Erika's Ink: Something Old and Something New

On Sunday, spring-like temperatures made being outside enticing. I was heading home when I spotted, from a good fifty yards away, a young lady approaching. Even from that distance, I noticed her bare calves and the discernable mark of a tattoo above her left ankle.

So, as she approached, I slowed down to talk to her. When I asked her about the tattoo, she indicated that I had stopped her before, which puzzled me, as I didn't recognize the ink. She then clarified that her right arm hosted a honeycomb sleeve, with bees. Since it was covered, I didn't recognize her.

I first met Erika in July 2009 and stopped her after she walked by me on the street. At the time, she said that the sleeve was a work in progress, and she'd rather not have it posted. I asked if I could take a picture anyway, and promised it wouldn't go live until she was done with the art.

I believe I ran into her (or maybe just saw her on the subway) last summer, and the sleeve still amazed me.

So here, on the last Sunday in February, she was again. Since her arm was covered, I asked if I could take a picture of the tattoo I had spotted on her ankle. She agreed, although she qualified it as one of her oldest tattoos:

Erika said this piece is about 15 years old and called it an omkara or aumkara. That would be an om symbol floating above a lotus flower.

She also said that she had not had any more work done on the sleeve and she didn't mind sharing it at this stage of the game. The artist is in Portland, Maine, so it's not easy to just go and get it periodically updated.

Here's the sleeve covering the upper two thirds of Erika's arm:

Definitely worth taking a closer look at the details:

The artist of this honeycomb and her "killer bees" is Chris Dingwell of Sanctuary Tattoo.

Thanks to Erika for sharing one of her older tattoos, as well as this phenomenal sleeve-in-progress!

Tattoorism: A Bee-autiful Tattoo from the Pacific Northwest

Among the several people who voted for my Thanksgiving tattoo last November, Jude sent along a photo of a tattoo she had recently received, on November 5, her first in fact.

I'll let Jude explain:

My married name is Beeman and next year will be our 20th anniversary. I had been searching for the perfect bee image for years.


The image is by William Wasden Jr from Alert Bay, BC. I found the bee online, one of a series of prints. I found contact info for William, and both called and sent emails twice over a two month period.  Unfortunately I did not hear from William. This due diligence did satisfy my tattoo artist, Shoko Sonoda, of Sumiya here in Vancouver and we proceeded with the work.

The tattoo measures 4" by 4" which Shoko thought would be the smallest  she would want to go to catch the details. The colours used are 'bee' yellow, black and white."

Thanks so much to Jude for sharing this tattoo with us here at Tattoosday. It's really quite lovely!

Another Sting In New Jersey!!!!!

A funny thing happened last night just shortly before I was going to come in and blog about the final combat brigade leaving Iraq.....or possibly more about the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque".....or even about the latest poll that reveals that 18% of the American population (what geniuses) thinks that Barack Obama is a Muslim (not that there's anything wrong with that).

I had ideas floating around in my head while I finished up watering the shrubs and plants in the front yard, just shortly before 8:00pm last night.....and then I was stung multiple times by a bee, or possibly plural "bees". It happened so quickly I don't know how many attacked me.

So pardon me for the somewhat misleading title to the entry....so what, you were expecting a story about a crooked New Jersey mayor being led away by the Feds in handcuffs? This is a quasi-political blog, and I reserve the right to shift gears whenever I wish....or at anytime I'm in discomfort or pain.

Anyway....while watering a small patch of flowers I felt something crawling on my leg; it was getting dark and I motioned to brush it off and it stung me. I yelled some choice expletives, one of which rhymed with "Brother Tucker"....and I was stung again....and again...and again, on various body parts.

So I ran back to the house, swearing and cursing a blue streak because of the all the stinging that took place in a matter of seconds....I got into the house....and I felt something crawling around in my teeshirt.

It was at least one of the culprits...a bee, the little bastard. I took off my shirt and threw it in the washing machine, and doused to little SOB with hot water. But it didn't kill him, he started to tread water. Here ya go...have some Clorox!

Die!!!!!

At that point I sat down to try and figure out what happened.

I did nothing to provoke an attack, and it happened after sunset- so there goes the wives' tales that say bees are dormant after dusk and won't attack unless they feel threatened. And actually this was the second time I had been stung in a week; last Friday one of the same species stung me on the foot while sweeping the front porch. there was a new nest in the aluminum siding of the house, I discovered, and took it out with a combination of pesticide, a bug zapper, and flypaper.

And like the previous attack, this one was unprovoked....I still don't know if it as more than one bee, or if there was a nest in that spot that isn't visible.


The bees are a wild species....I don't know what kind, and have been unable to get a definitive match from online research...they look similar to yellow jackets, but are smaller (maybe half as big), and have a real bad attitude.

