Thursday, June 7, 2012

my butterflies - growth, change, metamorphosis

it has been quite a year, and my loss that I didn't dust off the blog site sooner to capture some of it. better late than never. a lot to blog in the coming months... and here is a good place to start.

this new tattoo captures a lot of the theme of my last year. growth, transition, evolution, metamorphosis. I'm digging on the nature theme developing on my body, so decided to keep it going. I have such vivid memories of the life cycle of monarch butterflies from growing up, and they seemed to capture my mood nicely.

monarch caterpillars chomping away at milkweed. wrapped up tight in a chrysalis. rebirth. then butterflies frolicking on summer zinnias. I connected with Erik at idle hands just after the new year to give birth to this piece.

Erik originally sketched it to fill my right arm down to my elbow, but I wasn't ready to sleeve out yet. had a dream one night that it covered my side, and we made it so!

we started the inking in early feb, and just finished last week. 6 sittings, which for the size isn't too bad. least I forget anytime soon, however, this one hurt. a lot. my body didn't like anything about this trauma to my abdomen area. ouy! we just worked it slowly.

I'm so happy with the finished piece... if only it would finish healing, and stop itching. ha.