Renee's Feathered Serpent

I was walking down 31st Street in Manhattan when a woman walked by with a hummingbird and flower on her left shoulder. I turned back to talk to her and I was stunned to see a bright colorful tattoo spanning the top of her back> I called after her and had a nice chat.<br /><br />To my delight, Renee was my familiar with the site, as her artist, <a href="http://1228tattoo.blogspot.com/">Joy Rumore</a>, had just been featured on Tattoosday <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2010/06/kats-mucha-tattoo-with-nod-to-lemony.html">here</a>. Taking a photo of the tattoo in question was not possible due to the presence of clothing covering sections of it, but I gave Renee my card and asked her to keep in touch. However, after a few messages on Twitter, not only did I have the link to photos of the tattoo from the artist's blog, I also had an open dialogue with Renee, who explained the tattoo for me.<br /><br />As Joy says on her original post <a href="http://1228tattoo.blogspot.com/2010/01/all-hail-mighty-kukulcan.html">here</a>, "All hail the mighty <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kukulkan">Kukulcan</a>!":<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2BbB7x_7kjfNukLVCWdC_-N9Tq5_Ot-7msbPtqtmOuIyF26CbeAWQGZKqh5RfqckZcg8Sl517BgjlsND30BsY8S6UQOsAJBuS5JpYWQGZvM453UKfYacUCEPnqwexHUzfumQek4og/s1600/Kukulcan+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2BbB7x_7kjfNukLVCWdC_-N9Tq5_Ot-7msbPtqtmOuIyF26CbeAWQGZKqh5RfqckZcg8Sl517BgjlsND30BsY8S6UQOsAJBuS5JpYWQGZvM453UKfYacUCEPnqwexHUzfumQek4og/s400/Kukulcan+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaK9qii6VLUnRk2B5628LA06d9BD85DNFZwKqBqYdXWjtqIOuk_fSo880Ad5-NCVGPFQRqt_147VWjvCxGL9eLxehWCrHK6tJi7f0vWBdD6Nws0bX-x3DaZaJTjDbMhvcK-erIhqJy/s1600/Kukulcan+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaK9qii6VLUnRk2B5628LA06d9BD85DNFZwKqBqYdXWjtqIOuk_fSo880Ad5-NCVGPFQRqt_147VWjvCxGL9eLxehWCrHK6tJi7f0vWBdD6Nws0bX-x3DaZaJTjDbMhvcK-erIhqJy/s400/Kukulcan+4.jpg" width="267" /></a></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJYhz3PjZbDsJ7uJX-JQQPt8c7d1U2EInP2vkPdXOtzDOQvYXSPVZJgz5m30fgf6T-NORJsJsSa8g7OKkFeBYkRUdKu2Mil3OjoUf5lHF155Qj_LiqVptzuOC909_kPnzTkL2hslJ9/s1600/Kukulcan+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJYhz3PjZbDsJ7uJX-JQQPt8c7d1U2EInP2vkPdXOtzDOQvYXSPVZJgz5m30fgf6T-NORJsJsSa8g7OKkFeBYkRUdKu2Mil3OjoUf5lHF155Qj_LiqVptzuOC909_kPnzTkL2hslJ9/s400/Kukulcan+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwyMrFEEm3VrwYCL8-We-mtml6uFlkfJioPGSinliMrgTLsnBsImLru0pRZFTqCm0h7EtPkdGnxF9ZXSnJsiHzWttfzAQvwpdI066unozT-2kCHwHcZ38FvR-whyphenhyphenX1eD6T_DBGBF7R/s1600/Kukulcan+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwyMrFEEm3VrwYCL8-We-mtml6uFlkfJioPGSinliMrgTLsnBsImLru0pRZFTqCm0h7EtPkdGnxF9ZXSnJsiHzWttfzAQvwpdI066unozT-2kCHwHcZ38FvR-whyphenhyphenX1eD6T_DBGBF7R/s400/Kukulcan+3.jpg" width="296" /></a></div><br /><br />I asked Renee to elaborate on why she got this incredible tattoo across her back. I'll let her words speak for themselves:<br /><blockquote><br />"I got this feathered serpent tattoo when I advanced to candicacy in my doctoral program where I study <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec">Aztec</a> art. I think we did it over three or four 90-minute sessions ... The feathered serpent was an old <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesoamerica">Mesoamerican</a> god, a version of which dates back to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olmec">Olmecs</a> (about 400 BCE) and is seen at a number of Mexican sites like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teotihuacan">Teotihuacan</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chichen_Itza">Chichen Itza</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tula,_Hidalgo">Tula</a>, and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Templo_Mayor">Templo Mayor</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico_City">Mexico City</a>. The Aztecs called him <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quetzalcoatl">Quetzalcoatl</a> which translates from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nahuatl">Nahuatl</a> (their spoken language) into bird-snake. Joy refers to him on her blog as Kukulcan, which is the version that is seen at Chichen Itza in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucat%C3%A1n">Yucatán</a>.<br /><br />I wanted a tattoo of a feathered serpent because he so relevant to the Aztecs and they took great care in carving beautiful stone images of the animal.  I also knew of Joy's penchant for amazing feather work, and I knew this would be a good match.  I brought Joy a series of images, one from a mural at Teotihuacan, one from a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixtec">Mixtec</a> manuscript and another of an Aztec stone carving of a feathered serpent.  She used those and her knowledge of imagery from the Yucatan to create a more composite image of the god."</blockquote> A huge thanks to Renee and to Joy at <a href="http://www.1228tattoo.com/">Twelve 28 Tattoo</a> for their cooperation in making this post possible!

