Monday, November 30, 2009
blog-bandonment
well, its not like i just forgot. what happened was this: tuesday night i came down to find that the computer area reaked of beer. i lifted the keyboard to find a huge puddle of what can only guess was the last third of my mirror pond pale ale. it was all over the floor, too. george is the likely culprit. i cleaned things up but the keyboard was kaput...only the mouse still worked so i could check emails and bookmarked tabs like facebook but i could not type text. wednesday i considered doing a title-less photo blog with me holding up hand-written messages that said "keyboard broken" "smells suspiciously like beer" "happy thanksgiving"...but something in me said let it go. so i did. then thursday passed and friday...then the whole weekend. i hardly touched the computer at all, even though michael brought us a new keyboard on thanksgiving. so my blog posting month ended with a leave of absence but i'm not sorry. i think the quality of my content was dwindling anyway...better for me to leave it at three weeks of solid wholesome blogness, than to subject you to one last week of blather. but trust me, milk and ink has been revived and i will be a more attentive. keep me in your readers, Readers!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
putting the ink in 'mik and ink': the new ink
.....continued from yesterday:
2009:as a "symmetrical" person i always knew i'd like a tattoo on my right forearm as well--in the same shape and similar composition as the left arm, only this time a tribute to isadore. we had found the name isadore in a book of names from around the world, arranged by origin--and we thought that "gift of isis", the goddess of fertility, was a fitting name for a girl who was concieved earlier than expected on a day i should not have been fertile. (TMI alert: isadore is how i found out i ovulate more than once a month like most women, possibly on demand!) isis is in both greek and egyptian mythology. the name to me has always had a vintage sound, maybe because of isadora duncan, an american dancer in the early 1900's. also linked to this is the popular artistic style of the time, art nouveau which has greek and egyptian mythological elements. perhaps the most well-known artist of this style is alphonse mucha, who draws these dreamy, strong yet feminine figures. (nate was the first to introduce me to Mucha, wanting to incorporate some vines of that style into the left arm piece.)
so i had all of these elements i wanted to fit into the frame on my right arm: a mucha-goddess, with the wings of Isis, with the features of Isadore. her birthflower--a water lily--would round it out, to juxtapose the chrysanthemum on the left. blake and i both thought the man to pull this all off was our favorite artist in portland: james kern at no hope no fear. james worked at optic nerve arts, when nate had passed away and we had seen his amazing work (like large pieces of alex grey's art) first there. now he has his own shop down the street from nomad and is normally booked out for months. sunday, it was finally all realized, bless his heart for pulling all of my ideas together. it needs one more session for color and shading but its everything i wanted and possibly more.
left and right
i can't say i have anymore tattoos in mind, but i also know well enough to say that i am sure that will change. i feel very lucky to have had access to so many amazing artists--spoiled really, as my mom observed--and forever wear their interpretations of my ideas on my body, for my own enjoyment.
2009:as a "symmetrical" person i always knew i'd like a tattoo on my right forearm as well--in the same shape and similar composition as the left arm, only this time a tribute to isadore. we had found the name isadore in a book of names from around the world, arranged by origin--and we thought that "gift of isis", the goddess of fertility, was a fitting name for a girl who was concieved earlier than expected on a day i should not have been fertile. (TMI alert: isadore is how i found out i ovulate more than once a month like most women, possibly on demand!) isis is in both greek and egyptian mythology. the name to me has always had a vintage sound, maybe because of isadora duncan, an american dancer in the early 1900's. also linked to this is the popular artistic style of the time, art nouveau which has greek and egyptian mythological elements. perhaps the most well-known artist of this style is alphonse mucha, who draws these dreamy, strong yet feminine figures. (nate was the first to introduce me to Mucha, wanting to incorporate some vines of that style into the left arm piece.)
