Tattoos: good day, bad day.

Saw these over the weekend on instagram.

The first, I thought was a great representation of depression, since poetic language on the subject often refers to feeling trapped or imprisoned, and I find the visual of a ball and chain pretty successfully evocative. It's pretty clear.

Saw this on gustavo_martinez_tattoo's instagram.

The second is kind of a play on the toughness of knuckle tattoos and how it's would be great to be reminded daily that I'm okay. I love this one.

Saw this on hhobbess' instagram.

I love hand and knuckle tattoos, so that okay one is really going to ferment in my brain.

On trying to avoid making decisions on my look when I'm depressed.

I'm trying to avoid my deep, "fuck it" desire to get tattoos and cut my hair while I'm stuck in this depressive pass.

I watched Mad Max: Fury Road and now all I want to do is shave my head and go live in the dessert with a bunch of bad-ass radical-feminist ladies.

I wish I could pull off bangs. I want hair in my face/eyes. Like a really messy puppy.

I'd also get a lot of anti-social tattoos. Knuckle tats. A lot of fuck words. Some real dark stuff. All stuff that I'd find funny, but would make my mother cry and working in the world harder. 

Check out Sean from Texas for some great ones.

I especially like this one.

Beautiful, sad, strong tattoos by Lydia Marier.

I met Lydia Marier on Tuesday night. I've been following her on Instagram for a while now, and I just love her style. I was especially touched by a few pieces.

So, I've given her a deposit and a brief, and hopefully I'll have new work by her in September. She has some really great stuff, check her out!

She works only in black, and her black-work is really strong. A friend mentioned wanting to support female and queer identified tattoo artists only from now on, and I'm following her lead. I think it's a great idea. I met Lydia and thought she was really sweet and open to my ideas, so I'm excited to see what comes of it.