L'Chaim!

This is a piece I did just for fun.

One of the things that gets me through a typical workday is listening to podcasts, and one of my favorite podcasts is Keith and the Girl.  It's funny, entertaining and occasionally even enlightening, and well worth a listen.

Recently, one of their listeners, Elvis, started getting KATG related tattoos and mentioned that he wanted to get a portrait of "the girl" aka Chemda.  KATG called for listeners to send in their submissions for a Chemda portrait tattoo, and this was my contribution.  I think I went a bit over the top with this, but once I started, I couldn't stop.

Click to view full-size.

Some notes on the piece:
-the portrait is based on an old photo of Chemda I found through the mighty Google.
-the border is based on a design from the border of a 19th Century Persian plate.
-the lettering below the portrait is "Chemda" in Hebrew (the girl describes herself as both Persian and Jewish), -the lettering above is "L'Chaim" in Hebrew (they open each show with a short prayer that they end with "L'Chaim").
-the biblical reference on the right side is the biblical origin of the name "Chemda" which means "desire" ("Why do you look with envy, O mountains with many peaks, At the mountain which God has desired for His abode? Surely the LORD will dwell there forever.")

It's a bit  rough in spots because I sort of rushed it, but overall I like how it turned out.  I'll be the first to admit that portrait is not my best skill, but I think I did OK this time.