Wednesday, January 5, 2011

loon tattoo

I was reading Joanna Goddard's look back on 2010 and noticed that she had done several posts about tattoos... always asserting that she isn't a tattoo-type. I'm not very interested in tattoos for myself, but back in Vermont, I met Karina's friend India, who has a super rad tattoo of a loon on her arm.



I love India's loon because it's just so beautiful! It feels natural, in both form and color. Having her tattoo on the underside of her arm is interesting and helps it feel unique. And I love the association of a bird to nature and to freedom.



The loon has a much more significant and specific association for India, though. India is half-Canadian, and in her childhood, her grandparents lived on a lake in Canada where the loon population is so spectacular that it is a tourist attraction. Since their death, India and her brothers now own the house and spend their summers there, with the loons. The comforting association is coupled with India's admiration for the grace of the prehistoric birds. She says, "To have kept that amount of gracefulness over millions of years is a really nice thought."


To read more of India's description of the house in Canada and the loons, visit her blog.


Photos courtesy of India

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