Sunday Vlog

To see a clearer photo please visit the Dr Morse Facebook page.

Turtle

This afternoon I got two hours done on a new tattoo! This adorable little turtle that Char/Nursey at Dr Morse Inc had drawn up randomly and I haddd to have. Charlie really wanted it too but he said he'd pay for it as my early Christmas present. The best. He's on the frontish of my left arm, above my elbow ditch. Inner arm definitely hurts a lot more than outer arm did, but as usual it's staying still that's the worst part for me. So restless. Although I was quite impressed by how much Tinkture's product Rapture helped in relaxing my legs and other arm. I might write more tattooey stuff after my next session in a few weeks but wanted to show you how he's coming along so far.

I'm off to enjoy the sun at a barbeque. Have a great weekend!

Home & Living

Here's a few photos from my last phone import, starting with cute snaps of a sleeping Wallace. He's his same old snuggly self, and his cuddles are much appreciated. I hung one of my belts off our closet door the other day, and as it stops just above the floor it's become his new favourite toy.

My tattoo's colour is a few weeks old now, and I adore it. It's pretty difficult to get a clear photo of your own arm, so this was my best attempt! It's all healed up obviously, but I still put a few drops of TINKture on it from time to time because I love the smell. I have to say I was sceptical of the Twitter hype about this product, but Charlie's been using it for his new tattoo and it really has been working brilliantly. Definitely wont be missing the smell and stickiness of Bepanthen.

Charlie's new tattoo is a work in progress, also being done by Simon Morse. It's based on the art of Takashi Murakami, whom both Charlie and Simon are fans of. I believe it's going to contain 24 different colours, so it's going to look pretty amazing!

One of my favourite recent app discoveries is NightCap, which allows you to adjust the exposure and whitebalance of your photos, and also includes a self timer setting.

My art and computer desk is now in our lounge again rather than the bedroom which is so much better, especially since it's still winter temperatures here most days. Excuse the average photo above, but that gives you a look at where I'm typing to y'all from! I just moved the plant on top of the bookshelf tonight, which admittedly isn't the greatest idea earthquake‐safety‐wise, but it needs some time out from Wallace's claws.

Lastly, I got a brilliant make up case in the form of a fishing box from Storage Box recently. Their prices are surprisingly decent, once you step past the home decor section and ignore the products actually advertised as being for make up storage.

I'll be doing some more Friday Flashback posts as I can, but I don't have access to many old photos until I visit my parents again next week.

de Havilland Tattoo - Complete!

First of all, forgive the terrible photos below - it's not easy to photograph your own right arm with a phone, even with the aid of a mirror. I will of course post a clear photo when it's all healed up, but I couldn't wait to share this now - especially since those of you who follow me on Instagram and the like have already seen it.

Finally, finally, I got my tattoo finished! It had been black and red (left) for over a year due to my own laziness, and I'd kind of just gotten used to how it looked. Once the artist, Simon Morse, moved to his own studio recently I decided to book in and get it finished - if I'm going to stick to my one-a-year plan, I had to finish 2011's before getting 2012's, right? We'd established the Tiger Moth would be yellow, but other than that I left the colour decisions up to him.

The middle photo was taken about two thirds of the way through yesterday's sitting, when I got up to have a stretch, and Simon ran his idea of the blue by me. It's probably just because of my AS, but in each of the three tattooing sessions I've had, the pain from keeping my body still is way worse than the actual pain of the needle!

I love love love how it looks with the blue background - eventually I think I'll be adding to this arm, so I didn't want anything too border-y if that makes sense. I can't wait until it's healed so I can post some better pictures - the detail on her headgear especially is so perfect.

If you want to check out more of Simon's work, you can view the Dr Morse INC Facebook page here, and also check out this article on his new premises.

Tattoo

I've realised that it's probably going to be some time before I get around to having my tattoo completed so I might as well share a clear picture of it! If you haven't already seen it on FYT, click above to see properly. I have lots of important things to spend money on coming up (Auckland... um, camera...) and to be honest I kind of like it just being black and red. I wonder whether I'm going to end up with a body of half-finished tattoos...

Sneaky peeks

Had the first session of my second tattoo yesterday afternoon! Took just over two hours, and Simon the tattoo artist got all the line and shading work done, plus coloured in the DH-88 with such a perfect shade of red- hoping it stays a similar tone once it's done scabbin' and itchin'. The Tiger Moth is going to be yellow, but not 100% sure about the rest yet. Have my next appointment in a couple of weeks! Will definitely post a clear photo once it is all finished, but for now you can squint at the blur and admire Wallace!

PS: My flatmate Matt also got tattooed by Simon yesterday (field trip!) and you can view photos of his tattoo/follow him on Twitter.

