What would you think of this as a tattoo?

[pegkerr]

It's something I've been thinking about for awhile. For years, I thought, "No way." Then, I thought, "Well, maybe. If I found the right design, something that summons up a powerful idea for me, and if it was something I could see living with for the rest of my life." Lately, I've been thinking that it would be the Tree of Life, the Holy Tree. This would evoke Yeat's poem, "The Two Trees," and of course Tolkien's tree mythology. This, of course, also all ties in to the hearts of stone and flesh, too. See my entry here.

Yesterday, I finally found a design that made me think, "Wow. Maybe."



I'm not sure I'm going to do it yet, but for the first time, I'm really seriously thinking about it. What do you think?

Edited to add: Of course, friends list, you must accept that I may still like the idea, and you may all think it's beautiful, but I may still NOT get it. As kijjohnson and I say all the time, "You can make different decisions than I do." This would be a huge thing for me, and I'm not quite sure I have the courage to do it.

But I must admit, the idea is looking more and more attractive. For the first time, I can actually imagine myself doing it.

As for WHERE I would put it, well, that is a problem that requires some thinking. How big do you think it should be? I think I would really like it centered. The back is one option, except I would like to be able to SEE it. I think I would like it to be covered much of the time, making it private for me, but somewhere I could also show it if I like.

The poem speaks of the holy tree growing within the heart, so over the heart makes sense, and it feels like the most right position to me. Kij tells me, however, that since there is little fat over the breastbone, it can be a very painful location. I think if I did it, I would do it right, getting it with colors instead of black and white.

Here is an article about the artist. I like the fact that his art has a Christian emphasis. I found the design on a cover of a quarterly devotions guide handed out by our church.

Rob, by the way, is rather appalled at the whole idea.

Edited to add again: rarelytame, who should know, tells me that the flowers are a bit too small and fiddly and would have to be adapted to something else that is simpler, which doesn't surprise me. I would be willing to see what an artist could do to simplify it but still keep it lovely. redbird warns me that perhaps these specific colors wouldn't be best; paler ones don't show up as well. I would be willing to consider other colors.

Comments

[weaselmom.livejournal.com]

Very pretty! If you can resolve the technical issues rarelytame brought up and decide on the location and work out the financial aspect of it (they're expensive little buggers), and if it resonates in your heart, do it and to hell with what anybody else thinks. At worst, many years from now you will look at it and say, "This marks a time in my life when I was courageous and did something I wanted to do and carried a beautiful, meaningful symbol in the very cells of my being." As for the pain, I got mine on the fleshy part of my back where there was lots of padding, and it just felt like a kitten was digging in with its tiny claw over and over and over. I wanted to smack the artist out of sheer irritation, but it wasn't painful per se - and I'm a pain weenie. Shawn had four hours of work done in one sitting, but he's a viking, so that doesn't help.

Here's something funny - I've been looking at your three "Tolkien Tree" user icons and thinking how much I'd like to have one of *them* as a tattoo!

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Which one? I've thought of using one of them, too, but I could never decide which one.

[weaselmom.livejournal.com]

That is precisely the problem. I could narrow it down to the long branches or the one without the bird. Without having the original art in front of me, it's hard to decide. The one without the bird seems most "Tree of Life"-ish to me. Ooh ooh! rarelytame needs to weigh in here again on the green ink issue. It seems to me that green fades quite a bit with time - is that correct? *Mine* certainly did.