When I graduated from BCIT this past December, I had decided that I needed to commemorate the event with a new tattoo...something that would signify this transition in my life. I decided a while ago that, along with the Sanskrit character between my shoulder blades, I'd stick with a Central/Far East Asian theme with my tattoo work. Hence, I chose a Koi – the legendary fish that is symbolic of transformation, the overcoming of obstacles, the accomplishment of goals. I searched the internet high and low for designs and other tattoos, but nothing really stood out for me. I even tried to recruit a friend of mine to design it for me since he's such a great artist; unfortunately his attitude towards tattooing was a bit negative so he didn't really put a priority on helping me out. I was back to my own devices. Around this time I discovered an artist named Wolf Noble. He draws the most amazing tribal-style dragons, lizards, and the like using Sharpies. I 'borrowed' some artwork from his site and along with a watercolour of two Koi, went to visit my one and only tattoo artist in Vancouver, Justina Kervel at Liquid Amber Tattoo on Burrard.
At A Glance Author The Misanthropic Lunchtruck Contact The Misanthropic Lunchtruck@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Justina Kervel Studio Liquid Amber Tattoo Location Vancouver, BC Now, Justina and I hadn't talked in a while, but within minutes that connection that we had on my previous work flared up again and we had really identified the key elements of the style I was going for. She promised that she'd have a couple of different pieces of art for me to look at within 10 days or so. When I came into the shop to see what she had done, I was completely amazed. She had taken the tribal feel that I was looking for with the black and grey work and combined it with the softer edges and freer forms of the watercolours – the results were, in a word, breathtaking. What really surprised me, considering that I'm a massive black and grey fan, is that she had added three small red flowers in the second piece of art. Just that morning, I had thought that perhaps it was time to add a little tiny bit of colour into my tattoos; it was like we were on the same wavelength – definitely the sign of an artist who knows her subject and her client. I decided immediately that there was no need for any changes, it was perfect the way it was, and we booked the first appointment for Friday February 15th. At the time of the booking, I asked Justina how long she thought it might take to do this piece – it's from the top of my right shouldercap to the top of my right elbow – basically a half-sleeve. Justina thought 2 sessions, maybe 3.
When I showed up for the first session, we agreed that it would be the fineline work and as much shading as my skin and Justina's back could take. Once again my wife was along for the ride with the digital Rebel, snapping away and creating all sorts of havoc. When Justina laid the pattern on to my arm and had me look at it, my first thought was 'Jesus, that's huge', and my second thought was 'no more short sleeves at the office on Fridays...'. With that, we were off – that needle settled into my skin and I immediately remembered why people tell everyone that tattoos are addictive. I really missed it. Three plus hours later, we were finished all of the line work and some of the shading on the Koi itself. Justina made an appointment for four weeks down the road for the shading, and I was off.
When we sat down for the second session, I guess the reality of the amount of shading around the Koi sunk in for both of us – Justina decided that rather than trying to get all of it done at once, it was better to do it in two chunks, basically the front and back so I wasn't going through a massive painful healing. Good thing we did that, because after the front section was finished, I was almost in tears, especially for the parts near my armpit. As she bandaged me up Justina warned me that most people tend to get a little infected in that area due to the constant rubbing motion of the arm moving. Yep, she was right. Within ten days about 90% of the shading had scabbed and fallen off in huge chunks (try explaining that to people when they are standing next to your desk in the office and you're constantly having to discretely sweep off pieces of skin when they fall out of the sleeve of your shirt...), but that one point up near my armpit had scabbed into what looked like a miniature volcano, all puckered and crusty. I went in a week before my next session and asked Justina to take a look at it. She grinned and said 'yup, it's infected – just keep cleaning it and putting Glysomed on it – it'll take care of itself'. Plus, one of the great things about Liquid Amber is FREE TOUCH UPS!!
The third session arrived, and with it, even more shading. Needless to say, we didn't finish that night either – just the flowers and the detail shading on the Koi to finish. Finally, on May 16th, almost exactly three months to the day that she started on me, Justina finished what I consider a masterpiece.
It's pretty damn cool when your artist stands back, looks at what she's done, and is really impressed with how it turned out. That's one of the things that I really love about Justina and her approach to tattooing – she's about making it a unique piece of art, rather than just another piece of flash or another tattoo. The amount of effort and time she spends in the smallest detail demonstrates how much she puts of herself into each and every piece. I'm fortunate that I get to wear her artwork for the rest of my life – I think the best comment I've received to date was from my new doctor who, when I disrobed for a physical, said 'that's a real piece of art you've got there'. Coming from a 70 year old conservative West Van doctor, and considering how impressed he sounded when he said it, it was like a ringing endorsement. To me it was on par with someone walking into your home and commenting on a Jackson Pollock or Robert Bateman hanging on the wall. Everyone who's seen it has had the same reaction, a quick intake of breath, and a 'wow'. When I tell people I have a half-sleeve on my arm, I don't think they expect to see such a spectacular, and original, thing of beauty.
And yes, I'm already planning the companion piece for my left arm – similar style, but now I think I'm going to incorporate the four elements into my work – next up, the phoenix. I'll be going back to Justina – no surprise there. I've said it before and it bears repeating – she is the consummate professional, a brilliant artist, and now that I've spent so much time in her chair, she's become quite a good friend as well. You can't go wrong putting your faith, and your skin, in her hands.