City Skylines

   When the designs are chosen with care, tattoos

   have a power and magic all their own.  They

   decorate the body but they also enhance the soul. 

   -Michelle Delio

To many people, a tattoo is the purest way to express you passion about something. A mom heart for your old lady, an intricate mural honoring a lost friend or perhaps a butterfly to show… something or another. An emerging trend in the same vein are city skyline tattoos that depict or honor a city.

Many of these tattoos have gang-related origins; for example, I’ve been told if you’re from the Westside area the skyline would look different from someone from the Eastside to show how the city looks from where you’re from.

A skyline tattoo is not only restricted to gang members though, and many people will display these tattoos simply to honor a city they care about.

Music

   Music takes us out of the actual and whispers to us dim secrets that startle
   our wonder as to who we are, and for what, whence, and whereto.
   - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Tattoos, like music, are an art form. As we are prone to listen to certain songs over and over because of the way it makes us feel, we may also feel compelled to get a tattoo to express the very same emotion. It just seems natural to mix these two compelling art forms to convey our deepest feelings.

From treble and bass clefts, to instruments, to entire sheets of music, music-related tattoos can be a great way to express the musical enthusiast in all of us.

Phoenix

   Tattoo the pristine flesh
   What is permanent anyway?
   This ink only lasts 'til the grave,
   Skin and ideas decompose
   That which we did compose.

   -Corri Alius

The legendary Phoenix. The popularity of this type of tattoo has been rising like it’s proverbial origin, only to inevitably perish in a fiery paroxysm of clichés. However, when done with the right idea, intention and artist, this type of tattoo can reach beyond the cliché and rejuvenate the ledged with artistry.

Tales of the phoenix appear in mythology from numerous origins. In Greek and Egyptian tales, the phoenix represents the sun, dying in flames at the end of the day and rising each morning. Early Christians came to view the flight of the phoenix as a symbol of rebirth and the resurrection. Jewish ledged describes the phoenix as the one creature that did not leave paradise with Adam, and that its legendary longevity is due to abstaining from the forbidden fruit that tempted the ‘first man.’ On Roman coins, the phoenix represented an undying empire.

As a tattoo symbol, it is often associated with feminine qualities, each part of its body representing a specific virtue. Duty, goodness, kindness and reliability are some of the lesser known aspects of the phoenix. The flame images that often accompany it represent purification and transformation through adversity.

In Japanese tattooing, the phoenix is often entwined with the dragon, symbolizing yin and yang, the harmonious combining of the best of the feminine and masculine virtues.

Art

Art [ahrt]

-noun

The quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.