind of thing where conceptually I roll my eyes, but then I see a real rose and you guys have you LOOKED AT A ROSE THEY ARE SO BEAUTIFUL. Peonies are also gorgeous, and have a similar vibe to a rose while not being a rose, and if I want whimsy I can add a darling round little peony bud. And I love tulips, and I’m predominantly Dutch so that’s pleasing too. A tulip is not as great as a bouquet-starter, but would be perfect for the side of the calf, especially with that nice stem; and I could do TWO tulips, which I think makes it a little less whimsical than just one straight tulip growing right up the calf.
Based on how I feel when I imagine deciding on each flower in turn, I think the most likely is peony on upper arm (ONE of my upper arms!) and second most likely is tulip(s) on calf. I would be very interested to hear YOUR tattoo thoughts—for my tattoos, of course, but even more for your own if you are planning one.