My heroes had the heart to lose their lives out on a limb
And all I remember is thinking, I want to be like them
--Gnarles Barkley, Crazy
The next tattoo appointment is for October 9th. It took about a week for marco to come up with the artwork, a woman’s hand holding a sacred heart with a crown of thorns. As usual he turned it out and I approved the design. Marco has that old school Americana style that represents something I’m intimate with.
But,
I just picked up a copy of Bushido Legacies of the Japanese Tattoo by Takahiro Kitamura. It has open up my eyes to some truly beautiful work.
Publishing houses are sort of like record labels for books. Schiffer Books puts out a whole range of very good tattoo related books. Not the commercialized garbage that is flooding the streets with the popularity of tattoo culture.
Horitaka from State of Grace Tattoo in San Jose, CA is a master of his art. Marisa DiMattia at Needled. Blog has written an excellent write-up on Horitaka. Looking at his portfolio makes me what to get a full back tattoo, which I am now seriously contemplating. How do I go about getting an appointment at his studio? I guess it all starts with a call and an email.
After looking at the pieces in Bushido, I know I want MAJOR coverage, probably something pushing a half body suit. The formalized traditional Japanese look is so alluring but there is one little problem. I’m not Japanese.
Really
Yea, I just found out, now back to the tattoo
So the rough idea would be to have the Japanese style but with symbols that mean something to me, I’m seeing like a Japanese look but with Mexi-Cali symbolism. But now I know it may be a few years before that becomes a reality. The artist that does the work, has to be more than a good artist, he/she has to be someone who I am completely comfortable with. The artist must be someone who understands that this is major piece of our lives.
I might just be crazy.
