Today, I decided to get a lifelong souvenir from Pomona. A memory that won’t fade in the first place. As mentioned before, I’ve fallen completely in love with the city of Claremont. The first time I visited the town, I browsed a small retro boutique filled with a variety of objects. One thing that I found was a postcard, a small piece of art with a design that hit me spot on. The picture featured a girl with magenta colored hair, a red striped bow and eyes blue as the ocean. It had an air of mystery and wonder. It instantly made me think of Alice In Wonderland. My path was clear. “I want this as a tattoo”, I thought. I had never felt so sure of anything. It would be the perfect memory of wonderful Cali. Of course I wanted to link it to Pomona, where I’ve spent so much time. There is one tattoo place in downtown Pomona, so today, a few weeks after the event in Claremont, I visited the tattoo place called Ink’d Chronicles. One of the artist names was Sean Kreitlow – perfect since the house I’m staying in harbors three Sean’s – and we had no problem communicating and exchanging ideas. Soon the plan was formed and we got to work.
Now, I want to share a bit more background when it comes to the design. I started researching the artist, Mab Graves, before I got the tattoo. The picture I found in Claremont, had put high expectations on her skills, and I was not disappointed. Browsing her website, I found countless of wonderful pieces of art. She even has a collection called Candyland, which features the same air as I express in my song Garden of Unicorns. Her pictures feel fantasy based, with a hint of sadness. This got me more intrigued and after a bit more research I found out that we share sources of inspirations. Fairytales and stories, like Alice in Wonderland. Like I, she seems to find the madness part of it most fascinating. If you feel like checking out her work, click here.
Truly inspiring!
So finally, here’s my baby. My first tattoo, based on the original piece of art “Sophia and the Shatterclaw” by Mab Graves.
