Ariel's Elm: Rising Upward, but Steadfast

I met Ariel last month in the soon-to-be-shuttered Borders bookstore on Penn Plaza and of her three tattoos, she shared this tree on her upper right biceps:

Ariel explained that this tattoo

"was originally an actual photograph of a maple tree, but it was too difficult - you can see the shading is relatively delicate for it ... it looked better with a cloudier image ... so it looks more of a cherry blossom but it was originally a maple...

As for the reason she included the roots of the tree in the design, she specified,

"I really wanted it to be something that represents being rooted and grounded and steadfast, but still growing upwards and moving towards the heavens, something that is strong and can withstand the wind, but is adaptable and changes with the seasons ... so it's just kind of, who I would like to be."

She credited Randall Muntz at Divine Machine Tattoo in Buffalo, New York with this work. Coincidentally, Randall started full-time (according to their website) at Body Electric Tattoo in Hollywood, California, just this week.

Thanks to Ariel for sharing her lovely tree tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday.

If you are reading this on another web site other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.