Lily.

The beautiful, preliminary drawing, with Sharpies. It felt tickly and sweet, as he drew on me. First time he'd begun this way. We always have a drawing and then a transfer, but when you're passing over another tattoo, sometimes artists use this method.

The outline, which is always the most painful. Scientifically, I'm not entirely sure why. As the tattoo progresses, it's kind of like... evolution of the pain acceptance? Like your body gets used to the sensation and the pain is less prominent. You can see my other lily in the new lily. See how it's being swallowed. It's ever so faint. I told James "It's like my new lily is having a dream about another, softer lily."

The time-lapse pictures make it all look so easy. The most brilliant thing I think he did, was where the smoke is swirling around the stem, he left the whisper of the prior tattoo's green. Like the smoke is swirling around and obscuring the vibrant stem and that affect is reached by leaving the faintness of the previous green. Can you understand what I mean? He really is, in my opinion, a BRILLIANT ARTIST.

Lily in b/w, braids.