Peony

So here's another from a while ago, but at least I'm finally starting to work through some of these older photos.

This flower is on the sleeve I started recently that has a big hannya and shake up top.  The bottom has since been outlined with a skull, another snake and a bunch more peonies (photos soonish...)

The idea for this arm is to just have almost all peonies as background (with the snake bodies intertwining between everything).  Kind of like everything is nestled in a peony bush.  There are only going to be a couple that are done in this style (with the white tips on the petals) and the rest that are more underneath and in the background will be darker shades.  It's an idea I've always wanted to try and this is the perfect piece and client to do it.  We've worked a bunch together before on a very solid whole leg piece and a few other odds and ends.  

This arm was another perfect storm situation where he knew exactly what elements he wanted and the basic layout, and let me run with it from there.  These are the types of pieces and people that really keep me highly motivated and wanting to push myself and set my expectations of myself much higher.

I was sort of hoping to outline the whole arm before starting any color, but time has been scarce lately for serious drawing sessions.  New baby, shop moving soon (more info on that soon too), and the day to day business of life with a very full tattoo schedule means that some things just have to wait.  I'm not really comfortable rushing artwork, and especially for an involved cool piece on a very dedicated client.  Yet somehow all things seem to be working out how they should and life is good...