SPRING BOTANICALS

AN UNDERGROUND CONVERSATION ON MODERN TATTOOING

Healed photo of me, with a spotlight on my botanical crown by Rit Kit.

SPRING IS IN BLOOM
This month's compilation is very visual, and much less cerebral. I'm on holiday right now, so I want to keep things light and just share with you some work I really love. Basically, as spring blossoms around us, I'm soaking in new botanical projects from around the world.

Being a lover of all things avant-garde, I tend to fixate on dramatic scale or surprising palettes / techniques. I hope these works inspire you as much as they've inspired me!

FLUID & OPEN
Botanicals without any rigid structure or hard black outlines have always appealed to me. It's a common trend in East Asian tattooing especially, evoking the aesthetic of Chinese and Japanese ink wash paintings.

DARK AND MATTE
Who says springtime can't be gloomy?

I personally really love when color is desaturated and vibrance is muted. It's reminiscent of dying flowers, dried bouquets, or dark fairy tales.

Pattern master Nissaco incorporates more natural subject matter.

Bodysuit concept by Daniel the Gardener.

FLORALS FOR HEALING
I can't bring up botanical arrangements without touching on David Allen's mastectomy tattoos. He almost exclusively offers flowers for this kind of scar coverup, because organic subject matter can fade and spread and evolve with the scar tissue, and still look as beautiful as originally intended.

For people whose bodies were non-consensually changed by a traumatic disease, artists like Allen are offering the chance to reclaim their body image.

Breast cancer survivors receive chestpieces from David Allen.

VIBRANT & WARM
And of course, there's always a timeless joy to well-constructed, vibrant florals. Here are some powerful pieces that caught my eye this season.

Shoulder buds by new mom Miryam Lumpini.

Saturated realism within a black outline by Connor.

I'll close by noting the obvious: there are way too many talented botanical specialists to ever dream of being comprehensive here. This is just a sampling of pieces that made me say, "wow" recently. I welcome your recommendations and submissions for future floral mailers! I'm sure there will be ample opportunity to cover this topic again in the future.

This is an unpaid labor of love, as it's always been. Full disclosure: Daniel the Gardener is a client of mine, but hasn't compensated me for this feature.

Buy me a coffee if you're a cutie!
PayPal: tattrx@gmail.com / Venmo: @chillpolyamory

With love,
Morgan

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All image copyrights are retained by the artists. All text copyrights reserved by Tattrx LLC.
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