I got my first tattoo at 19 on sort of a dare. My friends and I decided we wanted tattoos, and one of our moms told us we didn’t have the guts. The next day, we were looking for shops in the yellow pages. (They didn’t have a lot of tattoo websites in 1999.) We visited a few shady places before settling on a parlor and picked flash to have put on us forever.

My first tattoo is pretty bad; a pegasus on my chest. I don’t regret it, though. When I got it, I was a shy nerd and I really think that it helped me be more social in college. No one believed that this shy person who looked like a 12-year old girl had a tattoo. It turns out that flashing people is a sure fire way to break the ice.

So how does this relate to my art at all? Well, since that first tattoo in 1999, I have kept getting more on and off, including a couple drawn by myself, and one drawn by my husband. Here is my toad tattoo. I love him. It is based on my drawing of a toad that really propelled me into drawing only toads. I am thinking about having him sitting on something, but whether that is a leaf, flower, strawberry or other I don’t know. He’s fine now, but I am addicted, so I wouldn’t mind adding to him.

 

Lately, I have been really looking at tattoos online for even more ideas to decorate my body with some day. I’ve been learning about tattoo styles and all sorts of things I had no idea even existed when I got my first tattoo. Of course, the first styles of American tattoos were mostly meant for men, including a lot of pin ups and naked ladies. Traditional American tattoos are enjoying a revival right now, and I have seen a lot of great examples on the Internet, and in real life.

 

Being obsessed with tattoos and toads, this had to happen. Here are my toad pin up girls! All proceeds from prints of these gals will go straight into my tattoo fund! They are on Etsy here!