Excitement

I have a pretty busy week ahead of me! We need to get all our packing done this week after work. Then on Saturday my parents and Charlie's Dad are coming to help us move to our new place! My weekend will be spend doing some mad unpacking and decorating!

Then next Wednesday I'm booked in for the first session of my new tattooo! Went in after work today and saw the design the artist has drawn up from the pictures I sent him... sooo perfect!

Pixiwoo

I've become a little obsessed with a make up channel over the weekend- I watch make up tutorials quite frequently, but because I can't really afford any quality products at the moment I never really put the techniques shown to use!

Anyway, new favourite is most definitely Pixiwoo- the two girls have beautiful faces, and their accents are fun to listen to.

I just watched this video below which is about concealing tattoos, and is pretty amazing! I know Thin Lizzy does a thick concealer here in NZ which is supposed to cover tattoos completely, but I don't know anyone who has actually used it for that purpose so could just be an infomercial-stretch-of-truth. To be honest, I can't personally think of a situation where I'd need to use this technique on myself at this stage, but it's still interesting, and would be useful to anyone applying make up on other people for weddings et cetera.

You need to know this. And this.

This is what my hair does when it dries naturally. Frizz-freaking-city. My life was changed in the mid noughties when I discovered the wonders of the ghd. (Can you tell I'm hard pressed for exciting updates?)

Something vastly more interesting to report is that I had a consultation about my next tattoo after work today. Sorry Mum and Dad. Decided to go with Simon at Alc HQ now that my previous artist has gone back the the UK. Looked through Simon's portfolio on the weekend and his work really impressed me. I took in some horribly-drawn ideas that I did far too late last night, but with a good idea of what I wanted in my head (helpful!) It's going to be an aviation themed tattoo, and I arrived at Alc today to discover Simon's a flying-nerd himself. Freaking perfect. May be a few weeks before I can actually get it done, but majorly excited to see what he comes up with. Stay tuned.

Day 4 & 5 of 30

• Your views on tattoos and/or piercings

I did a drawing to show all the piercings I've ever had, in the order I got them. At the moment I only have one in each ear lobe.

To be honest, the idea of getting a new piercing gets me quite nervous now, whereas during my teens I loooved it- actually getting the piercing done was my favourite part!

I've daydreamed about tattoos since I left high school and finally got my first this year. I'm currently working on bringing together different ideas for tattoo number two, and drawing it out to fit on my left upper arm. The only bummer is that the artist who did my first one has gone back to the UK, so I'll have to find someone new when I finally have my ideas in order!

So obviously I'm a fan of tattoos and piercings. And I know I selected these prompts, but I don't know how I can elaborate on that! Next!

• What are you looking forward to the most in your future?

Travel. That's all there is to it!

Musings

Some days I just cannot be bothered with anything; I go home from work, climb into bed, and pretty much sit there watching TV until I fall asleep. Other days however, I go home, turn on my iPod, get my art shit together and create for hours on end. I think today is one of the latter days. But I'm going for a drink with Sarah and Carolyn first, so will have to see whether I still have the energy when I get home.

I think my energy is thanks to the rare opportunity I had today to design this pictured cabinet for work. Funnn!

Also, oh wow. I just had a scroll through my Reader, and saw a bunch of fresh, red, raised tattoos. My heart skipped a beat... I want, I want! Having a new, raw tattoo was the best feeling; even the itching. I'm dyyying for number two now! I guess that should be my monetary goal for October (once the Passport renewal is out of the way). Definitely by Christmas, anyway. Eeee...!

My Tattoo, all healed

Check out more fantastic paintings by Winston Chmielinski here. Fantastic colours, and a similar painting style to my favourite artist of all time, Egon Schiele. From browsing Chmielinski's gallery I would name Colour Me Quiet as my favourite piece.

Since I have two bidders on my little watercolour, I'll absolutely be making more over the next couple of weeks. Could turn in to a useful little money-maker! Really looking forward to improving my technique. For now I'll continue to use watercolours on small, cutesy pieces. However I hope I can develop a style to incorporate into my detailed drawings at some stage.

Will do some more work on my large drawing this weekend, which I can't wait for. When not working on it, I store it hanging on the back of the kitchen door, because I'm so paranoid of something spilling on it! I'm so looking forward to finishing it, though there's a long way to go yet! It's turning out better than I'd hoped, so far, and I think it would definitely sell. Unfortunately the paper isn't very good quality, so I'm not sure I could charge very much, despite the large scale and time it's taking.

I'd been hoping to exhibit this year, but that's obviously not going to happen since it's now August. And I only have two completed pieces and one half-completed. Hopeless! Keeping drawings on an A3+ scale, I guess I'll need to produce at least 20, and preferably more. Perhaps 2011 would be the best time anyway; with the Rugby World Cup on and all.

