Women's Tattoo Project~: Kathy's Story~

Meet Kathy:

Kathy is an animal lover! I met her in the pet store where she works. She rescues animals of all sorts, trains them, keeps many for pets, and really LOVES them as the unique creatures they are. She and her husband raise chickens and roosters and have the best variety of fresh eggs you can buy. She's creative, fun, and has a variety of interests as you will see from her tattoos.She has many so they appear below in no particular order. I've met up with her several times since our first photo shoot to capture some of the new tats. As she says, she has plenty of "real estate" left on her skin for more. She's also the "cover girl" on my women's tattoo project Facebook page: Ruthiedee Photography.

Kathy's Tattoo Stories~

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"There might still be a chance for me, my sweet Insanity." My life has been a roller coaster ride, and maybe someday it will slow down a bit so that I won't feel so crazy. The lyrics are from Dog Fashion Disco.'s "Sweet Insanity."

The Jungle Queen from the Maxx Comics. I'm a huge comic book fan and this story reminds me a lot of my husband and I. I have a tattooed scene in "Pangea," which is the fantasy/alternate reality, where my husband has the himself with Julie Winters (the jungle queen) in reality on his leg.

This is a portrait of my first best friend Tara who passed away in a car accident. This was my fave senior picture of her from high school. Her smile and laughter would brighten the darkest of nights.

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Peach Muffin... My fave treat turned into a joke, with my husband making fun of me every time I ate one. He said to me once, making fun of me, "I'm a peach muffin, MMMM, I'm soooo delicious," and to make a long story short, his nickname is now Peach Muffin. This was my most spontaneous tattoo that I got without as much planning as usual. Lol.

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I have four fairy frog tattoos. Amy Brown and Jasmine Beckett are two of my fave fantasy artists and frogs are one of my fave animals to own. I have many frogs right now. The ones that are tattooed are representations of my fave ones that have passed: my "old man frog" which was my oldest pixie frog, my fave bullfrog, poisonous dart frog and green tree frog.

My cat Lu-lu's portrait--I saved a chocolate ragdoll and five Maine coon cats from being euthanized years ago, and had three cats already, so was going to adopt them all out. Fell in love with this "Yoda-eared cat" and my husband knew it. One day I came home thinking that they were all going to be gone to their new homes, but my husband had sneakily kept her for me.
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She unfortunately had a virus that took her life too soon at five. She was an amazing cat that slept across your head and stole chicken out of your mouth, lol. She was pictured here, drawn for me by my best friend Laura, as she used to lay under my covers to sleep.

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A purple cancer ribbon with the words "Never Give Up" Represents my brother Jeff's one-year anniversary of his diagnosis with pancreatic cancer. They gave him three months with is cancer being stage-4. He fought this battle just like he did every battle he was in during his 30 years in the military. He "never gave up" and still worked as fire chief of Colorado Springs, traveled the world, and lived an extra 20 months longer than doctors predicted. He is my hero and someday I will have a larger memorial tattoo of him once I figure out how to honor him properly.

Red string of fate around my finger celebrated 10 years of being best friends with Laura. Someone that we are no longer friends with brought us together. Laura is my sister from another mother, and the tattoo reminds me daily that she is there for me no matter what.

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My right arm sleeve is a tribute to my grandparents, who had a huge impact on my life, growing up with them. "Where the Wild Things Are" and “Barbapapas” are both books that they read to me every weekend. "Gravel Gertie" is nose art from my grandfather's B17 fighter plane he flew in WWII, with his name and dates of birth and death. The cardinal figurine is replica that my grandmother gave me out of her prized collection right before she passed, and that is with her name and dates of birth and death.

Genitorturers art... A band and lead singer, Gen was a huge influence for me in my early 20s when I was in a band. She is an amazing entertainer, and very nice person; she meets and greets after every show no matter how big and gets to know all her fans. She had signed my tattoo after seeing it years ago and loved it. I went to try and get her signature tattooed next to it but it was so hot it pretty much sweated off, lol, so I am hoping to get it resigned again and get it done!

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From the Lady Death comic. Her long story hits home. ‘Man's Ruin’ was the name of the comic edition.

