Josh has been scarred for life!
Saturday afternoon, Josh met up with his tattoo artist, Patrick Cornolo, and they got right to work planning out the artwork, passing ideas, sketching thoughts, feeling out each other's style. It was amazing to see them collaborate.
Josh has been debating getting this tattoo since he was 18 years old. He has always envisioned a phoenix rising from the ashes to a new life. A phoenix is a mythical firebird derived from greek myths and legends. It is said that the great bird will build itself a nest at the end of its life cycle then ignite it where it is then reduced to ashes. From these ashes of the old life rises a new, young phoenix symbolizing immortality and divinity. In the drawing, you will also notice keys which each representing agents of change for Josh in his life: C for California, S for Shannon (that's me!) and C for Chicago.
Ready to start the process, Josh nervously adjusts his chair and Patrick assembles all the colors and sanitizing equipment.
He transfers the drawing onto Josh's skin and asks for approval. Josh looks at it with disbelief, every breath saying, I can't believe I'm doing this right now. The sound of the vibrating needle made me jolt and look away, but Josh bravely watched as Patrick began ripping into his skin.
Does it hurt?
No, not really, it just stings a little, kinda like an electric razor scraping against your skin too hard.
When it was all finished, Josh couldn't stop smiling and admiring his beautiful work of art that he will carry with him his whole life. Talk about commitment!
The most unexpected part came toward the end as I was fixated on the amazing work Patrick was doing. He caught me off guard asking what I would be getting for my first tattoo. I hadn't really thought about it and don't know if I really ever would get one, but he asked me so naturally I just paused and said, "I don't know."
He casually responds with a look that almost resembled pity, "Well, since Josh has got you represented as a key to his heart, you know what you have to get... a keyhole."
Something in the air changed. We both knew he was absolutely right. No one said anything.
Then Patrick broke the silence: When should I set up the appointment for?
5 comments:
ha! Seriously? Are you going to do it? Awesome.
I love this series BTW.. I also love that Josh thought so long and hard about this tattoo before actually going through with it.
I have a tattoo, and regret it. I don't regret the "tattoo" part.. I regret the tramp stamp part... a dragon fly on the small of my back. Original. I was such a forward thinker.
If I could change it, I would. I would replace that tattoo with a different one, somewhere else... with more meaning.
Wow. The tattoo is awesome... and I love how much meaning it has to him. I like tattoos and have 1 myself. My husband is a tattoo virgin but knows exactly what he wants when the timing is right. We're also going to get matching tattoo of our favorite Bible verse, written in Hebrew. But its all a matter of WHEN? Its hard to actually schedule the appointment. But I know we both want it soon. You TOTALLY should get a tattoo. Especially if it means something.
Looks totally rad! I love it! Chris is getting another one now.
Go for it Shannon!A keyhole is perfect!
whoa that looks so amazing! I can't wait to see the pictures of your tattoo!!!
I keep looking at this post. Seriously Shannon these photos are great, you need to post more of your work on here.
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