Tattoos from the Blogosphere: More of Mat's Ink

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXFvY18kK3FJ9wLt58tbeqlMd2P83fQgudwlP-xFIyWcKQ_XOMoqmxHw8ffTgPOOgy2Z5WD4KtrnF3SbxZ6GhNKocfG8N_nGj4ioR-kKFffDsQNjQatVNRQzKCryOlDSSxe4sUkOKmY53J/s1600-h/forearm_2.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5204161364479002978" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXFvY18kK3FJ9wLt58tbeqlMd2P83fQgudwlP-xFIyWcKQ_XOMoqmxHw8ffTgPOOgy2Z5WD4KtrnF3SbxZ6GhNKocfG8N_nGj4ioR-kKFffDsQNjQatVNRQzKCryOlDSSxe4sUkOKmY53J/s400/forearm_2.png" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a><br />Back in April, I posted an incredible back piece that was sent to me by a comrade in the blogosphere, <a href="http://www.matgiordano.com/">Mat Giordano</a>. Revisit it <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2008/03/tattoos-from-blogosphere-introducing.html">here</a>. Totally worth it.<br /><br />Shortly after sending me the elephant pictures, he sent me these, to add to the mix. I thought it was time to be a good blogger and share. Full disclosure: these are in Houston, photographed and sent by someone I've never met, but have spoken to on line.<br /><br />Nonetheless, it's amazing ink, and Mat is a multimedia designer, so his work is pretty interesting.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUeU1KLgu777m4dOvqJv_h7jXXGPeEXe5iQMnvPtWjqC0VIBjhmDD52Aq1F5Km1jS5i3Jk460AcfDlNg8L7ECt_n94zsN_e0xB1PqS31ycGpvfQkHpRylSwkCMjdFz9_t5l56jexNzbt_s/s1600-h/forearmFresh.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5204161274284689746" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUeU1KLgu777m4dOvqJv_h7jXXGPeEXe5iQMnvPtWjqC0VIBjhmDD52Aq1F5Km1jS5i3Jk460AcfDlNg8L7ECt_n94zsN_e0xB1PqS31ycGpvfQkHpRylSwkCMjdFz9_t5l56jexNzbt_s/s400/forearmFresh.png" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a><br />So, what's with this flower? Here's an excerpt from our chat (edited and abbreviated):<br /><br /><span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em; text-indent: -1em;"><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Me</span>: What's the <span class="nfakPe">flower</span>?</span></span><div><span style="display: block; float: left; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"> </span><span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em; text-indent: -1em;"><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mat</span>: Sort of a mutation of a hibiscus</span></span></div><div><span style="display: block; float: left; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"> </span><span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em;"><span>unrealistic color scheme </span></span></div><div><span style="display: block; float: left; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"> </span><span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em;"><span>but what was in my head;<br />I just didn't know it until I saw Travis' stencil.<br /></span></span></div><div><span style="display: block; float: left; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"> </span><span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em; text-indent: -1em;"><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Me</span>: did you do the design or was it a collaborative </span></span><span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em; text-indent: -1em;"><span> effort with Travis [the artist]?</span></span><span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em; text-indent: -1em;"><span></span></span></div><div><span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em; text-indent: -1em;"><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mat</span>: I never design my tattoos</span></span></div><div><span style="display: block; float: left; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"> </span><span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em;"><span>just ideas</span></span></div><div><span style="display: block; float: left; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"> </span><span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em;"><span>I realize my place as a designer</span></span></div><div><span style="display: block; float: left; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"> </span><span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em;"><span>I'm not a tattoo artist</span></span></div><div><span style="display: block; float: left; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"> </span><span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em;"><span>lots of designers make the mistake of designing their own tattoos and being very adamant about what the tattoo artist should do</span></span></div><div><span style="display: block; float: left; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"> </span><span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em;"><span>instead of letting them fly at what they are best at</span></span></div><div><span style="display: block; float: left; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"> </span><span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em; text-indent: -1em;"><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Me</span>: Agreed</span></span></div><div><span style="display: block; float: left; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"> </span><span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em; text-indent: -1em;"><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mat</span>: I say "I'd sort of like this" </span></span></div><div><span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em; text-indent: -1em;"><span> and say "tattoo what you think belongs there".</span></span></div><div><span style="display: block; float: left; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"> </span><span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em;"><span>This was a special one for me</span></span></div><div><span style="display: block; float: left; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"> </span><span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em; text-indent: -1em;"><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Me</span>: Why special?