All the work on this was done by Scott Ellis at True Blue Tattoo, in Austin, TX. Check him out at www.scottellistattoo.com.

This is my backpiece in progress. The hummingbirds are for my grandmother who just passed away; she had these little birds all over her house on everything. I wanted a tattoo that would remind of all the things she taught me- everything I know about love and art- and that would help me to remember that even though she's gone those lessons won't leave me.

The centerpiece is a little more complicated. The moth wings came about because when I started college I was going to a very prestigious university mostly because I thought that's what I should do based on what everyone else told me, and I was miserable. I withdrew after two months and decided I wanted wings tattooed on my back to remind me that the only things holding me in a bad situation are constraints I create for myself- in essence, I am never "stuck" anywhere. I chose moth wings for a few reasons. The first is that the goddess in the center reminds me that I am striving towards an older, wiser self, and the goddess is associated with the lunar cycles- thus a nocturnal winged animal was only natural. The second is that there is an Ani Difranco song called "Evolve" which says a lot of things I like myself to try and remember as well- namely that I <i>am</i> trying to evolve, and that I ought to strive never to stagnate and always to keep growing.

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