Once again I arrived in Knoxville a bundle of nervous energy. This time I knew what I was in for, where last time it was more of a spiritual journey. This time I had to really focus to remember why I had dedicated myself to putting this large amount of ink on my body. I tried to use the prayer I'd written as a mantra, over and over. This was before I even got to her booth!
There she was, working on a guy's arm, a beautiful black and grey angel:

We spoke briefly and she said she'd be another hour and a half, so I had lots of time to walk off some nerves. I poked around and looked at lots of other artist's books, but honestly, I saw very few artists that I liked. Like maybe two! I am very picky I guess, so it's a good thing I did find an artist I like, huh?
When I got back she had me lie down on a comfy hotel flat couch, which was so much more comfortable than the silly chair I had to use last year (this year they were back at the Hilton, and it was a much nicer event overall). We chatted a little, but I just said lots of stupid fangirl blabber that I'd rather forget. She was really happy that everyone seemed to like it so far though. I didn't have quite as much money as last year, so she worked on me this time for about four hours. She did a lot more work on the horseheads, and I realized why I'd ended there last time! Great gods did it hurt! The little section between your front and side abs was the worst, with the bottom of the ribs a very close second. A couple of times I had to stop her and refocus. I did a lot of concentrated breathing, meditative relaxation and praying, but it still hurt. I had lollipops this time, which helped a lot! For some reason my nose kept getting stuffy, which made it hard to do my breathing exercises, so I had to breathe only through my mouth for some of it.
Anyway, I made it through, obviously. I had a bit of a fan club, several of the other artists remembered the piece from last year, and would come by and ask me how I was holding up. The hardest part this time was that I couldn't see it! Oh, man, it was driving me nuts! I got to see some of it when I took a break to go to the bathroom, but I wanted to watch her add the color, you know? She's so talented, I thought maybe it might rub off on me a little.
I suggested "I'm a Judy Parker Whore" t-shirts, but she didn't think that was a good plan.
Right, so you want to see how it looks, yes? Here it was before:
Click here to see how it looked before.
And here it is now:

( More detail pictures behind the cut! )
There she was, working on a guy's arm, a beautiful black and grey angel:

We spoke briefly and she said she'd be another hour and a half, so I had lots of time to walk off some nerves. I poked around and looked at lots of other artist's books, but honestly, I saw very few artists that I liked. Like maybe two! I am very picky I guess, so it's a good thing I did find an artist I like, huh?
When I got back she had me lie down on a comfy hotel flat couch, which was so much more comfortable than the silly chair I had to use last year (this year they were back at the Hilton, and it was a much nicer event overall). We chatted a little, but I just said lots of stupid fangirl blabber that I'd rather forget. She was really happy that everyone seemed to like it so far though. I didn't have quite as much money as last year, so she worked on me this time for about four hours. She did a lot more work on the horseheads, and I realized why I'd ended there last time! Great gods did it hurt! The little section between your front and side abs was the worst, with the bottom of the ribs a very close second. A couple of times I had to stop her and refocus. I did a lot of concentrated breathing, meditative relaxation and praying, but it still hurt. I had lollipops this time, which helped a lot! For some reason my nose kept getting stuffy, which made it hard to do my breathing exercises, so I had to breathe only through my mouth for some of it.
Anyway, I made it through, obviously. I had a bit of a fan club, several of the other artists remembered the piece from last year, and would come by and ask me how I was holding up. The hardest part this time was that I couldn't see it! Oh, man, it was driving me nuts! I got to see some of it when I took a break to go to the bathroom, but I wanted to watch her add the color, you know? She's so talented, I thought maybe it might rub off on me a little.
I suggested "I'm a Judy Parker Whore" t-shirts, but she didn't think that was a good plan.
Right, so you want to see how it looks, yes? Here it was before:
Click here to see how it looked before.
And here it is now:

( More detail pictures behind the cut! )