FINALLY, I was able to finish my sleeve I started in 2018. I was originally scheduled for May to finish but due to the lovely Rona I had to reschedule. The lower portion of my arm is a brook trout in an underwater scene. This section had to be covered up. If I hadn't have found Brian and would have continued to allow this other artist to finish this piece I would have ruined my skin forever. Not joking, it was that bad. The Lord worked his magic and led me to Ulibarri's Instagram page. He had recently relocated to Santa Fe and was pursuing cover-up clients. I was patient and was able to get a two-day session.
Watching him tattoo is one of the most appealing things. He's just painting a masterpiece onto my skin. In this session, he did not use a stencil and was able to freehand the entire piece. After leaving his studio we went on to Rio Costilla New Mexico and continued to chase trout ( imagine that).
This last session was two days as well, totaling over 20 hours for the full sleeve. Originally I had wanted full color with a mountain scene and river but changed my mind to go with more black and grey. The concept of this part is that " water is life". So all the water is in color and everything it touches is in color and fades to black and white. I had decided to change the idea when visiting Colorado and being able to witness the importance and fluctuations of life through water out west.
Again Brain upheld his reputation and masterfully painted this mountain scene on my skin that I will take to my grave. The first tattoo I got was shortly after boot camp, the words "Semper Fi" elegantly inked between my shoulder blades, the Latin term for "always faithful". My parents took me in Pensacola Florida, we stopped there to visit my brother who had recently graduated from navy boot camp and was stationed there for schooling. I remember leaning on the chair watching Iron man and not flinching. Actually enjoying it. My mom yelled, " oh no what have we done?".
I do love it, especially when it is a work of art like this. I have my silly nonsense tattoos but the ones that matter are worth having along with those not so important ones. I do plan on having another half sleeve and a possibly tattooing my hands but that's being saved for later in life, You have only so much skin.
