Melissa Alvarado

What inspired your most recent tattoo?

Unfortunately, not finished my moon and hummingbird tatoo was something I thought up when my mom was in the hospital. Next to my girls she is not only my mom but my best friend. She loves humming birds and when she was in the hospital I kept telling her that she needed to get better so she could go take care of her hummingbirds that frequently make her house their favorite stop. When it would get late and I would have to leave her she always said love you to the moon and back.

If your ink could speak, what would it say?

Love with your whole heart because in the end that’s all anyone will remember of you. Might as well make the best of it!

What would you do with the $25,000?

I would love to do a back piece that I’ve dreamed about for years. Depicting where I wish the world could be on one side and the death and destruction it has turned into on the other side. One side full of color beautiful animals foliage jungles.. the other side dark with gray and black and death, everything turning to dust or sand.