I love tattoos, I always have. When I was a child, I would always beg my parents to let me have a temporary tattoo when we were on holiday. Not a childish one like a disney princess or a cartoon, but one that looked like a proper tattoo. Now thinking back at it, why were my parents so surprised when I got a real one, and then another?
I got my first one when I was 18 in November 2014. It says “thinking of you”. It was for some family members that had passed away. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of them and I thought it would be the perfect first tattoo. It will never be something I regret. The only thing I do regret is not planning the font before the day and really thinking about it. There are some things about the style that I don’t like, but oh well. It means a lot to me. I wish I remembered the name of the artist but I got it done at Portobello Tattoo and Piercing. I’d highly recommend them there!
The next tattoo I got was in 2016, I think. For this one, I decided I wanted to find a really good tattoo studio so did some research and I found Hammersmith Tattoo. I went in and explained what I wanted, David stepped up to the job. The next day I went back and got my tattoo done. I couldn’t of had a better tattoo experience. He was so lovely, made me feel very relaxed and chatted to me the whole time like we were friends. I think that meant more to me than the actual tattoo.
Bears are my spirit animal, I have always loved them. They represent strength, protection, confidence and independence. They are solitary animals and retreat from the world to hibernate, when the time is right they return. I was in a bit of a bad place mentally and wanted a constant reminder that it’s okay to be alone. I think this might just be my favourite tattoo.
After that tattoo, I knew I wanted David to do the rest of my tattoos. He moved out of London, so I followed him to Brighton. I decided to put my trust in him and give me a big tattoo under my boobs/on my ribs. It ended up becoming a project. We started with one 5/6 hour session to do the line work, then months later went back to get the wolf and one flower shaded (another 5/6 hour session), I couldn’t cope doing the other flower on that day. Then we had a final session to finish it. I do want to take it further up my ribs and around to my back but we have time and I’m in no rush. It takes a lot of building up courage to do it there as it is the most painful spot that I have been tattooed. It’s why I think it is super important to have someone do it who you really trust. Okay it hurts lying down for hours in pain, but the way I see it is I’m catching up with a friend. There’s not many people I could sit topless for and talk about our lives with for hours. I consider him a true friend, even if I am paying him to create art on my body. There is not many people in this world that I trust as much as him.
In between wolf/peony sessions, I went back to Portobello Tattoo and Piercing after being bored one day and got a rainbow on my wrist and a moon and some stars. I’m not going to name the artist as he is a talented guy, but I regretted those tattoos because they were a spur of the moment thing. I ended up getting them covered by David on the same day as my last wolf session with an Eagle silhouette.
The Eagle is from the film Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, it was one of my favourite films. In it the Eagle represents home that is always there, it never leaves you. Sorry for the crappy photo of it, but it needs to be touched up at some point soon.
There’s my 4 tattoos, I hoping to get some more soon so will keep you all posted!
Amalia x
Life of Marley. 