Erika's Ink: Something Old and Something New

On Sunday, spring-like temperatures made being outside enticing. I was heading home when I spotted, from a good fifty yards away, a young lady approaching. Even from that distance, I noticed her bare calves and the discernable mark of a tattoo above her left ankle.

So, as she approached, I slowed down to talk to her. When I asked her about the tattoo, she indicated that I had stopped her before, which puzzled me, as I didn't recognize the ink. She then clarified that her right arm hosted a honeycomb sleeve, with bees. Since it was covered, I didn't recognize her.

I first met Erika in July 2009 and stopped her after she walked by me on the street. At the time, she said that the sleeve was a work in progress, and she'd rather not have it posted. I asked if I could take a picture anyway, and promised it wouldn't go live until she was done with the art.

I believe I ran into her (or maybe just saw her on the subway) last summer, and the sleeve still amazed me.

So here, on the last Sunday in February, she was again. Since her arm was covered, I asked if I could take a picture of the tattoo I had spotted on her ankle. She agreed, although she qualified it as one of her oldest tattoos:

Erika said this piece is about 15 years old and called it an omkara or aumkara. That would be an om symbol floating above a lotus flower.

She also said that she had not had any more work done on the sleeve and she didn't mind sharing it at this stage of the game. The artist is in Portland, Maine, so it's not easy to just go and get it periodically updated.

Here's the sleeve covering the upper two thirds of Erika's arm:

Definitely worth taking a closer look at the details:

The artist of this honeycomb and her "killer bees" is Chris Dingwell of Sanctuary Tattoo.

Thanks to Erika for sharing one of her older tattoos, as well as this phenomenal sleeve-in-progress!

Tattoorism: A Bee-autiful Tattoo from the Pacific Northwest

Among the several people who voted for my Thanksgiving tattoo last November, Jude sent along a photo of a tattoo she had recently received, on November 5, her first in fact.

I'll let Jude explain:

My married name is Beeman and next year will be our 20th anniversary. I had been searching for the perfect bee image for years.


The image is by William Wasden Jr from Alert Bay, BC. I found the bee online, one of a series of prints. I found contact info for William, and both called and sent emails twice over a two month period.  Unfortunately I did not hear from William. This due diligence did satisfy my tattoo artist, Shoko Sonoda, of Sumiya here in Vancouver and we proceeded with the work.

The tattoo measures 4" by 4" which Shoko thought would be the smallest  she would want to go to catch the details. The colours used are 'bee' yellow, black and white."

Thanks so much to Jude for sharing this tattoo with us here at Tattoosday. It's really quite lovely!

The Tattooed Poets Project: Rebecca Loudon's Bee Tattoo

The following tattoo was submitted by the poet Rebecca Loudon:

The tattoo was inspired by her favorite poem, "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" by William Butler Yeats:

The Lake Isle of Innisfree

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a-glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear the water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.

Rebecca adds that she will include the last two lines of the first stanza will be added "one of these days". The tattoo is on her right calf.

Rebecca added:

This tattoo was done by Tracy Zumwalt in Seattle, in December of 2008, shortly after my book Cadaver Dogs was published. Tracy used to work at Anchor Tattoo in Seattle, but now works privately by appointment only.

I have other tattoos, but I had been talking about the bee tattoo for 20 years. I was waiting for something, something to celebrated, something to mark. Bees have always been my totem animal and they are prominent in all my writing. Once the book was complete, I knew it was time. I wanted the tattoo to be a scientific rendering but I let Tracy do the artwork. The bee is on the outside of my right calf. The photo isn’t very good because it isn’t really a photo. I just put my leg on my scanner because I don’t own a camera. You can still see Tracy’s fine work in the scan though."

Rebecca Loudon lives and writes in Seattle. She is the author of 4 books of poetry, the latest being Cadaver Dogs from No Tell Books, several lyrics for songs for chamber orchestra and choir, and the libretto of a full length opera, Red Queen. She is a professional violinist and teaches violin to children. She has more than 6 and less than 10 tattoos. She practices writing at http://radishking.blogspot.com/

Head over to BillyBlog to read one of her poems.

Thanks to Rebecca for her participation in the Tattooed Poet's Project!

A Bonus: click here to listen to William Butler Yeats reading the poem that inspired this tattoo!