I would love to meet a hummingbird in it's own natural habitat...a tiny miracle of nature.
To me they appear as a "fleeting glimpse of beauty," a flash of magic, and a reminder to seek out such magic and beauty in the tiniest of things.
I wrote a post about the various messages birds have brought me through life and it's hummingbirds that have been calling to me lately. Tricky when I live in Scotland....not too many about! So on being asked by the lovelies around me what I would like for my 40th birthday gift I pondered a while and then the answer came...a hummingbird!
Of course, not a real one! One inked onto my skin instead. A tattoo.
The first and only tattoo I have, I got on my travels when I was 21...it was a swirly sun that I had designed, inked around my belly button by a buddhist monk who tattooed as a hobby! (I know ,you couldn't make it up!)
It was really meaningful to me and symbolised the growth and journey of me moving away from things I'd known (family, university, teenage years) to growing and stepping into the person I wanted to be.
My sun tattoo has stretched and grown twice with the swelling of my pregnancies...both my girls loving the fact they grew from the sunshine!
So it feels right that this new chapter of my life is honoured too. Not just turning 40, but the changes that been brought about with my youngest starting school. The mum ties loosening a little, the greater time to focus on me and my creative business.
I'm still working on the design I would like, but thought I'd share some of the hummingbird designs I have created....from paint and stitch to digital. Next stop...tattoo!
I want to dedicate the last painting to my dear Granny who recently left us. I hope the sun is shining where you soar xx