Cherry Blossom with Japanese symbols

Summary:

Tattoo along my spine (b/t my shoulder blades) of a cherry blossom branch w/ Japanese symbols for love, balance, & trust.

Description:

This will be my second attempt to have a tattoo drawn here, so hoping this one fairs better than the first.  With more pictures and hopefully a better, more concrete idea of what I’m looking for, I hope I get some great entries!

My goal is not to have a gigantic tattoo on my back, rather a more simple design featuring a cherry blossom branch with Japanese symbols incorporated into it meaning love, balance and trust / faithfulness.  The cherry blossom represents for me the fleeting nature of life (my dear friend, Steve, killed himself last year, and was the inspiration for my first tattoo on my wrist, which has a deep story and is my profile picture), the realization I had been living a life I did not want to live, and hadn’t wanted to live for many years.  Steve’s death pushed me to face the realization that nothing lasts forever, and I had to think about myself for a change and stop sacrificing my own happiness just to avoid confrontation.  I left my 7 year relationship, of which I was hopelessly miserable 4 of those 7 years, moved to a new state, fell in love with a boy who I have known since I was NINE years old.  We ran into each other after not seeing each other for 15 years at Steve’s memorial, and my world was forever changed.  I have been given a new lease on life, and learned that life is fleeting, so stop ignoring what you really want, don’t ever settle, fight for your happiness.  The Japanese symbols have a much deeper meaning, which isn’t necessary to explain in order to incorporate them here.

I have been tirelessly scanning sites, reading up on the cherry blossom, looking at tattoos I have found, and have collected these to help show some of my likes that I have seen so far.   I don’t want it to be too wide… rather a longer, narrower design would suit me better.  That’s why I’m thinking branch, not tree.  I prefer simple, but realistic.  I prefer black ink.  But, with the cherry blossom, if there is a need for some color for the blossoms and it would make the tattoo better all around, then let’s do it. 

Thanks, and really hopeful I get more entries now that I have a more concrete idea.

Additional Details:

• Gender: Female
• Size: 3 x 6 inches
• Detail: Medium
• Winning artist must provide stencil / line work at completion of contest

Appended Description (August 28 2010 8:24am):

This is an additional picture I found while scanning deviantart for design inspiration.  This one I love!  Probably favorite of all pictures I put on here.  

http://browse.deviantart.com/traditional/bodyart/bodymods/tattoos/?q=cherry blossom&order=9&offset=240#/d2x5pxy

Example Images:

Payment Methods:

This contest has been pre-paid. The winning artist will be paid directly by CreateMyTattoo via Paypal.