I have dozens of tattoo ideas that I have been weighing for years, hemming and hawing over their details and placement. However, the ideas that I end up acting on tend to come to me quickly, clearly, and completely. This new bit of ink is a great example. (Above: an awkward photo of the original stencil. Below, a blurry photo of the line work.)

As I have mentioned before, in the past few months my grandmother has had her life turned upside down — first a fall and a double fracture, then the hospital, a rehab facility, and ultimately an assisted living facility, where she’s living now. She is more or less settled into her new home now and her injuries are recovering day by day, but life is still complicated for her.

For example, due to her injuries and the pandemic, my grandmother was not able to participate in her own relocation at all. My mother and brother (graciously) managed all the entire move for her: organizing her things, packing the boxes, managing the movers, etc.

One item in particular didn’t survive the move: a wooden desk that my grandfather built while he was in high school. My grandmother had earmarked that desk for me to receive some day, but as with so much of what has happened in the past year or so, it was ultimately out of our control.

When I was a little girl, there was one thing about that desk that captured my imagination: the drawer-pulls were lions with rings in their mouths.

(Design and execution by Cambria at Magnetic, as usual.)

Earlier tattoo pictures and stories:
A Halloween tattoo for Hazel (October 2020)
My pandemic tattoo: the quail (September 2020)
Baba Yaga’s house in color (January 2020)
Baba Yaga’s house, line work (December 2019)
Nesting doll (August 2019)
Cuckoo clock, color (April 2019) 
Finch and satellite (February 2019)
Cardinal (November 2018)
Cuckoo clock, line work (September 2018)
Lavender and key (August 2018)