Tattoo Talk Thursday: Ribcage 1979

It's been a while, a good two months or so since I did a Tattoo Talk Thursday, so I'm just going to throw myself right into this new one. It comes as no surprise that I am in love with The Smashing Pumpkins and the 90's era musical genius of Billy Corgan, or excuse me, as he likes to be called these days, William Patrick Corgan. He was a pioneer not only in grunge and rock music of the 90's but of so many literary creations, my own included. I spent countless hours with the raspy, wistful voice of Corgan rining through my head and my veins. I connected with his sorrow, discomfort, ideas of escapism and looking back on what are happier times amongst the dark clouds of suicidal depression. I lost myself in his melodies, rock ballads and bizarre concoctions of sounds for the majority of my youth. 

I'd reached the point of not really caring about myself, my future and what would happen to me after I died when I was 23. I'd lay for days disillusioned by the state of things, my mental health crumbling around me and I was doing just that when 1979 came on my playlist. I'd loved the song before, the catchy hook, but this time the chorus spoke to me like never before. I realised that my teen years were long over and that while I outgrew a lot of things, I didn't outgrow my depression. I thought of all the days self-doubt, fears and isolation filled my youth as I looked toward adulthood with a similar flavour in the back of my mouth. I was leaving familiar territory that was somewhat safe and embracing new lands. The song really hit home that some things will never change and I was, really for the first time, hit with the true weight of adulthood. Or what I thought was; what I didn't realise is that would come three years later. 

"And we don't know

Just where our bones will rest to dust 

I guess forgotten and absorbed 
Into The Earth below."

The words really resonated with me. It's true that we don't know what will happen to us or indeed where our physical final resting place will be. Well, some people do if they've picked it out in advance or something. At the time I wasn't thinking about where I wanted my meat bag to end up, but now I'm pretty sure that I want them to throw me into that giant easy bake oven and then tip my ashes into a Diet Coke can. Perish as I lived. A poetic notion. Of course, my mate Jessica is thoroughly displeased with my lack of caring and my love of this idea. Not the cremation or my lack or respect really, but being put inside a Diet Coke can. She fails to see the beauty and humour in this. I have no idea why. 
I'm also realistic about death; 9 times out of 10 people are forgotten after they die. Shit, people are forgotten when they're alive too, but this isn't about my arguing of human consciousness & attention here...I might just save that for another blog. While I am aware that once I die I will be forgotten I'm sometimes saddened by the idea. I wanted, in some ways to confront the sadness and use it as a way to make a lasting impression. So far, I don't think that I have.
It's not a great photo and the tattoo does need a bit of retouching in a few areas. 
It was pretty hard to get the photo on my iMac because I'm kind of tall and the desk is rather low. I didn't think to ask someone to help me take a photo. Don't ask me why; I was more focused on writing and editing things. 
I got the peony done the same day. I sort of have an obsession with peonies; they make frequent appearances in my artwork. I'd gone to see a tattoo mate of mine and told him that I wanted my ribs done. He was game for it. He laid me down made sure I was comfortable as I could be and laid the two stencils down. The drawing that I gave him to work off of wasn't as shakey. I think he could have done a slightly better job with the lettering, but sometimes I love the rough, grunge appearance to how it was done. It reminds me of Billy's angst and the catchy melody of the entire song. It brings me back to a time when grunge was king and everything wasn't so neat clinical. I mean, I like order and all that, but I think that things these days have become too sterile, too synthetic. He didn't even bother to ask if I could sit for the entire tattoo; he knew I'd be able to sit the entire thing without any difficulty. Without any time restraints, we set to mixing some autumn colours for my peony. Sure, it's not traditional but I wanted autumn colours. For some reason, despite the video supposedly taking place in the summer, I get this death of summer vibe from it. Death of summer holidays, death of childhood innocence. Death of me...

He didn't ask about the meaning behind the tattoo. After Almost 5 years of tattooing me, he knew better than to ask. He'd seen a lot of my more interesting and wild ideas, not to mention sees tonnes of my other artwork. I told him to just to the peony first and then we'd do the lettering after, work our day down from the top. Not really the normal way to go about it, but it was just something I wanted to do. It wasn't like we'd have a problem with him accidentally wiping the stencil off; we were doing two separate ones that were stand-alone pieces so we could take them one at a time. He worked the rich reds into the vibrant oranges, making the colours compliment one another and pop at the same time. I loved that he used a kind of frosty forest green colour to contrast the warmth of the peony colours. Sometimes I love to give over complete control to the artist and let them mix with a vague idea of what I'm looking for. I really have to trust the artist and their work for this to happen. I'm a bit of a control freak.

Overall, I love the tattoo. I kinda wish we'd gone a little bigger with the lettering, but oh well. I've got plans to connect another tattoo into it and continue to add to my body suit. The more tattooed you get, the more planning you gotta do. The hard work will pay off though. I probably should have started my planning way earlier, but meh, I'll work with what I got. I like a challenge.




I was trying to find answers deep inside myself that I knew on some level I didn't have. 

Corgan's dreamy melody Mayonaise has also influenced another straight up lyric tattoo that I'm planning to get this year.

"Well, no one knows

Where our secrets go."



Hopefully, this year I'll be better at doing and uploading Tattoo Talk Thursday episodes. If you have tattoo questions submit them! I'm always looking for other things to discuss on the series. Or if you're an artist you can submit a portfolio and I can do an interview with you and do a blog on your work/shop!

This year I'm working on a project, detailing my year through film and television; categorizing my moods and interests. I started it last year and got only 2 months in and I forgot about it, this year, I'm sticking to it. If you guys have any suggestions for shows or films, let me know via comment or via my social media links! I'm always looking for all kinds of new things to get into so don't be shy about sharing. 


LINKS
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