Tattoos

When I was 18 (or possibly 19? It was a long time ago!) I got my first and only tattoo, three stars on my right shoulder. I always intended to get more, but never really got around to it. A few years ago I decided that I definitely wanted a Charley Harper tattoo, probably an owl or a bird. I had the placement all picked out, and had it narrowed down to a few different illustrations, but kept putting it off. 

 The top two illustrations are by Charley Harper. The
bottom left illustration is by Mary Blair and the bottom
right is by Aliki.

So in the past few months I have been thinking a lot more about tattoos, and I think that I'm going to go for it soon. I actually have three that I'd like, but I'm not totally sure on the placement.

The top left illustration I would get on the front of my right shoulder. At the risk of sounding super lame, I like to think of sparrows as my spirit animal. I really love birds and the way sparrows hop hop hop around and are chill little dudes. This picture of the song sparrow has long been something I've wanted, so I really want to try to make it happen. 

I think all the other illustrations would work best on my arm. Not, like, all together, but if I picked one, that's where it would go! I love vintage children's book illustrations, and Mary Blair and Aliki are two of my favorite illustrators. These are just two representative pictures. There are millions of adorable pictures that I totally love. 

Harriet the Spy. If there was ever a book character
to identify with, Harriet M. Welch is my homegirl.

My very favorite book of all time is Harriet the Spy. Harriet is my spirit animal in imaginary child form. She's a little creeper, always getting in trouble, and manages to get everyone super mad at her. In the end, it all turns out ok and she learns some life lessons, etc. When I was a young adult, I totally dressed like Harriet (not on purpose): hoodie, t-shirt, cuffed jeans, black Chucks, black glasses. 

Anyway, that's a whole jumble of words to say that I feel like I need a Harriet the Spy tattoo. The big problem with this is placement. I have no idea where to put this tattoo. Walking around with what is to many people some random lil' girl on my arm or leg seems sort of weird. It's going to take some thought for me to figure it out. I think the picture of her writing in her spy notebook is where it's at.

Anyway, I'm going to work to make a new tattoo a reality. I'm in the process of writing up some goals for the coming year (my 31st birthday is a week away), and this will definitely be included. I'll definitely post pictures when it happens!