so i had all of these elements i wanted to fit into the frame on my right arm: a mucha-goddess, with the wings of Isis, with the features of Isadore. her birthflower--a water lily--would round it out, to juxtapose the chrysanthemum on the left. blake and i both thought the man to pull this all off was our favorite artist in portland: james kern at no hope no fear. james worked at optic nerve arts, when nate had passed away and we had seen his amazing work (like large pieces of alex grey's art) first there. now he has his own shop down the street from nomad and is normally booked out for months. sunday, it was finally all realized, bless his heart for pulling all of my ideas together. it needs one more session for color and shading but its everything i wanted and possibly more.
the view i see
left and right
i can't say i have anymore tattoos in mind, but i also know well enough to say that i am sure that will change. i feel very lucky to have had access to so many amazing artists--spoiled really, as my mom observed--and forever wear their interpretations of my ideas on my body, for my own enjoyment.
Monday, November 23, 2009
putting the "ink" in 'milk and ink': history
1998:my first tattoo was definitely an exercise in asserting my independence--it was almost immediately after my 18th birthday and was simple cursive "L" (for my name) done at Uncle Bill's Tattoo Parlor in Bend, OR. i had no further plans at that time for tattoos so putting a tiny tattoo on the large surface area of my lower back seemed fine to me. (later i discoverd it best to save the large areas for larger tattoos, and the smaller ones for small spaces.)
2000: next just before marrying blake, i had the word "Grace" in traditional letttering applied the space just above the elbow on the back of the arm, a spot that i still find to be a very sexy place to have a tattoo--i had that idea when i spied a girl in the library at OSU with a word tattooed there (it said "vegan.") the concept of grace means a lot to me--not in terms of elegance, but in decency, generosity, and gratitude, and later it was given to mayan for her middle name. a well-known artist did it for me, really for blake as a favor since its probably the smallest and simplest piece he'd done in ages but i'll never forget the look the two of them exchanged when he (the artist) asked me if i planned on having any other tattoos done in the future and i said "no, i don't think so." it was like a "yeah right. you're young. just wait." exchange of glances.
2003:then when mayan was a year and a half, i knew i wanted to honor our romantic beginnings and mayan's conception story with a tattoo of the ruins where we were wed. at the time, our good friend tracy, a piercer, had begun a new studio with her partner nate, a gifted artist and tattooist, called optic nerve arts. i had met nate at their home 6 weeks after they had their baby, isabella, and he was a kind and soft-spoken man that had pulled himself out of a troubled past and was beginning a new life. i knew immediately that i wanted him to do the work. i brought him photos of our trip to mexico and specifically the temple of kukulkan, the tree under which we were married and the view of the yucutan jungle taken from atop the pyramid. i also brought an example of a chrysanthemum, my parents wedding flower and our wedding flower to incorporate into the piece which was designed to be on my left forearm. we drove to portland to have the outline and shading done which was stunning on its own. nate and i discussed whether or not to keep the piece black and gray, or to make it full color, and decided to wait--we'd schedule another session soon for completion and decide then. a few months later i found out i was pregnant with isadore so everything was on hold--i didn't think i'd be ready to be tattooed again until she was at least a year old. but when she was 7 months old, tracy called to tell us the awful news: she'd found nate that morning in the bathtub--he'd had a heart attack. he was only 31 and apparently had had an undetected heart defect. i could not imagine her devastation, and listening to nate's friends and family share their favorite stories at his memorial it was clear what a giant hole his passing left in thier lives. and like others there i felt honored to have a piece of his work on me, even if it was unfinished.
2006: i struggled with that fact, since i knew that tattoo needed some closure but i didn't want anyone else to touch it--also i still hadn't made the decision to go color or black and gray. but a year later, as the anniversary to nate's passing approached, something fell into place that felt right. a tattooist friend, hawk (and his dear family) had relocated to bend from san francisco, with our encouragement who had a gift for bold color work. i asked hawk if he would finish the piece that nate had begun and he kindly obliged. color brought a whole new life to the piece, a perfect balance of pinks, yellow, greens, and blue--while leaving the centerpiece, the temple, flesh-toned. people comment on my arm everywhere i go and i point out the location of our ceremony and tell them how i was 24-hours pregnant with our daughter at the time, and named her Mayan Grace. it brings me much pleasure to gaze at the finished work everyday.
