Gun

This is a gun and some roses that I did for my mentor.  I  gave it to her after she finished my tattoo and she loved it.  She has a fascination with guns, haha.  First I penciled this drawing, and then I painted it.  I wanted it to look old, so I took a tea bag and seeped it in a little bit of hot water and painted the background with it.  I painted the leaves of the roses with green tea, and the roses with this weird berry tea in my kitchen.  I painted the gun with some black tea.  I also used grey water color paint with some of the tea to make shadows.  I don't usually paint with tea, (well actually, I've never done that before) but I was feeling experimental.  I really liked how this one turned out. 

Stoked

Part of this project is to get a mentor.  Someone who has knowledge about the topic that your project is on, and someone who can answer your questions and help you along.  My ideal mentor would be an actual Tattoo Artist.  But what was I going to do? Just walk into a Tattoo Shop and start asking questions?
       Turns out, one of my teachers at school is friends with a Tattoo Artist.  This teacher heard about my project and they talked to their Tattoo Artist friend for me, and then gave me the Artist's contact information and told me that she was interested in meeting me. It was hard to get a hold of her, since I only had the phone number of the shop that she worked at.  She was never there when I called, and the messages didn't seem to be getting to her.  I was sort of discouraged.  I talked to the teacher again, and they told me to take a chance and just Facebook her, so I did. 
       We've been talking over Facebook for about a week, and she is super, super nice, and really funny.  She's invited me to go to the shop on Friday and visit her.  I'm very excited. 
       I feel super blessed, because I get to actually talk to someone who is in the Tattoo Industry and is willing to show me things and talk to me and give me advice.  I'm hoping that this won't be the only time I meet her, but that I'll be able to continue to talk to her even after this visit.