Justin's wife Sarah came in to see me about a tattoo and as we were inking her outline, she said that her husband was thinking about a piece as well. (People say this to me all the time-- sometimes they follow through and some times they don't.) I didn't think anything more of it until he opened my studio door and I realized that he had actually come in several years before to talk to me about his first tattoo but had decided to postpone. He says, "I have always wanted to get a tattoo and have gone back and forth for years in regards to what it would be and where I wanted it. I wanted something artistic and unique that could be expanded on over time. I have always loved the imagery of the conifer forests in our great state; my family and I always escape to the mountains when I can to get away from the daily grind.
"My first meeting with Victoria I was nervous since this was my first tattoo-- to be honest I thought I might chicken out. I told her my idea; I wanted a band of trees on my forearm that could later be expanded to hills and mountains up my arm with Mt. Hood on top of my shoulder. Two weeks later not only had she designed an incredible forearm piece that was way beyond my expectations, she had sketched out the entire piece up my arm and it was INCREDIBLE. It was a very easy decision to have the whole piece done right away, my forearm piece quickly turned into a ¾ sleeve that perfectly represents our incredible forests in Oregon."
Here are some pictures of the drawing, outline and gray stages-- this is going to be a gray work piece (no color), utilizing negative space on the arm.