2007: the time came cover my first tattoo, my babies were weaned, i had been working hard on my fit, yoga body, and i had our good friend hawk at my disposal. i told him that i wanted to cover the "L" with something big and bold, but to avoid the common "lower back piece" shape. i didn't have anything meanful to incorporate--i just wanted to use styles that i'd always liked and reflect my own taste and personality. it had to be fun and sexy! i decided on traditional sparrows at the top and cheery, clean japanese style flowers. hawk drew it all out so that the sparrows met on my lower mid-back (masking the old tattoo) and then the flowers cascaded down, following my curves, all the way to to the bottom of my bottom--so really it was two tattoos flanking my backside and not meeting in the middle. a few starbursts drew the two styles together. we broke it up over five sessions--the outline, then four quadrants--and it was so much fun to see it develop, plus working with someone i knew outside of the shop, whose family we spent so much time with made it more relaxed--good thing too since it was my bum that was exposed the whole time! here is the post about getting this done. (ps: hawk still works in bend, at 932 tattoo!)
tune-in tomorrow for part two--putting the "ink" in 'milk and ink': the new ink!
is there a tattoo that you've been wanting?? do you have story of the greatest or worst tattoo you ever got??
2000: next just before marrying blake, i had the word "Grace" in traditional letttering applied the space just above the elbow on the back of the arm, a spot that i still find to be a very sexy place to have a tattoo--i had that idea when i spied a girl in the library at OSU with a word tattooed there (it said "vegan.") the concept of grace means a lot to me--not in terms of elegance, but in decency, generosity, and gratitude, and later it was given to mayan for her middle name. a well-known artist did it for me, really for blake as a favor since its probably the smallest and simplest piece he'd done in ages but i'll never forget the look the two of them exchanged when he (the artist) asked me if i planned on having any other tattoos done in the future and i said "no, i don't think so." it was like a "yeah right. you're young. just wait." exchange of glances.
2003:then when mayan was a year and a half, i knew i wanted to honor our romantic beginnings and mayan's conception story with a tattoo of the ruins where we were wed. at the time, our good friend tracy, a piercer, had begun a new studio with her partner nate, a gifted artist and tattooist, called optic nerve arts. i had met nate at their home 6 weeks after they had their baby, isabella, and he was a kind and soft-spoken man that had pulled himself out of a troubled past and was beginning a new life. i knew immediately that i wanted him to do the work. i brought him photos of our trip to mexico and specifically the temple of kukulkan, the tree under which we were married and the view of the yucutan jungle taken from atop the pyramid. i also brought an example of a chrysanthemum, my parents wedding flower and our wedding flower to incorporate into the piece which was designed to be on my left forearm. we drove to portland to have the outline and shading done which was stunning on its own. nate and i discussed whether or not to keep the piece black and gray, or to make it full color, and decided to wait--we'd schedule another session soon for completion and decide then. a few months later i found out i was pregnant with isadore so everything was on hold--i didn't think i'd be ready to be tattooed again until she was at least a year old. but when she was 7 months old, tracy called to tell us the awful news: she'd found nate that morning in the bathtub--he'd had a heart attack. he was only 31 and apparently had had an undetected heart defect. i could not imagine her devastation, and listening to nate's friends and family share their favorite stories at his memorial it was clear what a giant hole his passing left in thier lives. and like others there i felt honored to have a piece of his work on me, even if it was unfinished.
2006: i struggled with that fact, since i knew that tattoo needed some closure but i didn't want anyone else to touch it--also i still hadn't made the decision to go color or black and gray. but a year later, as the anniversary to nate's passing approached, something fell into place that felt right. a tattooist friend, hawk (and his dear family) had relocated to bend from san francisco, with our encouragement who had a gift for bold color work. i asked hawk if he would finish the piece that nate had begun and he kindly obliged. color brought a whole new life to the piece, a perfect balance of pinks, yellow, greens, and blue--while leaving the centerpiece, the temple, flesh-toned. people comment on my arm everywhere i go and i point out the location of our ceremony and tell them how i was 24-hours pregnant with our daughter at the time, and named her Mayan Grace. it brings me much pleasure to gaze at the finished work everyday.
