53 years to find a Pangolin and 2 hours at Golden Tiki...

This tattoo was as a result of  my almost life-long quest to find this elusive animal,

the extremely rare and highly endangered Ground Pangolin!

In November 2019, after 53 years of bush travels, I got to FINALLY find this male

while on a drive from Klaserie Sands River Camp.

I was able to spend 90 mins with it as it snuffled about 

doing what Pangolin do on a daily basis, curl up, un-curl and look for food.

My quest had finally come to an end, or did it?

I decided to turn my sighting into a tattoo and this was the original sketch.

The surround was to tie in with an existing tattoo of a Phoenix that I have.

Tasked again with putting ink on my skin,

Ryan "Busta" Boltoon owner of The Golden Tiki in 4th Ave, Linden.

Busta has been doing work on me for the last decade and 

I trust his expertise and knowledge when it comes to immortalizing

 special moments in my life.

And so it begins...On the calf of my right leg.

Of all the work that Busta has done on me,

this was the first time that I was not able to see what he was doing.

And to take pictures constantly...

The epitome of concentration, he gets to work.

I never ask "How long will it take"? as I know he works quickly and efficiently.

And the calf is not an area that produces too much pain.

Outlines are done and it is time to add the colour.

Adding colour is not as easy as it would seem.

Especially with a Pangolin, which is basically a rather drab brown animal.

My Phoenix tattoo (also done by Busta) can bee seen on the side of the same leg.

The colour palette that was utilised to get the final image complete.

Just like an artist, Busta had to mix certain colours in order to achieve

 the final effect that he was looking for.

This MIGHT look complete,

but wait... there is more!

The addition of the white makes the tattoo POP.

Another stunning work from one of Johannesburg's top tattoo artists.

For those who need to allocate time for a tattoo,

 entire work took just a shade over 2 hours.

This was a first for Busta, as he had never been asked to do a Pangolin before.

You can find the Golden Tiki in the small shopping complex 

 at 59, 4th Ave, between 7th and 8th Streets in Linden.

Although the shop does do 'walk-ins' for smaller pieces,

it is prefered that you book a consultation and an appointment

for the larger more complex works.

You can find the Golden Tiki on Facebook

or their website.

And less you think that Busta and I don't plan ahead...

This will be the next piece that he does for me.

This is Baras(it means 12 in Hindi) a tiger that we saw on 6 drives

while we were in Pench National Park in India in 2018.

I think that it will be my birthday present to myself in 2020.