Salmon Takes His Fill

Tattoo with most fill done

This weekend was a busy one. For one, we did a ton of work on our lawn, including tilling it, pulling the old turf, re-shaping and re-seeding with turf-type tall fescue- a drought resistant grass that requires surprisingly little water.

But the most exciting part of the weekend for me was getting the preliminary fill done on my oddly dualistic salmon tattoo.

This is not the best picture, because it’s surprisingly hard taking a picture of this tattoo with my MacBook’s builtin camera. I guess for the final work, I’ll figure out some better way to get a good picture.

There’s still a bit of work to do, Salmon’s mouth needs to be darkened, as do the outlines on the upper body. Some of the lines need some cleaning. There’s a bit of work to be done in the fill, too– to make sure that light spots are completly filled in. Completing complex tattoo’s is a complex process.

With a short-sleeved shirt

It’s a bit interesting how differently some of the elements appear, now that they are filled, contrasted, and put on my body. Admittedly, the placement may have been better a bit lower, because now my bicep makes Salmon’s “lower back” bulge, where it might have been better if his dorsal fin were the part that bulged.

As I wrote in “European by Day,” one of my decisions in the placement of this tattoo was how it would look in a short-sleeved shirt. I wanted the knotwork¹ to show when I wear short-sleeved shirts. It’s subtle, but it’s a statement about my personality, my culture.

This placement meant that Salmon had to be high enough on my arm to effectively hide the Northwest-style portion of the salmon, while showing the European-style portion. There were choices that needed to be made, choices and compromises.

And so, in a way, a tattoo is a good exercise in letting go. Part of me wants to have Salmon lower on my arm, so that it bulges better with my admittedly small bicep, and even flexes it’s tail better on my elbow. But I also wanted, as is so often the case, to make a specific statement. I chose statement over placement. I made a decision, and now I need to let go.

It is done. It is there. It is permanent. Decisions are made and we are left only with consequences. So, the lesson here: Don’t dwell, don’t obsess, don’t fret.

It is done. Let it go.

That’s a good lesson.

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1. This knotwork is Germanic, though everyone sees it as Celtic, which is fine by me, since this style is as much one of those sister cultures as it is the other. [↩]