2007: the time came cover my first tattoo, my babies were weaned, i had been working hard on my fit, yoga body, and i had our good friend hawk at my disposal. i told him that i wanted to cover the "L" with something big and bold, but to avoid the common "lower back piece" shape. i didn't have anything meanful to incorporate--i just wanted to use styles that i'd always liked and reflect my own taste and personality. it had to be fun and sexy! i decided on traditional sparrows at the top and cheery, clean japanese style flowers. hawk drew it all out so that the sparrows met on my lower mid-back (masking the old tattoo) and then the flowers cascaded down, following my curves, all the way to to the bottom of my bottom--so really it was two tattoos flanking my backside and not meeting in the middle. a few starbursts drew the two styles together. we broke it up over five sessions--the outline, then four quadrants--and it was so much fun to see it develop, plus working with someone i knew outside of the shop, whose family we spent so much time with made it more relaxed--good thing too since it was my bum that was exposed the whole time! here is the post about getting this done. (ps: hawk still works in bend, at 932 tattoo!)
tune-in tomorrow for part two--putting the "ink" in 'milk and ink': the new ink!
is there a tattoo that you've been wanting?? do you have story of the greatest or worst tattoo you ever got??
Sunday, November 22, 2009
i'm such a tease
i'm cold, and hungry, and tired...and i didn't take any pictures during my tattoo. its still wrapped up so you will all have to wait to see it. it's awesome!!!!! not completely done, but the outline and the flower. just wait 'til you see it! now i need cake and wine and a movie and sleep, in that order.
xoxo
xoxo
Saturday, November 21, 2009
the big recital
it is so awesome to see your kids work so hard at something new (not to mention my own effort put in, encouraging and sitting through nearly every practice, five days a week!) and reach a goal, like today's piano recital.
i love hearing mayan play--she's grown so much over the last 9 months since her lessons began, and her pieces have been getting progressively more complex, plus she's written her own compositions. she now self-guides herself through the daily practice and has a natural confidence that i admire.
this is isadore's first recital and has only been playing for a few months--the progress is much slower so i've had to really be patient, but it always pays off! just when she feels like giving in, something clicks, and she beams with accomplishment. she must have played "mary had a little lamb" 10 times a day for the past few weeks! amazing since at one point she was like "forget it! i'll never get it right, i'm quitting piano!" she just needed to do it on her own time. she was very nervous but faced the recital (and she was the first to play) with bravery and grace. they were both so beautiful! aw, shucks....we were proud parents today!
isadore's 'mary had a little lamb' (duet with teacher)
mayan's 'trumpet song' (duet) and 'rainbow colors'
blake's mom was able to make it, which was nice since she bought us our piano and has such fond memories of her own childhood piano lessons
Friday, November 20, 2009
and my 20's come to a close....
better things to do today than sit on the computer, so i am "phoning this one in." blake and i dug up this song a few weeks ago, neither of us knew the other one loved it. seemed appropriate for a birthday blog post. i noticed that it came out three years before i was born.
enjoy....and don't you DARE make fun of their hair!!
(PS: MOM, make sure dad sees this!)
enjoy....and don't you DARE make fun of their hair!!
(PS: MOM, make sure dad sees this!)
Thursday, November 19, 2009
29 by 29 update
i did it. workout #29 complete, and tomorrow is my 29th birthday. too wiped out to be excited. lost one pound after complaining about gaining 7. wish i had done more on the calorie-intake front while i did this. all regrets and bitterness i am sure will be swept away in the shower--i'll give myself that long to be disappointed. then i will step out renewed, toned, glowing with accomplishment, and grateful for my health. because that's how i roll.
:-)
:-)
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