</span></span></div><div><span style="display: block; float: left; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"> </span><span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em; text-indent: -1em;"><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mat</span>: It was the pink-to-red gradient of the hibiscus plants that I planted in the driveway of the first home I had with ... my little boy Jack</span></span></div><div><span style="display: block; float: left; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"> </span><span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em;"><span>whose name you can see on my wrist at the end.</span></span></div><div><span style="display: block; float: left; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"> </span><span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em;"><span>Every morning when I'd be leaving to go create things for a living,</span></span></div><div><span style="display: block; float: left; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"> </span><span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em;"><span>I'd see it open in the driveway</span></span></div><div><span style="display: block; float: left; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"> </span><span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em;"><span>one on each side</span></span></div><div><span style="display: block; float: left; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"> </span><span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em;"><span>so past that, being in Houston now, it's nice to look at it and remember</span></span></div><div><span style="display: block; float: left; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"> </span><span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em;"><span>I was there this past weekend and all those feelings came rushing back like a tidal wave</span></span></div><div><span style="display: block; float: left; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"> </span><span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em; text-indent: -1em;"><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Me</span>: The hibiscus (maybe all flowers) can carry such emotional weight as symbols of places...I grew up in Hawai'i where the hibiscus is the state <span class="nfakPe">flower</span> and to me it just represents <span style="font-style: italic;">home</span></span></span></div><div><span style="display: block; float: left; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"></span><span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em; text-indent: -1em;"><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mat</span>: Wow, so you can sort of relate how I feel about the relations of a <span class="nfakPe">flower</span> symbolizing comforts of home</span></span></div><div><span style="display: block; float: left; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"> </span><span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em;"><span>or symbols of anything that carry emotional weight, I suppose</span></span></div><div><span style="display: block; float: left; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"> </span><span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em; text-indent: -1em;"><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Me</span>: Absolutely, especially when they are so significant to a specific time and place.</span></span></div><br />As you can see, interesting discussion about the emotional weight behind tattoos as symbols of not only the abstract (the idea of 'home'), but of concrete places as well.<br /><br />Later on, Mat elaborated : "I couldn't really understand, beyond the fact that Travis is a great friend of mine, why my mind immediately wanted those colors [in the hibiscus] he predetermined right before we started, until I realized the weight of what they meant in my subconscious, which fortunately made its way through a pretty muddy network to my conscious so I could relay it to the artist. Thankfully, Travis can read me pretty well, in turn cutting plenty of my mindless stares and utters out of the time frame."<br /><br />Mat has communicated about tattoos with me on a level more cereberally than anyone I have met since Tattoosday began. He's above and beyond the "I-liked-the-art-on-the-wall" mentality, which is fine for many people.<br /><br />Below is a shot of Travis Stanley, the artist at <a href="http://713tattoo.com/index.html">713 Tattoo Parlour</a>, in Houston, Texas, working on Mat's flower tattoo.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4rWJLKo7lDHspzWNEgIMBRSMtwUD-QGeiNofQEV0bZGv6oZscuHcgzsUmyO-YArIq4rSK3qX4-va4KC-dBFsTLPAPGxDWHFHRLSjxO2nVEWLrYQCepTkxQyrfMR7F-nZcnZlcoj6a64xf/s1600-h/forearm_1.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5204160874852731202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4rWJLKo7lDHspzWNEgIMBRSMtwUD-QGeiNofQEV0bZGv6oZscuHcgzsUmyO-YArIq4rSK3qX4-va4KC-dBFsTLPAPGxDWHFHRLSjxO2nVEWLrYQCepTkxQyrfMR7F-nZcnZlcoj6a64xf/s400/forearm_1.png" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a>And finally, a cool shot of Mat's wrists:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy98gDuVKYky-erq2m84VztJV7araXJtgQmQGWHz4FcdDZEwbJAioef9Y9XXXyXr4y4ATSHtlA8jlDNklns_EfBTQBBlk0FxzntW6DnV_hFLyV3VLkwQW14-HWYQejC7g_UaGj0RKkvIwY/s1600-h/-1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5204161450378348914" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy98gDuVKYky-erq2m84VztJV7araXJtgQmQGWHz4FcdDZEwbJAioef9Y9XXXyXr4y4ATSHtlA8jlDNklns_EfBTQBBlk0FxzntW6DnV_hFLyV3VLkwQW14-HWYQejC7g_UaGj0RKkvIwY/s400/-1.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a><br />Jack, as mentioned above, is his son. The name was inked by Marc da Sharc at <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/i-drive-tattoo-orlando">I-Drive Tattoo</a> in Orlando, Florida. Marc da Sharc also did the other piece, but at the aforementioned 713 Tattoo Parlour. For those unfamiliar with the design, it is the symbol for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinity">infinity</a>. Mat specifically wanted to clarify that the placement of that symbol on his wrist "by no means was a decision based on how long he thinks he'll be around".<br /><br />Thanks again to Mat for sharing his tattoos here!<br /><span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em;"><span></span></span>

Tattoos from the Blogosphere: More of Mat's Ink

Back in April, I posted an incredible back piece that was sent to me by a comrade in the blogosphere, Mat Giordano . Revisit it here . Total...

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