i believe that tattoos are a way of taking what is inside someone and turning it inside out for the whole world to see. i have several tattoos, done at great southern tattoo company in college park, MD, perforations in DC (which is now closed), state of the art tattooing in winchester, VA, and electric expressions in kenner, LA by several different artists (sandy parsons, jesse tseronis, misha, fish, charon). the tattoos i have collected so far are:
right arm:
*full sleeve of dragon scales surrounding the following designs. the idea is that the other tattoos are on the scales.
*mixed breed (some chinese, some celtic influences) dragon on top of bicep
*abstract black dragon on bicep
*dragon (sirrush) from the ishtar gate in babylon on underside of upper arm
*midgard serpent wrapping around my lower bicep, just above the elbow
*ancient druid symbol (as opposed to all those brand spanking new druid symbols) called a dragon's eye on inside of forearm
*abstract black dragon on outside of forearm
*dragon from _there's no such thing as a dragon_ (my favorite book as a child) on inside of forearm
*pre-columbian, south american feathered serpent on top of forearm
*abstract brush drawing of a dragon on bottom of forearm
*black dragon/ouroborous design around wrist (can be seen in scan of my forearm above)
left arm:
*i have almost completed my left sleeve, which has an elemental theme with a dragon for each of the five elements. there are a few more small pieces to finish, then touchup work throughout, and then it's done.
chest:
*japanese script for dragon
back:
*i have a full backpiece in progress. at this point, i have had three sessions, and the outline is now done. it is broken into two parts. the first part is a large chinese dragon wrapping around my back and neck and the second is a dragon coiled protectively around the earth. there is much more to come, but you can see a pic from the first session by clicking here or from the third session by clicking over here. if you look closely in the second pic, you can see the tail on my neck, which was what was done in the second session.
head/neck:
*abstract black dragon behind each ear
if you haven't guessed, i kinda like dragons. actually, i am one, since i was born in 1976 (check the placemat at your local chinese restaurant). i have always been fascinated by dragons and dragon myths. i am also intrigued by the fact that nearly every culture has some form of dragon in it's folklore. i have been collecting dragon images for years, and i am currently working on the plans for many more tattoos, but the absence of money and lack of any artistic ability tend to limit me. all of them will be either dragons or dragon related. (i'm going for a theme here) on a related note, none of my dragons will have eyes included, because of a chinese legend i came across in my studies. it says that if the eyes are painted into a dragon, it is free to leave the canvas. i apply that concept to tattoos, and i plan to make arrangements to have the eyes added to my dragons when i die so that they can be free again. i don't know if anything will happen, but i think that it is a beautiful concept.
#home away from home# #turn me inside out# #run me through# #scar tissue# #wherever you go, there you are# #leave me#
