Don’t Be Sad…

…go get a tattoo!!

Or in my case, be crazy and go get two tattoos on consecutive Sundays 🤣. I think that tattoos are a great form of self therapy. I have a pretty high pain tolerance, and I kind of like tattoo pain. In fact, sometimes I feel like it’s more tickly than ouchy. Several years ago I drew what I expected to be my first tattoo it looks like this:

For various reasons it didn’t end up being my first tattoo. Then I had a lot of trouble deciding where I wanted it. For various reasons it didn’t end up being my first tattoo. Then I had a lot of trouble deciding where I wanted it.The tree represents family the moon well I’ve always been into moons I suspect it’s because I’ve always been a little witchy. But what could be better the moons in a tree and cats. The cats represent my sister and I noticed that were separated by the tree which is distance but we’re holding tails because even though we’re separate we’re still together. Kind of cheesy, I know but that’s how I roll. I gave the design to my tattoo artist Jessica Corinne and she came up with this design which I absolutely adore:

Notice that the family tree is still there (but looks way cooler) and my sister and I are closer together. I feel like we are emotionally closer together. Also, notice that the tails make a heart shape…because there’s love there. I’m the black cat my sister is the white cat and while I think I actually lean on her more for support than she does me, I love love that the sister cat is leaning on my shoulder. I appreciate that it shows how much we support and care for each other. I also super love that it matches the rest of my tattoos with the black and white theme.

Something you probably don’t know about me is how much I love studio Gibley. Some of the movies bring me so much joy. My favorites are Howl’s Moving Castle and Spirited Away I wanted to touch you that prominently featured Calcifer from Howl’s Moving Castle. I love this character. He’s snarky but kind. Open and honest. And yet a little devious and mysterious. Then I thought it would be super fun to have soot sprites (Susuwatari) from Spirited Away around him. Jessica found this cool illustration with a lot of my favorite characters and tweaked it to make it her own. I never really wanted color tattoos, but I felt like this one looked way cooler in color. I am in love with how it turned out. I especially love the very concerned hamster who is Marshmello is on fire and the fact that Ponyo’s tea cup is green to match her bucket from the movie. Jessica did a really great job with the shading and color choice. I get a lot of compliments on this tattoo.