Being an artist can really slow things down some times. Designs are scrutinized, picked over, torn apart, and broken down to their bare elements. Every line, every curve is given meaning. Every form must compliment the entire piece. Nothing goes unevaluated. Choosing the perfect design can be a process that takes months or even years. So when I decided I wanted a boat tattooed on my arm, I knew I was in for a challenge.
At A Glance Author Jasonthe29th Contact Jasonthe29th@bme.anon IAM jasonthe29th When Six months ago Artist Jonathan Pitcher Studio Alter Ego Tattoo Location Augusta, Georgia
I am not sure exactly how it started, but something sure turned me on to the idea of a great ship setting out on a great journey that would really speak to me and say something about who I am. I started my search in the old school section of the BME tattoo gallery. There I found dozens of beautiful towering vessels that would be seen for miles away on the open sea. These were ships that could sail farther and faster than any other before. Ships, that certainly could never be sank.
But these were for the mightiest of people. Am I mighty? I don't think I am. I am just an artist, I'm not even sure why. I don't know where my life is headed. I don't know what is in store for me. These ships I see look like they have a purpose. They sail through the roughest of waters, leading an entire fleet through the worst of times and will no doubt come out the other side unscathed. These ships were not for me.
This was not going to be easy. The more I looked at these majestic designs, the less connected I felt to them. If anything I was starting to feel like I had made a mistake. Maybe this wasn't for me. So I let it go. I quit thinking about the boat and I quit researching design ideas. It was over. Or so I thought. While looking through the religious books section at Borders I saw a book out of place and it caught my eye. It was a mythology book. It told the story of Jason and the Argonaughts and Jason's search for the Golden Fleece. I was fascinated. The story told of a great ship, the Argo that would carry Jason on his quest and one day return him home to be king. I could not believe it. This was it. This was my boat.
I sat down that same day and began to draw, and draw I did. It took only one try. No sketches, no rough draft. All I needed was my pen and a good feeling. When the drawing was complete it did not have any guns or anchors, because it didn't need to fight, and it wasn't ever going to stop any where. It only has a few sails. Just enough to catch the wind, all that it needs to get where it is going. The ship does not sit in an ocean with furious waves or splashing waters, it sits atop of a small banner. Originally the banner would read Argo, the name of Jason's mighty ship. But this also brought me to a point of confusion.
You see, I was never happy with the lettering in the banner. It never looked right to me. No matter how many times or how many people wrote those four simple letters it never stuck. I even had a contest in my IAM page. Nothing was working.
I took the design to my artist Jonathan Pitcher to go ahead and get what I had engrained into my arm. Jon is a friend and the best tattoo artist I know, and I trust him to put the same care into his work, as I put into mine. It took a few tries to get it positioned just right on that Thursday night, but we got it perfect in the end. Jonathan has a light hand, so his tattoos are nearly painless. No worse than a sunburn. The session took an hour or two, with a few stops in the middle. By the end of the night I had a perfectly inked outline and an empty banner.
Over the next few months I stewed over the colors and the words. Again I was analyzing and picking away at every detail. I even got other tattoos in the mean time to try and break through the tension. Finally, on a Friday last fall I knew what I had to do. I realized that the entire time I was trying to put someone else's name on my design. This was Jason's boat, but not the Jason from some fairy tale, this was mine. This represents me, and my journey. I am an artist. I don't know why. I don't know where my life is headed and I surely don't know what is in store for me. So I went to Jon that night and said, "Fill it in."
"Fill it all in."
I told Jon to color the entire thing and that I trusted him to make me proud of his work. He was more than enthused. He told me of his idea to use tradition shading with new school colors, and that is what he did. It was magnificent. It was me.
The ship on my arm represents my journey that will never end. It represents the unknown. It is not big, it is not mighty, and this journey will be a tough one that will take a lot of hard work. It is by no means unsinkable.
It is me.