Tattoo #3 and Tattoo Talk

As you can probably tell from the title of this post, I've recently had my third tattoo! I wanted to write a post about tattoos because it's something I've been interested in for yonks, from when I first fully saw my dad's tattoo's through to when I first discovered the love of my life that is Kat Von D and the TV programmes that followed. Since then tattoo culture has exploded massively and I find it all so fascinating, so I thought I'd talk you through my new piece of ink and my general thoughts around tattoo's.



Fresh and sore....
Ouch!

So I'll start with a little history, I already have 2 tattoos, one on each of my feet. I got my first tattoo when I was 20 in my 2nd year of uni and I'd always wanted a tattoo but could never decide on anything so just went for something a little off the wall. Then I got my second tattoo when I was 23 for very personal reasons. I've decided to do a separate post on my tattoo history, so I'll talk more about those in that post.

So for my third tattoo I'd been toying with getting an arm tattoo for ages, I was dreading the 'commitment' to having an arm tattoo but I couldn't think of anywhere else I wanted one so it was about finding the right placement. I saw Essie Button talking about her new tattoo and the placement on her arm was exactly what I'd been looking for and knew immediately that's where I'd get it.

The placement can't be seen at all from the front, so just walking along no-one would have any idea you have an arm tattoo from the front. When my arm is by my side and viewed from behind the tattoo sits more tucked into my side but is more visible which is what I liked about the position.

Then the hunt for something to have tattoo'd on started. For some reason, every single tattoo idea I have seems to be animal based and I really didn't want a kind of 'theme' to my tattoo's so I went on the hunt for something feminine and girly but not huge in size. After some Pinterest searching I came across some wild flower tattoo's that were small and simple but really pretty and feminine. I'd found a version that I just loved and settled on that one. I personally prefer just black and grey tattoo's, although saying that this tattoo would be quite nice with a very subtle shading colour.

Loads of people have been asking me what it 'means' and to be honest, it kind of annoys me when people ask this. It doesn't mean anything to me, it's pretty and feminine and I felt like it was very 'me' so why does it have mean anything at all? When you buy and display art around your home you don't question every piece with 'what does this mean?' 

As someone who has had meaningful and completely random tattoo's I feel like people over think a lot to do with tattoo's, I understand it's a huge commitment to have something inked onto your skin but it doesn't have to mean anything, it could just be a beautiful piece of art that you love to look at or represents you in some way. Why should I have to justify the tattoo's I have?

What are your thoughts on this? I can't be the only one that feels like this! :)

Peace,