theKwak: Embrace Whatever May Come

My newest print idea came to me after watching the show 'Inkmaster' on Spike TV... (ok ok, I know it's kinda random, but (A) Dave Navarro is the host of the show and c'mon people, he is just hot... and (B) a local tattooist and fellow artist, Lea Vendetta was on the show, so I wanted to check it out. I did and it got my creative wheels turning… So I wanted to use some sort of old school traditional tattoo images that, of course, has symbolism that would closely intertwine with my style of work. After some research I decided on using the Swallow. (I found a lot of different meanings, but these are what I liked the most). A swallow was traditionally tattooed on the chest of a sailor as a milestone for traveling 5000 nautical miles, a second swallow would represent crossing 10,000 miles or also, for sailing all 7 sea's.

There is also claim that a swallow would represent crossing the equator, as a second swallow would represent safety in crossing it again on his journey home. There is also a really cool legend that says if a sailor drowns at sea, the bird will fly down and lift his soul to heaven. (And just as a last little side note), Marianne Faithfull has a swallow tattoo on her hand and well, that's pretty rad... So after finding all of the meaning and symbolism of the swallow, I knew I definitely had to go with it. I saw a ton of tattoos during the research and came across one with the phrase “Embrace Whatever May Come”. I instantly fell in love with the saying and decided to incorporate it with a scripty letter style, as well as adding some traditional flowers and vines to keep the tattoo vibe going. I’m really stoked at the way it came out and was excited about putting it on the blog.

This is a limited edition print (only 10 available) and will be on display and for sale at The Delray Affair, April 13-15th on Atlantic Ave, Delray Beach.

Below is a photo of a few of them drying on the line at the paint factory…