Groovy Ink

Ms Owner can be rather timid and skeptical when it comes to trying out new things. But for her recent birthday, she decided to do something entirely different, something out of her comfort zone and boy, did she go all the way for this one.
She got a tattoo of her favourite person on her back … not Mr Owner, but me! Not one of those teenie-weenie itsy-bitsy ones but a fairly sizeable portrait. Said that she needed to buck the trend and do something daring for once. Well, she only needed to look at me for inspiration cause ‘Daredevil’ is my middle name. But a tattoo of me is also good …

After sifting through a number of photos, the tattoo artist finally decided on a mugshot of smiley me with a black scarf. Personally, I would have chosen a more macho, no nonsense, no smiley face shot … after all, it is a tattoo and tattoos are meant to be rough, tough and intimidating. But I didn’t have any say in it, so I guess I’ll have to live up to the smiley face persona for the rest of my life.

She decided on a black and grey portrait, cause colour would have meant a lot of white patches on her back and she didn’t want that.
On appointment day, the assistant finished stenciling the sketch on carbon paper, which was then transferred onto her back. This gives an outline for the artist to work on. The tattooist, Joshua, worked non-stop and was quick with the drill and needle. Here’s a shot of Ms Owner trying to ignore the pain by biting on her lip and pretending to be in a ‘safe place’. No pain, no gain …There was a whole lot of drilling, piercing, prodding and scrapping which seemed to go on and on but she survived the ordeal without much ado. Mr Owner said she lost a little blood in the process but I think he’s just trying to scare us.
4 1/2 hours later, this was the end result. Groovy and very nice details, I must say. Not too cutesy … fairly rugged and individualistic representation of me. Thanks to the Black Cat artists for indulging in my owner’s whims and producing a genuine work of art. I’m impressed.
Wonder if they do tattoos for dogs as well … not for identification purposes but a real one. Heard that you would have to shave off the part being tattooed, which means having to go naked and furless! Not cool … maybe I will opt for a radical haircut with highlights instead.