Having always been a creative person myself, I really like hanging out with other creative people. They fill me with joy, ideas, and have a way of magnifying my own creativity.

All of us creative folk, no matter what medium we work in (art, film making, music, writing, acting, etc.) seem to occupy a different bandwidth of consciousness. We have quirks and personality traits considered weird by the more conservative “normal” middle spectrum of the human herd. Being a creative person is often not an easy life if you’re surrounded by non-creatives.

If you’ve been following me for a while you know from past posts I got my first tattoo in the autumn of 2016, right before SteemFest 1. My first piece was a Buddha that sits on my left shoulder offering a lotus, representing the flower sermon (click here to read about it). I’ve been practicing meditation for a few decades and this seemed like a fitting first piece of body art...representing some of the wisdom that has come from that practice.

The second piece was a mandala with the flower of life pattern running behind it. My second tattoo was done in 2017, coincidentally it was wrapped up just before SteemFest 2 (click here to read about tattoo #2).

Last week, I spent another four hours in the chair of the incredible artist and renaissance man, Greg “Grease” Lehman (check out his website here). Greg has been creating incredible body art about as long as I’ve been writing. He also excels in woodworking and has even made a working pendulum clock out of nothing but paper mache...this has to be seen to be believed. His shop’s walls are filled with various curiosities, many of them he made himself.

A few weeks prior to this I had been sending Greg pictures of different ideas I had for my next piece, changing my mind a few times. I was having trouble finding one picture online that represented exactly what I wanted so I finally narrowed it down to three pictures, asking Greg to incorporate a few aspects of each into the final design.

This third tattoo is on my left arm from my wrist to my elbow and it connects with my original Buddha to form what’s called a sleeve, meaning a tattoo that covers the length of the entire arm. I had held off on getting this done while I was still working an office job because I was concerned that it wouldn’t be accepted in that conservative environment. I think back to how absurd that rationale is now and it makes me laugh. Now, I don’t simply don’t care and that feels amazing to say.

When I arrived at Greg’s shop he had my concept perfectly sketched onto a special paper that transfers the image onto your arm when applied.

He transferred the image to the blank canvas that was my left forearm.

Then he fired up the tool of his trade and got to work. The time usually goes really quickly in his chair, we talk about a wide variety of topics from politics, to technology, to cryptocurrency (yes, he’s into that too.)

Greg began on the intricate detail of the clock face first.

During the four hour session we took a few breaks to rest. The following picture was taken about two and a half hours into the session.

Here’s one taken after three hours in the chair. After some of the shading and white highlighting had been applied.

The explanation of the design is as follows: the lotus at the bottom represents the beginning of my spiritual journey. The clock represents our physical reality and all of the good and bad that accompanies this. The clock is also a reminder that time is continuously ticking. The Om symbol is present at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock positions on the dial showing a gradual transformation from physical to spiritual consciousness. The hands of the clock are set to the exact time of my birth. Smoke is rising from the lotus, seamlessly connecting this piece with the older Buddha on my shoulder.

Here are a few of the final photos taken by Greg at the end of the session.

I’ll go back in a month or so after this is fully healed for a minor touch up and maybe the addition of a little color here and there.

I hope you enjoyed this post!

Remember, life is too short to be “normal”. What is normal anyway but a set of rules and hypocritical expectations imposed on us by others?

Be you, unapoligetically.

Even if you is unconventional and covered in tattoos. ; )

Yours in the Chain,

Eric

(Curly sourced from Giphy.com)

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