Renee's Feathered Serpent

I was walking down 31st Street in Manhattan when a woman walked by with a hummingbird and flower on her left shoulder. I turned back to talk...

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Kat's Mucha Tattoo, With a Twist of Lemony Snicket

At 31st Street and 7th Avenue, I stopped Kat to ask about her ink.<br /><br />She was happy to see me and had been wondering, having previously read Tattoosday and knowing she worked in the same area as I did, if our paths would ever cross.<br /><br />She has seven tattoos (and a cool blog <a href="http://www.katofalltrades.com/">here</a>), but we focused on the large tattoo on her upper right arm:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6rBmqS-MP_mPkyKPkmVMsTW-S2FIhdd9T0ZXQXjYDQzXy8UZASNZGwxqBBzIF4-bwy-hVgbeHM6_vjFiaS7h0pl68yRAt2A8ktnUJDe7cg5C71zZcEO85hV9CUR78IxUyCFsBLPxQ/s1600/Kat+Sleeve+c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6rBmqS-MP_mPkyKPkmVMsTW-S2FIhdd9T0ZXQXjYDQzXy8UZASNZGwxqBBzIF4-bwy-hVgbeHM6_vjFiaS7h0pl68yRAt2A8ktnUJDe7cg5C71zZcEO85hV9CUR78IxUyCFsBLPxQ/s640/Kat+Sleeve+c.jpg" width="288" /></a></div><br /> Or, looking at it as a whole:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinOFepXJN3ldzGPi67O9XIWeRrUgjclXe-7fqsX3pxjrPS2PyqeKBKvAkkmKDev4LgBBxJ7hg9EjHH9EjrWTEFctLqX2_oMVuwXHNOXtdYUdx6txoGMfgVZKCccMYdMC4824-t-KdA/s1600/Mucha+collage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="397" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinOFepXJN3ldzGPi67O9XIWeRrUgjclXe-7fqsX3pxjrPS2PyqeKBKvAkkmKDev4LgBBxJ7hg9EjHH9EjrWTEFctLqX2_oMVuwXHNOXtdYUdx6txoGMfgVZKCccMYdMC4824-t-KdA/s400/Mucha+collage.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />The art is based on the work of <a href="http://www.muchafoundation.org/MHome.aspx">Alphonse Mucha</a>, who has inspired a couple of other tattoos appearing previously on Tattoosday <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2009/06/sarah-shoulders-her-slavic-heritage.html">here</a> and <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2009/09/delissa-reveals-little-bit-of-monaco-on.html">here</a>.<br /><br />If that second link looks familiar, it is because both Kat's tattoo and Delissa's are inspired by the same work, "Monaco".<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtE8zE0mgK-NhNUVrHBCvzokqLNvTUpPIaz18ZDj09V5XrqAPeRfwET3XH2C8vDyNDcSOb8OvyAYWGYya0HtqgeSBJjDCnW3bGlm66ufVxoCPvfG9mvJ6VyOwMSITqmvxCILQ2fG1H/s1600/Mucha_Monaco_Monte_Carlo_1897.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtE8zE0mgK-NhNUVrHBCvzokqLNvTUpPIaz18ZDj09V5XrqAPeRfwET3XH2C8vDyNDcSOb8OvyAYWGYya0HtqgeSBJjDCnW3bGlm66ufVxoCPvfG9mvJ6VyOwMSITqmvxCILQ2fG1H/s400/Mucha_Monaco_Monte_Carlo_1897.jpg" width="296" /></a></div><br />Kat's tattoo is interpreted a little differently, translated with brighter colors, which, in Kat's words, were "amped up to be on my arm".<br /><br />The plan is eventually for this tattoo to expand to be a half-sleeve.<br /><br />The phrase "the world is quiet here" is a nod to a motto for a secret organization known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V.F.D.">V.F.D.</a> in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Wreck-Unfortunate-Events-Books/dp/0061119067?ie=UTF8&tag=bill03-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Wreck-Unfortunate-Events-Books/dp/0061119067?ie=UTF8&tag=bill03-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">A Series of Unfortunate Events</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0061119067" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0061119067" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemony_Snicket">Lemony Snicket</a>. These books are favorites among Kat's list of much-loved titles.<br /><br />Her work was created by the artist <a href="http://www.google.com/profiles/the.milkmaid#buzz">Joy Rumore</a> at <a href="http://www.1228tattoo.com/">Twelve 28 Tattoo</a> in Brooklyn.<br /><br />Kind thanks to Kat for sharing her work with us here on Tattoosday!

Kat's Mucha Tattoo, With a Twist of Lemony Snicket

At 31st Street and 7th Avenue, I stopped Kat to ask about her ink. She was happy to see me and had been wondering, having previously read Ta...

Read more »