Monday, March 3

Peacock Tattoo Revisted

After writing off the Peacock tattoo because my mind wasn't creative enough to make it work, I have re-visted this idea with helpful feedback from all of you. First, here is some general information on the peacock:

The peacock originated from India. The term "peacock" is commonly used to refer to birds of both sexes. Technically, only males are peacocks. Females are peahens, and together, they are called peafowl. The male is what you think of when you think peacock because they have the long tail like feathers that display behind them. Females are more brown in color and do not have a long train. The large train is used in mating rituals and courtship displays. It can be arched into a magnificent fan that reaches across the bird's back and touches the ground on either side. Females are believed to choose their mates according to the size, color, and quality of these outrageous feather trains.

There is a lot of variety with peacock symbolism but in India where the peacock originated it symbolizes love, passion, luck, protection, and prosperity. In Christianity the Peacock flesh was believed to be incorruptible. This, together with its eyes symbolizing the all-seeing Church, elevated the Peacock to sacred emblem status, representing resurrection, immortality, and the pure soul. The peacock is also known as a symbol of beauty, dignity & pride. In Buddhism the peacock eye represents wisdom. Peacocks are said to have the ability of eating poisonous plants without being affected by them. Because of that, they are synonimous with the great bodhisattvas. A bodhisattva is able to take delusions as the path toward liberation and transform the poisonous mind of ignorance, desire and hatred [moha, raga, dvesa] into the thought of enlightenment or bodhicitta, which opens colourfully like the peacocks' tail. Particularly peacocks symbolise the transmutting of desire into the path of liberation.

Ok thats a lot of info you probably didnt need but I did the research so I might as well be thorough. Back to the tattoo now and the design. I picture it a lot like this stained glass window:


I like the positioning of the peacocks body and the head position as well. Instead of the peacocks tail/train out and displayed behind him, I like it down because I think that shape would look better on my body. If you look back at the first tattoo of the cherry blossoms, that is close to the placement I like. So the body of the peacock would be on the side of my back with the tail/train going down and wrapping around the hip a little. Here is a pic of a peacock tattoo whose style I liked because it is realistic looking, I dont want anything cartoonish/unrealistic:



You will also notice flowers and branches in both of those pics and I would like to incorporate the cherry blossoms similarly.

This wont be a small itty bitty tattoo either, I would expect it to take up a good amount of space and probably which is why it is taking me so long to figure out what exactly I want. Feedback is always welcome and also requested so please let me know what you think!

10 comments:

Adam said...

I like it. It sounds like a very pretty and meaningful tat for you.

I'll be curious to see what you come up with in terms of putting the bird and the flowers together.

Kris10 said...

Love the peacock, love the placement, can totally see it now! But do you think you really need the flowers too? You better get this done by October so we can see it!!!

edluv said...

save up a lot of money. big = expensive. + time.

but you already knew that.

Lulu said...

thanks Adam and Kristen!

If I do add the flowers there wont be a lot and I can always add those later.

Yes Ed I do know it will take time and money, I am hoping that since I will have to get it in more than one sitting that I can spread out the payment portion a little bit, if thats how that works. Thats why I need to go talk to Monica.

edluv said...

i imagine that you can pay as you go for the hours. basically, you'll have a consult where you make a downpayment for the draw time, and then pay for the specific hours after.

Lulu said...

Ok cool, thats what I was thinking actually. I just printed out a bunch of photos of peacocks for reference to take with me. I imagine she will have to put in a good amount of time drawing this out.

carly said...

wow. that's lovely...

Unknown said...

I ran across your blog and like you i've spent a lot of time (8 years in fact) collecting pictures and thinking about getting a peacock tattoo. So a couple of weeks before my 35th birthday I decided it was finally time. I don't know if you're going to be mortified or flattered (i'm hoping the latter) but what you described is exactly what i'm getting. I took about forty pictures of peacock, cherry blossoms, leaves, branches, etc. (including the one of the lady's leg above) to that artist that i've chosen and he came up with an amazing design for me. It's going to take up most of my back and it's plummage wraps around my waist. I'm a little chubby but the way he drew it works beautifully with my shape. We've put about 10 hours into it so far and anticipate another 10 to 12 to go. The one thing i'm so happy I agreed to was the black backing behind the plumage like the one in the photo above because the teal outline pops like there's a light behind it. i can't wait until it's finished. he's still amazed that the woman with a little star on her wrist is doing something like this but it's time for me to own my body and realize my own unconventional beauty. good luck and you've made a beautiful choice.

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