On the verge...

I finally did it: I got my tattoo consulted and priced. I swear I've been wanting to do this for YEARS since I've been wanting to finish my back tattoo forEVER. I finally went and talked to someone about it. I wanted to go to a certain artist that ended up being booked for the evening and I was very disappointed as I've been thinking of doing this forever and I finally made it into Greenville. Well...I decided to give another artist I've been to a chance. I've never had work done by him but my friends have and he's a great artist. Works very quickly and does other artwork other than tattoos...which more and more I'm deciding is a requirement of my tattoo artists. I think every artist should have several outlets...other wise, I find myself a little concerned and skeptical of their skill. There are a lot of tattoo artists out there who somehow got into the business who, simply said, SHOULD NOT BE IN THE BUSINESS. It's sad since it IS the business of permanent body art...and that should NOT be something that is taken lightly or handed to someone who does not have some SERIOUS artistic ability to begin with. I could go on and on and on and on (as I'm sure you well know) but I'll just leave it with that. I don't like unartistic tattoo artists. The concept scares me. I've had two bad tattoo experiences. I'm not having a third. PERIOD. End of story.
I found myself extremely anxious and nervous waiting to talk to the artist in the tattoo parlour. For the above reason; I don't want another mess up. Especially on a huge portion of my back. It scares me to death. I don't want to be disappointed again. But once I talked to the guy, I felt SO much better. I prayed beforehand that God would make it clear whether this was the right guy to go to for my tattoo or not. And immediately the dude proved himself by recognizing the artist of the picture I brought as a reference (not something a non-artist could do) and then I started remembering my encounters with him before; and he IS an artist outside of the tattoo world. And he's a GOOD artist.
I'm very excited to finally get this underway. It's been a very long time. I'm ready for it to be finished so I can move on and enjoy it as a finished piece that tells the story it was intended for.
I'm sure I've used this piece as a blog photo before...but that's okay. It speaks volumes to me.

Photo: Alphonse Mucha via Kevin Sprague