Mami Ink: The Art

Many of you who follow me on The Twitter and Pinterest know that I have been diligently trying to get my thoughts in order so that I can get inked in memory of my mami. This has been a longtime in coming. From the moment shortly after she passed away last February I knew I would do this. After thinking about it, I spoke to my brother who is not only an awesome guitar player with the band A Dying Regime but he is a very talented artist and soon to be professional graphic designer. In typical "us" fashion, he set out to do some research and delivered the devastating news that the tattoo that I originally thought about getting would not be a good choice.

I wanted a gardenia. It was one of mom's favorite flowers and my grandma used to actually call her that. But, after researching it, my bro explained that my skin probably would absorb the white in and then I'd be left with a crappy tattoo. So off to the drawing board I went.

It wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that the thought hit me. Birds of paradise. Mom loved the flower because it was unique. She was all about things that were different, never wanting to just go with the crowd. I started researching and created my cool Ink board on Pinterest. The same day I decided that I would work with this particular flower, I went to the backyard and realized I was being sent a message. By the gazebo, mami had planted birds of paradise. Last year, after a couple of freezes, the plant died. Or so I thought. On the same day that I made the decision I step outside and find this:

So off I went to try and put things together. Let me start by saying that I am talented at many things! Art and music are not on that list (much to my chagrin and disappointment). I guess God knew what He was doing because if I did have those talents, I would be too big for my britches (question: what are britches and, why don't I have any in my closet?).

So I did what a creative person would do. I printed then cut and paste stuff the way I thought it might look. I like to call this the "concept" stage:

Following that I sent it to one of my very talented friends who wanted to show me what the quotes would look like in the tattoo (except she didn't have anything good to go off of):

Upon the recommendation of a friend, I sought out Jorge from Trinity Tattoo Company in town. I walked in after a play date and gave him my rendering. He told me he'd draw something up and get back to me. After a little back and forth (and some Pinterest references and viewing some of Jorge's awesome work) he got it beautifully:

Once the man had it right, I had no more excuses other than a few thoughts on fonts. Which of course meant I had to send him two pages worth of my quotes in a variety of fonts for inspection. Well, are all set to go. I'm out of excuses other than a lingering fear that this is going to hurt. But, I went through 40 hours of labor so, this is going to be cake, right?

If you are in town and want some ink, go check out the boys at The Trinity Tattoo Company. Be sure to tell them Mami sent you (who knows, they might take it easy on me). Now that I've shared, got any ink you want to tell me about?