Tattoo artist seeks a piece of skin

EAST MOLINE — Tattoo artist Sam McFarland got her first and only tattoo six months ago, about seven years after opening her own tattoo shop.

It’s just one, but “it’s not a small one,” she said as she peeled off her black sweater to show the tattoo on her left arm while sitting at her desk at Painted Monkey Tattoo.

The eclectic tattoo showcases three of her greatest loves. It has the face of Frida Kahlo, her all-time favorite artist, and includes two monkeys, which represent her twin boys.

From the neck to the waist the figure with Frida’s face is Shiva, a Hindu deity with a few sets of arms.

“I’ve always felt I could use an extra set of arms” to put more energy to use, Ms. McFarland said.

From the waist of the figure down is a snake-like ribbon that wraps around Ms. McFarland’s arm until it reaches her wrist.

It took several sessions to get the tattoo to where it is now, and she plans to have it extended across her back and down a leg.

The 37-year-old East Moline woman doesn’t take tattooing lightly. “I really appreciate that people are giving me a piece of their skin they’ll take to their grave,” she said.

Before becoming a tattoo artist, the United Township High School graduate, who earned a bachelor of science in art from Illinois State University, did a lot of painting.

Her art is displayed throughout the Painted Monkey, one of many personal touches. The green tattoo chair in the middle of the room is an old dentist’s chair she reupholstered.

After college, Ms. McFarland held a variety of jobs, including corporate headhunter, executive secretary and freelance graphic designer. She lived in Chicago, then Los Angeles, and then Chicago again before coming home to the Quad-Cities.

“I swore I’d never come back here, but the calmer life was just calling to me,” she said.

Ms. McFarland’s last day job was marketing and graphic design for Trinity College of Nursing.

Her tattoo career began after a friend wanted her to design a back piece for him. He asked if she’d ever thought about tattooing, and he bought Ms. McFarland her first equipment.

“I tattooed grapefruits and oranges for months before I tattooed people,” she said, adding that she was terrified the first few years of tattooing.

Now, it’s second nature, and Ms. McFarland said she can’t imagine doing anything else. “I want to tattoo until my hands fall off.”

When she started tattooing, she said it was difficult to be a female tattoo artist. That was before reality shows like “LA Ink.”

Ms. McFarland said the men at one shop told her they couldn’t hire her because their girlfriends would get jealous and because she wouldn’t fit in.

“That’s a big part of what led to my eventual decision to open my own shop, and it was the best possible direction I could have taken,” she said. “It gave me an opportunity to break the mold and make a totally different kind of tattoo shop.”

After working alone for the last seven years, Ms. McFarland recently added a new face to the shop -- apprentice Dena Pickering. Ms. Pickering isn’t tattooing yet, but she’s observing and drawing.

Painted Monkey has an artist’s special -- $75 for three hours of tattooing in exchange for providing a large section of blank skin as Ms. McFarland’s canvas.

“I want an arm, a half sleeve, something substantial,” she said.

Normally, she charges $50 an hour. The catch? The client doesn’t get to pick what Ms. McFarland tattoos.

“It’s a crazy deal, but lots and lots of people take me up on it,” she said.

Ms. McFarland said people get tattoos for a variety of reasons. Some want ink because of a change in their lives, others simply like adornment and some want a tattoo that stands for what they believe in.

“It’s like a bumper sticker, kind of. People like to say what they’re into, carry it around with them.”