Upper calf has Elsa Lancaster as Bride of Frankenstein. BoF is one of my favorite black and white horror movies. Under that on the front of my calf is Bunnicula from a child's book I was obsessed with growing up about a vampire rabbit that sucked blood out of carrots. I was a horror fan at, like, eight- years-old, lol. On the side of that, a Jack-o-lantern that I got at a “Tattoos for Hunger” drive. For that, the tattoo had to be a food tattoo and all proceeds would go to the local food bank.

I am the biggest Halloween fan and Rob Zombie fan, so to represent my husband and I and how we get dressed up for Halloween every year, I got this magazine cover they were featured on, because we both dressed up like Rob Zombie and Living Dead Girl in his music video. I found that it was drawn by my favorite artists, Eric Pigors and Dienzo... and it looked exactly like us! It was perfect and I am obsessed with the ‘Munsters Dragula, so I wanted him to be in a car like that in one of Eric's calendars. He drew up one that I loved and added all the creepy creatures around it. Still have added background work to do to finish it up. Can't wait!

The gray cat on my left forearm is Floyd, a three anda half-year-old cat I adopted and had until he was 21. He was over-weight when I got him--33 pounds--and over a few years we got him down to 18. He was a frumpy cat and the best feline friend I could've asked for. He used to sit and stare at walls, very still like a statue, very gargoyle-like so when he passed, I wanted him to have wings and the portrait makes him look like a gargoyle statue which was perfect.

My pug Mackie's portrait in the Victorian frame on my right thigh is by far right now the tattoo that makes me the happiest. He was adopted at five-months-old with many issues, but with love and care we got him taken care of. He lived a very spoiled life and there wasn't one person on the planet who met him and didn't fall in love with him and his amazing personality. He was my little side kick for almost 12 years. At the end of his life he was diagnosed with lymphoma and we gave him five months of quality of life instead of the three weeks he was given. Many people in his family, friends, and some complete strangers supported him and helped him go through treatments to make him more comfortable. He deserved more, but they are never with us long enough. He gave me more unconditional love then I could ever ask for. He was my comic relief with that goofy tongue hanging out, and his scar on his eye from a scratched cornea made his eye sparkle more when he looked up at me. I think he was portrayed perfectly on my leg and I will cherish his memory always.

Growing up my mother and Uncle Sonny were very close, and it seemed like we were always together. My uncle moved to New York from Massachusetts, and eventually we only got to see each other when I could take a train up to him when I was older. We used to go to Greenwich Village and see Broadway musicals and walk the streets of N.Y., going to all the music stores, with him showing me all the "stars." Later he got Cancer--melanoma--and I didn't get to do our next tour with him. Later I did go there to tour 8th street with my husband in Sonny's memory, but the greatest will be to finish this tattoo adding James Dean in the middle, and a New York skyline with a musical and art background reminding me of those times.

My mother still hangs a large Elvis painting that he gave her, as well as Marilyn memorabilia so I know once my mom sees it she will understand why I got it. As for the make-up, that ties in my love of Día de los Muertos in there. My long-time friend Lou Gomes from Ten Penny Tattoo will be doing it. He is coming up again from New Mexico in the spring for the second sitting. I have about four hours off work done on this right now, about two hours each portrait.

Front left thigh piece is stained glass window from the musical, "Love at its Darkest; Nightmare Before Christmas." My husband and I both were married with a love for this Tim Burton movie, and I made our wedding cake topper out of a Jack and Sally figurine in snow and lace. It sat atop of a black and white decorated cake and set the mood for our love that was dark and devoted, one that no one understood but us. The tattoo design is a stencil by an artist named Mandie Manzano and will look like a bright colored stained glass window when done. It represents our relationship with a few broken pieces of glass fitting back into place representing our struggles along the way of our almost 20-year relationship! I have done two sittings of about two to three hours each so far, hope to start the color soon. Brian Beckwith from Mass Ink Tattoo is working on this piece.

This is a tattoo of Blind Mag from Repo: The Genetic Opera. This is one of my favorite horror musicals, I am a huge horror fan, and she has been one of my favorite vocalists for years so the combination is just amazing! I tattooed this piece for about three and a half hours, I believe, at the Rock and Shock convention with SteveD'Asti, the owner of Mass Ink Tattoo back in October 2014.