I sat down after the attack, but wasn't really sure how many times I was stung. There is a theory John Madden had about football players with multiple injuries; you can only really hurt one place at a time....and he was right. So after a inventory of the stings I determined that I was stung four times in a matter of 10 seconds or so....my wrist, my thigh, the back of my head, and on my kneecap. The knee hurt the worst, right on the bony area with no fat, thin skin, and lots of nerves...and it still stings today.

I was wearing a baseball cap, and was stung in the area between the cap and the plastic adjuster. One bee flew up the leg to my shorts and stung my left thigh; I'm beckoning the spirit of Richard Pryor and thanking the powers that be for not letting that bee keep moving up my shorts and stinging my....OK, this is a family blog.

The one bee that flew under my shirt never stung me on the chest or back. He was probably disoriented from the darkness.....and it led to his watery demise.

I recovered his lifeless corpse...and will take him to Cook College today to se what kind of species he is, and what I can do about them.

Luckily, it was only four stings....it's recommended that for 10 or more you get to an ER, ASAP. And I never swelled up, or showed an allergic reaction, or had anything life threatening....just sore in one or two spots, still.


So...that's the scoop. I really wanted to break away from political discussions anyway. I really didn't want to do it this way.

Later!

J.R.'s Five Elements

At the end of August, I spent a couple of minutes on the R train with J.R., who has quite a few tattoos. I didn't have time to take notes, just photos, and I hoped that she would e-mail me with all the details of her work. Fortunately, she did. So, what follows is her explanation of the tattoos, with a little bit of friendly editing.

"My left arm? Dedicated to the five elements...as I see them to be. Earth, Air, Water, Fire and Friendship.

The ants (done by Roni from Hidden Hand Tattoo in Seattle) represent Earth.


Ants are the closest social structure to mirror humans. They have no real strength individually, but together can achieve so much. As a human, I feel it is destined to feel lonely and when I got the tattoo, I came to terms with that and even found beauty in it. I want to feel less like an ant in the sense that there is something that I'm "supposed" to do and if I don't do it I'll be punished or kicked out of the colony, so to say. I want to feel more that there is a greater purpose for my life (or at least one that reflects me as an individual and not what society tells me to be) and that with the help of others I can realize that to it's fullest potential.

The clouds and birds (done by Jeff Cornell owner/artist at Hidden Hand Tattoo) represent Air.


There is a Leonard Cohen song called "Bird on the Wire" that I think is one of the most beautiful songs ever written. I feel the lyrics of the song so deeply and feel that they express such a core sense of who I am. Always, trying to be free. I aspire to someday be free instead of always trying and the tattoo is an attempt to remind myself that the feeling of trying is also a choice just as easy as the feeling of being free is a choice. The past tense nature of the words remind me to be light and free as a bird...

The blue tattoo on my inner arm (done by a girl in her apartment 10 years ago and I can't even remember her name) represents Water.


It is a play on yin and yang as well as a the symbol for Cancer, which is my astrological moon sign. Cancer is ruled by the moon and your moon signs make up your emotional nature. So, I feel this sign very strongly and luckily balances my Leo sun sign which I will get to more later. The symbol has stars instead of circles like a traditional yin yang because I wanted it to represent the universe within myself versus me questioning the universe around me. I got the box around it to express the feeling of being limited due to the human mind. I wanted to remind myself that any limitations are just an illusion and the healthy balance is one in which I'm learning from my experiences but also pushing my own boundaries.

The red and orange tattoo on my outer arm was done by the same forgotten artist though I will mention I was one of her first clients and that she was the perfect person for the job due to her own self-exploratory nature. She provided a healing space in which I was able to have an out of body experience.


The tattoo represents Fire. It captures my before mentioned fire sign of Leo, which is ruled by the sun. It is also Buddhist themed using a Tibetan mantra Om Mani Padme Hum which roughly translates to "the jewel is in the lotus," which to me is a beautiful way to live life. The lotus roots reach far into the muck and swamp but emerge with a beautiful flower on top. The tattoo is an attempt to capture the notion of living in the world yet being separate from it, as to not get burned or be consumed by it. The circle in the tattoo represents the sun and myself and the red is the part of myself that struggles to find my way in the world.

The beehive (done by Louis Barak here in NYC) is a tribute to Emer and Naomi, two best friends of mine, and the tattoo as a whole captures what I consider to be the fifth element, Friendship...It bears the lyrics of The Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends." We lived together in Seattle and called our lovely house the Beehive. We used to listen to The Beatles A LOT...though now I'm more of a Stones fan.

There are two bees buzzing to represent them


and the three forget-me-not flowers represent each of us. Emer and Naomi have known me the longest and have seen me through thick and thin. They mean the world to me and I love them both like sisters. I know in my heart that we will know each other forever."

A big thanks to J.R. for sharing her tattoos with me on the subway and then writing so eloquently about them for us to read here on Tattoosday!