I went to a SYAOW "meeting" last night at Southern Cross; Sarah, Jo, Carolyn and a new girl, Eevee. Was really nice to have a drink and a chat, and we ended up staying for almost two hours. Eevee is a really sweet girl, and was easy to talk to. She dresses in a wild Japanese-girly-fashion kind of style, with lots of petticoats and lace, and I really admire the way she pulls it off.

Jo and I discussed exhibiting a bit (she was in a group exhibition called Splice with me last year), and she's really enthusiastic about doing a smaller group exhibition, but with more collaborative works, which I think could be fantastic. After my experience with Splice, I'd sort of pushed the thought of developing a theme throughout my work out of my head. It's something I'll definitely need to focus on a lot more. At least with the detailed, inky style I've been doing lately, introducing some motifs across my work shouldn't be too difficult.

The other problem I have is that with all these thoughts about selling work, I really fucking hate my name. I love "Alice". I love "Jones" in that it's my family, and my little sister and I are the last Joneses in this branch of the family, as Dad is the only son. But "Alice Jones" is forgettable and totally already claimed by some poet according to Wikipedia... Unfortunately there's not really any other name I can adopt as a pseudonym. "Niceties"? Haha. My mother's maiden name was "Moody", so that's not happening! I quite like my Dad's mother's ("grandma", I guess, but she died long before I was born) maiden name of Thornton. Annnyway, end of name musings.

Lastly is the plan for tattoo number two... I've been investigating patterns for an upper arm tattoo, probably on my right arm. I don't want a full sleeve, because for some reason tattoos where you can't see any skin gross me out... I know now that I have my first one, that it totally feels like normal skin once it's healed. I'd known that from Charlie's tattoos, but I still had in my head that it would feel like a layer to the person it's on. I just can't shake the "sweaty" feeling when I look at sleeves, so I don't think I'd want one on my body. However, whatever I finally end up with will definitely be large, and take up most of the length and width of my arm, from the side, and likely wrap a little bit too.

The tattoo I have wanted for YEARS is aeroplanes on the side of my thigh (the left one). However, now I that I've had Vodie done on the right one, I want to experience a different body part. From everything I've been told, thighs are almost pain-free compared to other places, and considering how easily I coped with it I'm quick to believe that. Also, obviously they cost a fair bit so I can't go getting them one after the other, so I have to think about the short term, as well as the overall effect once I have several; I don't want two large tattoos on my thighs and nothing anywhere else for several months.

I'm supposed to be at two birthday events this evening; a 24th birthday at 5pm and a 21st at 8pm. Will head to the 5pm one, but really don't see myself as having energy for both. Also I have Sarah's All Blacks party tomorrow night, which I'm sure will involve some face painting and silly pictures. Why do all the events come at once? I can go a month or two, making my own fun on weekends, then all of a sudden everyone decides to throw a party on one weekend. Sigh!

I thought, some time ago, about getting a silhouette portrait tattoo. I just think they look really amazing, and (as odd as it sounds) I like faces, and I'm not a big fan of super-realistic tattoos (my Vodie tattoo is more realistic than I initially intended, however it's still quite stylised.) But then I realised I didn't really have anyone's face that I could get. The person I'd like to have most would probably be my sister Emily... but then it would look like a portrait of myself on myself. Back to the drawing board I guess. These tattoos (from FYT) are super cute, however I don't really like 'couples' tattoos... not such obvious ones, anyway.

My First Tattoo

Finally, I put my money where my mouth is and got my first tattoo! Prepare for a mammoth post, mostly for my future reference!

Getting one is something I have talked about since my mid teens, and I have a long list of images and text that I eventually want. Two of my best friends got me a voucher for my birthday last month, which paid for half of it. Aside from being blown away by the money they spent on me, it is one of the most amazing gifts I've ever received.

Here's the only online image of it at the moment. That was taken about an hour after I got it done. I think it looks even better in person, my camera settings are all messed up at the moment, and it doesn't look as dark in that photo as it actually is.

The Day

I was absolutely terrified, all last week. Unbelievably excited, but scared out of my mind. I went out for dinner with friends the night before, and barely participated in conversation due to constantly thinking about it!

On Friday morning Charlie and I went to the studio, Tattoo City on Cuba Street in Wellington. I'd contacted Kev via his website, after being impressed by his work and discovering it was him who did my boss' tattoo last year which is amazing. He showed me the final plan he had for it; the solid outlines on tracing paper, with lots of other lines to indicate to him where to shade. It was pretty brave of me to go ahead and let him freestyle a bit, but at that point the pain was the biggest issue in my mind and I was just ready to go! After seeing his work though, I trusted him, and knew I'd clearly outlined to him at our two consults what I wanted.

