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Posted

I'm developing an idea for a redtailed hawk painting, and this morning I was a bit stuck on how the light would be hitting the back of the bird; I have the background figured out and the position of the bird set, but the lighting in the background has to match the light hitting the hawk. Even though I've taken hundreds of hawk photos over the years, none of them showed the light hitting the back of a bird from the angle I wanted. When that happens, I often use a couple of the search engines and search for images on the internet. Obviously I'm not looking for something that shows exactly what I'm painting; in fact, I don't even WANT to find anything close, because then I could be accused of plagiarizing somebody else's photo even if I was mainly basing the painting off my own reference. But I wanted to try to find a hawk photo, no matter what position the hawk was in, that simply showed the back and light hitting it from more or less the angle I wanted.

When I go to the search engines and look at images of wildlife, it shows a lot of other stuff, and one thing that's fairly common is photos of people's tattoos. Let me say one thing up front...I don't like tattoos. I especially don't like tattoos that try to depict wildlife realistically. I believe that a well-formed human body is attractive enough on its own that it cannot be improved by such permanent decorations (and an ill-formed body is beyond help :) ). But I also have never seen a tattoo of wildlife that was done well enough that it merited that kind of alteration to skin. That's just me...if you want tattoos fine, but don't expect me to ooh and aah over them. I also find that most of the colors that are possible with tattoo ink are simply unattractive, looking at them from an artist's perspective.

But wow, when I searched redtailed hawk images, there were some elaborate, and ugly, tattoos. One had a redtail, wings outstretched as if in flight, covering somebody's whole back, clutching a rainbow trout. Actually the hawk wasn't TOO bad, but the trout was. Another had a very dark, dull brown hawk, again with wings outspread, covering most of what appeared to be a fairly attractive woman's chest. Talk about ruining a good thing!

Posted

As tired as I get with wearing the same hat or shirt too often there's no way I would want to plaster an image on my body that I can't swap out.

Hell I can't even leave the same stickers on my truck window for very long regardless of how cool I thought they looked when I put them on there.

My ex had a botched butterfly tatooed on her shoulder and it ruined the way I felt about both her AND butterflies. Maybe the light was just hitting her wrong. :)

Posted

Yeah, and there's always the question of how a tat is going to look when the person gets to be 70 years old...

The only tattoos I find even bearable are the abstract designs in monochrome. All the florals look like a poor imitation of the dresses my granny used to wear, or the linoleum tile on her living room floor. Butterflies? Done to death. Messages? Who wants to wear a bumper sticker for the rest of their life? Skulls and death's heads? Shouts '60s biker gang. But the creature designs drive me the most nuts. Tattoo artists aren't usually wildlife artists, and they don't know wildlife. Want to show you're a smallmouth addict? I'll sell you a hat with a smallmouth on it.

For those of you with tats, don't mind me. I'm old enough to still have the viewpoint that only sailors and porn stars get tattoos. And the same with piercings, although at least you can take the bling off and only have a little hole once you wise up and realize how much it detracts from your natural body.

Posted

Way more bad ones than good ones. I'll never have one.

Every Saint has a past, every Sinner has a future. On Instagram @hamneedstofish

Posted

Geez you guys need a little culture in your lives. :)

What's yogurt have to do with this?

Chief Grey Bear

Living is dangerous to your health

Owner Ozark Fishing Expeditions

Co-Owner, Chief Executive Product Development Team Jerm Werm

Executive Pro Staff Team Agnew

Executive Pro Staff Paul Dallas Productions

Executive Pro Staff Team Heddon, River Division

Chief Primary Consultant Missouri Smallmouth Alliance

Executive Vice President Ronnie Moore Outdoors

Posted

I can barely stand a flu shot let alone a bunch of punches. I believe I'd try acupuncture for my bad knees before a tat.

Posted

I can barely stand a flu shot let alone a bunch of punches. I believe I'd try acupuncture for my bad knees before a tat.

Well flu shots are stupider than tattoos, but I'll refrain from arguing that one. :D

Posted

Well flu shots are stupider than tattoos, but I'll refrain from arguing that one. :D

Agreed!

But you can lie about getting a flu shot.

Chief Grey Bear

Living is dangerous to your health

Owner Ozark Fishing Expeditions

Co-Owner, Chief Executive Product Development Team Jerm Werm

Executive Pro Staff Team Agnew

Executive Pro Staff Paul Dallas Productions

Executive Pro Staff Team Heddon, River Division

Chief Primary Consultant Missouri Smallmouth Alliance

Executive Vice President Ronnie Moore Outdoors

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