Art, culture, travel and adventure in Northern Colorado.
As a reminder, in October I got the first half of a two-part tattoo. This first bird is “singing” an image of daytime, and you can read its story here. Yesterday I went back to complete the pair… this time, with the bird singing an image of nighttime. Here’s how the new bird looked this […]
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It had been a while since I’d been struck with The Idea for a tattoo. I always have a handful of maybes in my mind, but when I get The Idea, I usually know it right away. That simply hadn’t happened, not since March. Then two things happened in quick succession. First, my awesome coworkers […]
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Recently an assignment from school inspired me to ask my grandmother Hazel a few questions that I don’t remember asking her before, including how she met my grandfather. It’s a lovely story that maybe I’ll tell you some time — possibly in a poem? One of the details that stuck out to me was that […]
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When I was growing up, I remember my grandmother saying that she looked “like the wreck of the Hesperus” whenever she felt disheveled, as in: “Oh honey, don’t take my picture right now, I look like the wreck of the Hesperus.” It’s a phrase I have always loved, have never personally heard anyone else say, […]
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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 […]
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I have officially gotten more tattoos (two) than haircuts (one) since March. (Sidebar: If you’ve been to a tattoo parlor, you know the good ones were some of the most sanitized places you could go, even before the pandemic. Getting a tattoo is not a zero-risk situation, but with everyone in masks and no more […]
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Let me introduce you to my pandemic tattoo. When Dan and I spent a week in Grand Junction, Colorado, we fell head-over-heels in love with Gambel’s quails. Neither of us had seen them before — they mostly live in the Southwest, but Grand Junction has a very desert-like climate — and there was a family […]
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A few weeks ago I shared my new tattoo inspired by the Russian folk story of Baba Yaga. (Read the full tattoo story, as well as its dedication to my new niece and nephew, in this post.) By now, I trust the process. As much as I love the basic line work on a tattoo, […]
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I have always loved myths and folk tales, and aside from perhaps Greek mythology, the Russian tales of Baba Yaga have long been my favorite. Baba Yaga is an enigmatic figure, an old crone-witch who gobbles up children and flies around in a mortar and pestle. In some stories she is three women; in some […]
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Sometimes I believe in magic. When I was debating my next tattoo I was torn between two options: a Russian nesting doll, or a piece of flash. (My artist Cambria has designed all of my tattoos based on my ideas, but she also has her own ideas and designs, “flash.” As someone who basically wants […]
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