"Air and water" sleeve tattoo

The Greenman back-piece may now be finished, but I certainly am not done with ink yet! - nor do I imagine that Jo would ever let me go that easy - not whilst there is still so much of my skin ink-free...! Jo is also now working on a full tribal sleeve piece for Geoff - the progress of which is documented on a page of his own

In completing the Greenman back-piece, Jo was carefull to leave some of the "border" edges clear (particularly at the shoulders), so as to allow her freedom to develope the design into one that will wrap around my arms, ribs, chest and hips - gradually developing the back-piece into a full Iremezu style "Suit"...

We are starting with the sleeves first - complementing the GreenMan with an elemental "Air and Water", "Fire and Earth" theme...

The Left sleeve deals with "Air and Water" - as well as covering symbolism of knowledge and transformation. Using the traditional image of the leaping Koi, we developed a design that incorporates a salmon leaping from "hokusai" style waves to reperesent water (the leaping salmon is also a symbol taken from Celtic mythology that represents knowledge). Air is represented by the Honeysuckle and flying insects - including several butterflies (that also represent both transformation, and symbolise the soul in Greek mythology).

Jo cleverly created a design that blurs several styles - and takes an "old stay" of Traditional design, then reinterprets it for a modern Western audience. It's also a beautiful piece of colour and line...!

As you can see, we have now completed the left sleeve (on my 40th birthday - which was a nice touch!) - and I am incredibly happy with the result.

We are now at work on my right arm, with the second "Elemental" design combining Fire and Earth - which now also has it's own "Fire and Earth" page.