tertia

I’m in the early stages of brainstorming my next tattoo. I want to add a piece on my left calf that mirrors the jar of flowers I already have on my right (by Myra Oh):

I’m not aiming for perfect symmetry, but something with a similar silhouette in an American traditional style.  (The imagery doesn’t have to be traditional, though I’m open to that.)
A traditional hot air balloon is a contender right now, something like the ones Ashley Love does:

What other kinds of designs might fit well in this space and balance well with my current tattoo?
Somewhat related: In general do you find artists are willing to work with loose design ideas (e.g. something traditional that will fit on my calf and have a similar shape to the tattoo on the other leg), or do they prefer a more concrete idea?  (I’m sure the answer to this is “it depends on the artist”, but maybe you guys have some deeper insight.)
Thanks all!

Well that's pretty solid advice.  And it seems obvious now.  I'm strongly considering going back to the same artist for the other calf because I had a great experience with her last time and that way even if the shapes of the tattoos don't totally mirror each other, at least having them done in the same style will add a degree of congruence.  Thanks for taking the time to reply to an anxious tattoo noob with a propensity for overthinking everything!

On Saturday, I have an appointment to finish my hare/dragon kite! Then I'll be down to only one unfinished piece on my body. I feel so unbalanced. Isn't funny how something so unimportant in the grand scheme of things can mess with your head?

It's a bendy place with thin skin. I personally wouldn't put something as structured as text in that spot, but yours is NOT bad. It will spread out over time to some extent. Don't freak out. That's just what tattoos do.
I don't have any perfect tattoos if you REALLY zoom in on them, but only very very rarely is anyone that close to my tattooed skin. The best way to distract the eye is more tattoos :)

The OP assumes that we are comfortable with the fact that both he and his tattooist have all the experience that they need. 
All those jokers who get shitty tattoos on Inkmaster felt the same way, too - but hey, we've got no ethics. 

When life gives you lemons...
Andy Northup @ All Star Tattoo
 

Went to New Jersey on May 19th to see Robert Ryan, and picked this Narasimha out of his sketch book. He changed it a little from the original to fit the upper arm better. Easily one of my favorite tattoos. The next Saturday, I played the walk in game at Smith Street and got two tattoos from Bert Krak, a butterfly, and a skull & crossbones. I came in wanting the butterfly, and he said he had time for another quick one if I was interested, so I picked the skull after he said it was a shop favorite. Everyone at both shops were great, and I had a great experience getting tattooed.

Started this little guy the other day! Popped into one of my favorite shops for their walk-in Saturdays and my artist Jordyn came up with this to match my left shin which is a fox sitting in a rose. Go back for color on June 15th!




The angle is kinda wonky in the second picture, it's hard to get a straight on shot of your own shins when you don't have a mirror!



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James Cumberland made me this Kirtland warbler sitting on a rowan branch:

James Cumberland made me this Kirtland warbler sitting on a rowan branch:

Sometimes they don't turn out how we plan it out and sometimes we set the expectation very high for how we want that tattoo to look. But I think you're tattoo turned out very nice. Simple and readable.
You could add some green in the leaves and re-colour in the lily to make the design look a bit more finished. Or pepper some black/shading/smoke to increase the contrast and make it look less like a sticker. Re-working a tattoo always carries risk of making it worse. Talk to your tattooer, most will be happy to help you go from :\ to :)
"The tattoo is done now" - I'd leave it, accept and live with it, enjoy it for what it is. Use the experience to inform your next tattoo. 

I think I go through a stage like this with all my tattoos. It's something new that you're going to see forever and that takes some adjusting.

I think you could definitely add some more flowers in the empty spaces and/or have them re-colored. I think I saw you mention somewhere else you weren't sure about the pink and purple flowers? Maybe try making those darker? Just sit on it for a while and see if it grows on you though, all of mine eventually did.

nah, just hope your massage therapist loves dead skin

Unfortunately, there's still a lot of bias against tattoos out there, especially in certain fields and professions. There are a good number of folks who work at my college with visible tattoos. I interview every full-time employee before they are hired - some came to the interview with exposed tattoos, some not. And many of them work in my IT department. For me it isn't an issue at all. I also don't hide the fact that I have tattoos - although I have not made the jump to a below-the short-sleeve shirt level....yet. I find it funny when I'm out somewhere with folks of my age and hear them comment about tattoos. Generally, I don't say anything but, if I'm wearing short sleeves I'll casually make like I have an itch on my upper arm and expose part of a tattoo. The reactions are priceless. I also make a point of wearing sleeveless shirts in the warmer months and my social media pages have pictures of me with my tattoos exposed. Call it my campaign to help eliminate tattoo bias. Of course, I'm 62, have an Army retirement check coming each month and I'm the president of the College. There's not much people can do to me at this point. Still, I will probably wait until I retire in a few years to move to an exposed area.
That's my long way of supporting what people have said about focusing on the importance of your job. It's unfortunate, but unless you are willing to wear long-sleeve shirts for work I'd probably forgo an exposed tattoo for now.

My latest tattoo is a little over a week old, and my husband and I took a long weekend to Savannah for our anniversary. I'm in full peel/brutal itchiness phase, did my best to sweep the dead skin flakes out of our Airbnb bed before we left. 
 
Anyway we went to have massages today and despite me explicitly asking the massage therapist to avoid my right leg all together, she still passed over my peeling tattoo twice with eucalyptus oil. She almost certainly took some loose skin with her, but hopefully no damage was done. Does anyone know if eucalyptus oil will be problematic on a week old tattoo?

So, I'm in Atlanta for a software conference and it let out earlier than I expected and I found myself with an afternoon with nothing to do. Browsed the interwebs for shops close by and didn't see anything promising. Just as I was about to give up and found one that looked good and ran over and got this done. It is a really bad pic but you get the idea. It wraps a bit so I doubt I will ever rally get a good shot. 
Tattoo by Stenvik Moström @stenviking_libertytat2
 
 

Mr. Oliver Peck was visiting in Asheville yesterday at Hotstuff and i was able to get in for a quick oneshot. 

Welcome to the forum. I really would leave it as is.

James Cumberland made me this Kirtland warbler sitting on a rowan branch:

This was a badly done tattoo that I had fixed up a bit yesterday.I like it much better now.
 

James Cumberland made me this Kirtland warbler sitting on a rowan branch:

James Cumberland made me this Kirtland warbler sitting on a rowan branch:

James Cumberland made me this Kirtland warbler sitting on a rowan branch:

James Cumberland made me this Kirtland warbler sitting on a rowan branch:

James Cumberland made me this Kirtland warbler sitting on a rowan branch: