escritoireazul

December Talking Meme Master List

I'm going to bump the rest of the topics into January. Since I've been enjoying the (semi-)regular posting, please feel free to comment with any other topics you'd like me to address. I may also pull prompts from other people's posts, as I've seen a ton that are really interesting.

Day 18 prompted by

littledust: tattoos.

I love tattoos. I currently have two, one on my upper back from when I used to do SCA stuff (my clan sister and I got matching tattoos for the first war I ever attended, Lilies War back in the early 2000s), and one on my calf. It is the constellation canis major, and I got it before grad school as a reminder that there was so much more to life than what I was doing, and that it's okay to be the hound, not the hunter. (We are not those wielding the tool, we are the weapons being wielded.) (There's also a bit of fannishness to it, because Sirius, the brightest star, is in canis major.) Eventually, I will get more. Not entirely sure what I will get yet, but one thing I've been considering is Orion's belt on the inside of my wrist, because I am both hound and hunter. I haven't figured out the design yet, but I will at some point create one around "the stars, then, must contain us somehow in their burning" from Jessica Piazza's "The Astronomer and the Poet". There are so many other tattoos lurking. They'll mark my skin eventually.

I love the feeling of getting tattooed. To me, there's no pain, just pressure, maybe a little burning. (I don't actually feel things much when in contact with my skin, including electricity and heat, but that's really a different topic.) I love the sound of the machine, the way the artist (at least my favorite artist) understands I don't want to talk, I just want quiet. I breathe in, I breathe out, and needles bring beauty and blood to the surface of my skin.

I love tattoos on people. I find well-done tattoos incredibly attractive, and yes, I'm aware that tattoos are highly subjective. I love full sleeves, covered thighs, skin peeking out through stark ink. I love the traditions that different cultures have with tattoos. I love the stories in tattoos, often so personal, and how even when I put mine into words, no matter how much I say, it will never capture everything that rides in the ink decorating my skin.

If I was a better artist, if I could create more than just abstract art, if I could draw a straight line, I might have become a tattoo artist myself. It involves talking to people, touching them, and I'm not okay with that so much, but then there are those moments of peace between artist and living, breathing creation. Those moments I love.