Artwork under consideration

I took a long lunch today to meet with a local artist with whom I am commissioning a piece of artwork.

A tattoo.

Well, okay, another tattoo. But this one is going to be amazing!
Kris Evans, a well-known and oft-recommended tattoo artist and owner of her own shop, Endorphinden, will begin work on my new ink in July, after we meet a couple of times and our design crystallizes.

The finished piece will include two cardinals, a male and a female, much like this illustration--but they will be facing each other and they'll be perched on a burr oak branch. If it's not tediously obvious, the birds represent Arlo and Mae, and the tree branch represents Ted. He, being a man with an extensive and intimate knowledge of tree species, has indicated that he wouldn't mind being depicted as a burr oak or white oak. A red oak, not so much.

I chose the cardinals to represent my little ones because even though they are everyday birds, they still take my breath away. I'm not saying that my children are anything short of amazing--just recognizing that even if they turn out to be average in every way, I will still find them fascinating and awe-inspiring and humbling and, well, pretty. And I honestly believe that the female, with her more muted colors, is just as beautiful as the flashy red male, and I am sure there is a lesson in that for my children which I have not fully articulated yet.

I also love that both tree and bird species are native to Iowa--even emblematic of the midwest. Ted was born in Minnesota, we were both raised in Iowa, and we're proud to be raising our kids as "townies" in the greatest city in this state.

I am so excited about this! It will probably take two or three sessions to complete the design, and I can't wait to see it unfold. Watch for photos here, of course.