For Sandy

Back in 1993, while living in Chicago, I walked into a tattoo parlor and told the guy I wanted a small heart on my right bicep. It was my plan that it would be the beginning to a much bigger tattoo. A few years later, I went back to the same guy and asked him to add an angel to it. He made it look like the angel was holding the heart up to the sky. Fast forward a few years here in Portland. I walked into a tattoo parlor with a design I had found. It was a cross that would fit around the heart and the flame of the holy spirit looping underneath it. I walked out of that tattoo parlor with one of the worst tattoo jobs known to man. It was embarrassingly bad. I lived with it for years because I could never think of what to do to fix it or cover it up.

As you all know, last October, I made the trip to Newport Rhode Island to have my long-awaited Aquaman tattoo done by Fred Smith III. Once he finished Aquaman, I knew he would be doing most, if not all, of my tattoo work from this point forward. I sent him a picture of my arm with the horrible tattoo. I wanted him to fix and turn it into a tribute to my friend Sandy. He said it was so bad it made him laugh out loud. I don't blame him. I went to see him last Saturday and he covered up the flame with a very cool horse shoe. He also re-touched the cross and the heart. He also added my friend Sandy's name to it. The cover up job is ABSOLUTELY amazing. I'm going back to see him in April. He will retouch the angel and then add a bunch of flowers and music notes to it to make it the truly beautiful tribute that she deserves.

The moral of this story is, don't get a tattoo you don't want on your body for the rest of your life. Not all botched jobs or ugly tattoos can be covered easily. Also, don't just walk in off the street with a wad of cash and picking a tattoo out of a book. Tattoo artists are just that...artists. You want to find an artist that you mesh with and who will take the time to make sure your body art is nothing less than perfect.

Ck it out so far......