I'd been reading a lot about tattooing online, and asking Charlie constant questions (he has two). I knew what to expect with regard to the process of tattooing, but as everyone had described the pain differently I was so nervous. I just had this fear that it'd be a different pain to anything I'd ever felt and that I'd end up with a little line on me, screaming to stop!

I realise my thigh is a fleshy part of my body, so I'm sure as people say, tattoos on bones must hurt considerably more. But wow I was scared over nothing! The best way I can describe the feeling is like a compass or pin dragging along your skin heavily, but not penetrating it, which is strange. Then there's like a sharper pain, which almost feels separate to the dragging, but more inside your skin. This maybe sounds obvious, but it definitely didn't feel to me like the cutting or scratching that people had described.

I lay down for the first hour, unable to see what he was doing, just listening to my iPod. A lot of the time it was quite easy to zone out to the music and not be aware of much pain. The fact that each time he moves the gun or starts a new line or area, you feel a vibration on your skin before the needles stick in. Having warning like that, and the fact that there's constantly breaks to get more ink and move around the image means I kept pretty relaxed and breathing deeply.

After an hour or so it was my arms that hurt the most! They felt so restless and achy, and I kept trying to stretch them without moving my leg. Eventually I sat up on the bed, which was so much better as I could watch the tattoo progress. When I first sat up and saw it I probably freaked him out as I didn't say anything for ages, just staring. It was about halfway done and I was just so ecstatic with how it looked, I didn't know what to say!

Contrary to my original thought, I didn't end up getting colour done in the frame. I decided I like the way it looks at present, and while I do think I'll eventually get it coloured, I want to have some time to think about the colours and the look of it.

I saw my parents about an hour or two after I got it done. I walked around freezing Wellington in shorts for the afternoon, which may not have been the best idea but it still felt a bit too tender to cover with pants and definitely not tights!

The look on my mother's face when Charlie and I walked across the road to meet them was priceless! Obviously I'd told them what I was getting, but I guess actually seeing it on me was scary!

It made me so so happy when we sat down in the cafe and my parents had a close look at it. My Mum said it was beautiful, and amazingly well done. I know they would absolutely prefer I hadn't taken step one towards tattoo addiction, but it made me happy they accepted it and even admired it.

The Now

So far I haven't had any negative comments about it, though through the grapevine, two members of my family definitely don't approve/like it.

I think the hardest thing is that people expect you to justify your decision. I'm going to write it here, for myself and anyone who's interested, but I don't plan to explain it to people I vaguely know when they see it. It's a cat. End of story. If you like it, you like it, and if you don't then me explaining it's significance is not going to make you like it any more, is it?

I know I can be a bitch online about tattoos I come across that I dislike. If any of this makes me a hypocrite, I'm not bothered. As I said above, if people don't like it based on how it looks then that's fine. I don't care to talk them around to liking it.

The Significance

Considering I don't think anyone reads this blog anyway, I'm just going to attempt to write why I got it.

Obviously it's a portrait of my cat, Vodie. I got him in March 2009 with my ex when we lived in Lower Hutt. Getting him really marks the end of our relationship, which had been an absolute mess. We were broken up within two months, and after a lot of bullshit I eventually managed to move with Vodie to the private downstairs floor of a house in Mount Victoria.

I was living alone for the first time in my life, had just started the job I am currently in, which has been my biggest step up in life since I left high school.

Vodie was my companion in this transition from the trashy, depressed, embarrassing person I'd been to the motivated and happy person I believe I have become.

The day he was run over and killed in November 2009 was one of the worst days of my life. I've been fortunate enough not to have suffered much loss up to this point in my life; grandparents and distant relatives during my childhood has been the extent of it. In my early teens my cat at my parents house was run over and killed as well, which was difficult, but he was my family's pet as opposed to Vodie who was all mine.

I was at work when my landlord called to tell me. I left work and my Mum drove down from Masterton, and my friend Dylan came to my house to keep me company. Vodie was taken by Mum back to her house in Masterton and he's buried in their backyard.

This was one of those 'events' (which I am experiencing more and more of lately) where you really find out who knows you and cares about you.

It's hard to think about how, when I had Vodie, I'd think about how I'd likely still have him in my early thirties, and how much I would have changed by then. It was the first period in my life where I'd been excited about my future, and seriously thought about long-term goals; thinking about always having to find places to live that allowed cats doesn't sound very significant, but it was the first time I'd really made any kind of longterm commitment to anything, and having that taken away was completely devastating.

I am so so happy with how my tattoo's turned out. I wanted it to be a bit stylised, with no names or dates or anything. It's an amazing likeness to him, but it's also "just a cat" and not too obviously a memorial piece. I absolutely love it.