Tuesday, March 11, 2008

The Rise of The Phoenix...

I had a very interesting weekend. For many reasons. March 8th is a significant and momentous time for me. On one end, it is the anniversary date of being sexually assaulted. On the other end, it is International Women's Day. And in-between...it's my friend, Jon's birthday.

What I decided to do (starting in 2007) was to do positive things on this date...instead of contemplating serious things or wallowing in the darkness of such a heinous and cowardly act...so last year was Scotland and this year...was a new tattoo. Phoenix wings...to be exact....rising out of the original tribal design (that I got in 1999 when Bill passed away).

Tattoos are certainly not for everyone..my own personal reasons are reflective of my perception of life and art...they are for remembering...for the symbolism behind the physical representations...they remind me of who I am and who I was...they're stories, I guess...my stories....

Mark Cano from Tiger Rose Tattoo (in Pismo Beach) did this amazing (and brutal ;0) work. This guy is insane (but in a good way). He's full of integrity, intelligence and makes jokes about peanut butter when it's 3 in the morning while your chest is sore from his heavy hand under the needle. :0) (Yeah, thanks A LOT Mark!)

The work itself took about 5 hours. I will be honest folks....this hurt. A LOT! I tried mantras. I tried relaxing. I tried focusing on other things. Ahh, well. None of it worked...

We (my friend Josh was with me the whole time) met up at the tattoo parlor around 8 pm. Mark was working on a spider web for this girl who apparently was in the process of getting a divorce (her and I talked after her tattoo was finished). There were about 5 or 6 girls on the other side getting little stars behind their ears. They were cute...screeching and laughing the entire time. I was in observation mode and going within..somewhat prepping for the pain... :0)

Around 9 pm, we walked to some Thai joint that Mark likes and had dinner. At about 10pm, we headed back to the parlor and Mark started sketching. By 11 pm he was done and I was laying on the table....

The buzz of the needle slowly approached my chest and I braced myself, anticipating the first break of skin...

We went for more of a japanese style than a traditional style. I wanted to stray away from tribal because it represented part of my past. A phoenix is about death and re-birth. I wanted something that really represented this 'place' that I'm in right now...something that said visually: let go of the past, arise a new and embrace who you are now...

At about 4 am (repeat: five hours later), the upper part was complete. There was no way I wanted him to continue working on the rest of the tattoo. I decided I needed a second trip for that.

The colors came out really well. And my personal favorite is the colors above the cherry blossoms. Mark picked an interesting shade mixed with yellow and white to get that weird tinge that you see now. I don't know why, but it reminds me of the Tibetan flag...
And the cherry blossoms....I'm not really a 'girly-girl' but I really liked the idea of the cherry blossoms. It reminds me of that scene in The Last Samurai when Ken Watanabe's character whispers right before he dies,

"Perfect. They are all perfect."

Stay tuned for the rest of the progress...