Hey guys, it's Boxing Day!

Wikipedia offers the following history:

During the late 18th century, Lords and Ladies of the manor "boxed up" leftover food, or sometimes gifts, and distributed them the day after Christmas to tenants on their lands. Many poorly paid workers had to work on Christmas Day and took the following day off to visit family. As they prepared to leave, employers presented them with these Christmas boxes.

I am currently at the bottom of a canyon in the mountains of Orgeon, so bringing boxed goods to the poor would entail an awful lot of snow boots and trudging. Instead, I'll share a picture of the view currently to my left and continue recovering from a severe food coma.

Pictured: Splendor

Excerpt: before the trip

Scene: Joel is shaving, Robyn is deciding how many pairs of leggings are appropriate for Christmas in Bend.

Joel: (face covered in shaving cream) What if I had a giant white beard?

Robyn: You'd be called Pappy and sell maple syrup on the side of the road. On weekends you'd play in a jug band at the local gin joint. But you wouldn't be playing the jug so much as drinking moonshine and hassling the mandolin player.

Joel: Great! Just checking. (dances a bit of a jig)

Robyn:

Le Tattooiste

I recently saw a friend's gorgeously designed Art Nouveau-styled tattoo, on the theme "Death and the Maiden". What I love about her design is the way the tattooist started with images from prints and reworked them into something covering a three dimensional surface.

This brought me back to a tattoo idea I've been kicking around for a while, based on Art Deco illustrations. I recently discovered George Barbier and Georges Lepape, and am entranced. I love the way the figures work against the background patterns, and how stylized and menacing they appear.

You just know all these party guests have concealed stiletto knives and cocktail rings filled with poison.

As of now I have no idea how to work this into a concrete design, but I'd like some figures on the back of my left shoulder, framed with an abstract design that comes across the top and down my arm a bit. 

Samples below, I'm thinking of something like the theme "Murder in the Cabaret":

Travel to the Booktryst blog, for "A Decadent Night in Paris with George Barbier".