In the spring I got a tattoo.  It was tattoo number three, but it is more obvious than the previous two, and has received more attention.  The design evolved from a doodle, and once it became a full drawing I figured it was one I could live with on my skin.

I know that the images that we create communicate something.  What that is changes from person to person due to individual’s own visual vocabulary, understanding, and experience.  Sometimes as a creator of visual imagery I don’t quite know the story of the picture or object I have made immediately.  That’s what happened with my tattoo.  “What does it mean?”, I have been asked.  My replies have varied depending on mood and comfort level from “Nothing, I just liked the drawing,” to “What ever I want it to mean,” to a long, awkward, and convoluted reasoning behind each element.  I think now, a half year after, I have figured out the meaning and why it was important to have it perminantly inked into my skin in a place I could see it.

A crow, a tree, an orange rectangle/open doorway

The crow will eventually become six, representing the individual’s that make up my family.

The orange rectangle is the adventure of the future and where it will take them. The doorway is open for them to leave but also come back.

The tree represents home.  That no matter where their wings take them they have a safe place to rest when they need it.

The image is in process just like my family.

Family and home.  Present and future.