Pre-Ninth Session. October 24 2003. 10:30AM.
This tattoo is exactly what I wanted stylistically. Bold, solid, readable, graphic, powerful, large... I'm definitely happy with it. There are another three or four more sessions till it's complete. It's been a remarkable experience in many ways. Working large scale and over time, I've seen the seasons change. The first session, April 16th, was sunny and cool. I remember wearing a dark red linen shirt and jeans. I'd taken the day off from work at Meredith Interactive and got to the studio a little early. I found a stoop, sat down and got a little sun. I remember going the the beach in the early part of the summer and hating that the work was incomplete. I remember the rainy days for the rest of the summer and the good friends that stopped by to say hello and watch me wince.

And here I now sit, knowing that the work will still be happening as winter falls. And that one day soon it will be finished. 36 hours or so total. Resulting in one amazing piece of art. Living art. Art that both empowers and humbles. Art that will die with me and in that way alone, a most intimate piece of art. Art that I can't readily see yet is with me at all times. Inseparable. And if I am mindful of the lessons the Koi teaches, an enlightening form of art.

Post-Ninth Session. October 24 2003. 11:11PM.
The first 15 minutes and the last 15 minutes are the hardest. The fat on my love handles kills. Damn. But after that first 15 minutes, things loosen up and you settle into a groove. The music tonight absolutely sucked ass and an ultrasonic cleaner ran for 30 minutes more than it had to. But alas...

It's getting there. We covered some serious ground tonight. The rocks look cool and will only look cooler when they're healed. Chris uses a type of ink that fades to a nice grey from the initial solid black. Sumi-e like. Then he'll go in and add the texture in a real black. We also added a fair amount of water to the piece and need to texturize and detail all that. Actually, all the water will get a bit deeper. No pun intended.

The image on the left is a fast sketch he did to show me how we'll tie into the work on my left shoulder. The maple leaves will be intertwined with the "wind." It won't be red, he just uses red to outline in marker. As I look closely at the work, all the little details that are missing are becoming apparent. But that's cool. I know we'll hit it all in due time.

 

Pre-Tenth Session. November 21 2003. 8:10AM.
I feel like we're in the home stretch now. In reality, we're not. There's much new work to be laid down and a lot of details to flesh out. I have three more sessions booked.

We're thinking about where to place the final elements like the maple leaves and how far down and over the work should go. I want my left butt cheek covered. I'd also like to work in a Mitsu Tomoe.

I've been asking myself "why" get such extensive work. Especially work that I will never directly see. I know the answers in my gut. The symbology means much to me, the pure artistic expression of such high quality work can't be denied, the drive to "customize" my body has always been strong, there is a definite narcissistic and sexual undercurrent. Can something you can't see be defined as "narcissistic?"

Post-Tenth Session. November 21 2003. 9:50PM.
Suffer the outline. Hate to start off with a whinge about the pain, but damn. This outline hurt. But as usual, I'm excited about the end result. There is a lot of "controversy" in the tattoo world about pain. Is pain part of getting tattoo'd? Is pain an unneeded and distracting component? I believe the pain in an important part of getting a tattoo. If it didn't hurt, if it didn't take courage and commitment what would it be? Like painting a car. The fact that you have to work through something to get to the end result adds value. No diss to those who use anesthetics but I don't dig that idea.

Right now, it's a little difficult to see anything except the black work, but if you look closely you can see the maple leave's outline. You can also see the final bits of water. I love this style of water. I'm really looking forward to coloring in the leaves. The movement of the entire piece is impressive. Totally dynamic.

We discussed what is going to go on my left butt cheek and at the base of my neck. All in all... getting there.

  

"... my teacher took me to a carp pond and we
sat there all day looking at the carp.
After we came home my teacher said, "Do you know why I was
watching carp all day?"
"No," I answered.
"It is because I want to study the living carp. I don't
like cartoons; I'm a professional artist and
I want to tattoo the true spirit of the carp"
At that time I hadn't seen the work of other tattoo artists.
In May my teacher took me to the festival at Sanja Temple where
I saw many tattooed men wearing loin cloths. Then I understood
what he had said about the living spirit of the carp as opposed
to tattoo designs which are cartoons. I remember two carp
tattoos: one by Hori Bun, which looked like a cartoon, and one
by Hori Uno, which had some of the true form of the carp
but was still partly a cartoon. It was supposed to be a
carp climbing up a waterfall but it looked dead, and a dead
carp can't climb a waterfall. The face of the carp climbing a waterfall must be strong, like the face of a samurai, but
the face of the carp by Hori Uno was not strong. The expression
on the face is very important in a tattoo. For example, in the traditional tattoo of the samurai fighting the
giant snake, the samurai doesn't know whether or not he can
kill the snake. His face must express this feeling."
from tattoos.com/oguri