We are both drawn to artwork by non-British artists.
Jacob
I (Jacob) have had two tattoos, a kintsugi style (Japanese broken pottery) Rhino and birds loosely based on a photograph I took in Chitwan Nation Park, Nepal. This tattoo was completed by an amazing artist, Alya, who originates from Russia (https://www.instagram.com/alyatattooing_itsme). I am sure I read her name is Aliya, but chose to call herself Alya on Instagram, but I couldn’t find it when I searched so maybe I imagined that!
Her artwork is so different to the other tattoo artists I’d been looking at, and I really liked how simple she made it to book with her. There was a little mix up and I ended up receiving my tattoo on the Sunday rather than the booked Saturday, but I appreciated Alya opening up shop just for me.
I didn’t realise until it was posted that the session was being video’d but I’m pleased it was!
This was my first tattoo and was pretty painless until the white highlights were completed at the end of the session.
Tarnya will also receive a tattoo from Alya later this year – she has chosen a horse and I’m sure it will look incredible too! Horses have a special place in Tarnya’s heart and Alya seemed delighted to be able to tattoo one too.
My second tattoo is a chest and sleeve piece, a traditional Korean dragon with Dancheong motif created by another amazing artist, Hwizi who is originally from Korea (https://www.instagram.com/stroke.hwizi_tt).
Tarnya showed me this tattoo (a flash – which is a ready-designed tattoo for those not familiar with the slang) on my birthday while we were in a street food market enjoying a taco and flatbread. After lunch we visited Mtatsminda Park and enjoyed prosecco and a mini birthday cake and I decided to message Hwizi to book the tattoo. This was a little controversial because Tarnya was interested in it herself and I had booked but not received my first tattoo by Alya so there was a risk I was getting carried away! Whoops.
People do say receiving tattoos is addictive and very few people have a single one. I’m not sure many people book multiple in advance after being tattoo-free their whole lives, but I have zero regrets!
Hwizi is a wonderful artist and her process was fascinating to watch – most of my tattoo was hand drawn on the first session. I can’t say this tattoo was painless as it definitely wasn’t, but it was never too unbearable and seeing the vibrant colours appear on me felt magical.
Tarnya
On that same trip in Georgia, Tarnya received a tattoo herself from a Ukrainian artist, Ruben (https://www.instagram.com/rubikravets). She chose a Madagascan Sunset Moth, with a Van Gogh inspired Almond Blossom top half and the bottom with a close likeness of the real moth. This was the first ‘proper’ tattoo either of us had received abroad and Tarnya was quite nervous about it. She had reached out to Ruben a couple of days before her birthday after seeing his work online and he was really keen to completing the tattoo for her so rearranged his books and agreed a really good price for Tarnya to receive it on her birthday.
The studio was fairly nondescript, tucked away down one of the side streets in Tbilisi, close to where we’d walked to watch the protests the day before, but once you were in you were treated to some of Ruben’s artwork on the wall, with some really impressive and striking colourful canvases.
Ruben was a great artist, he gave Tarnya five different customised options to choose from with her tattoo so that she could get the design precisely how she pictured it and to help make sure it made sense in the space she wanted it in. Tarnya felt really comfortable with the artist and after a few minutes I left to explore Tbilisi Auto Museum on my own.
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