AT 65. SHE GOT THE FIRST OF HER 17 TATTOOS

IN LESS THAN FIVE MONTHS, SANDEE ALTHOUSE HAS COVERED HER ARMS IN MICRO-REALIST ART TO FEEL 'SEEN AGAIN'

- BY DEBORAH VANKIN

JULIANA YAMADA Los Angeles Times

SANDEE Althouse, top and left, gets tattooed by artist May Soria at Ganga Tattoo Studio in WeHo. Althouse began getting tattoos as a form of self-care. One of her latest: Edward Hopper's "Western Motel."

Sandee Althouse walked into a Silver Lake gift shop dressed in an almost austere, simple black dress, her curly black hair graying at the temples. She carried herself like an older and accomplished, if somewhat serious, woman-but with a twist. Both of her arms were covered in freshly-inked tattoos, her left arm still wrapped in glistening cellophane. "Excuse me, but I have to ask: Are these your first tattoos?" I said of the colorful images spanning from the tops of her shoulders to her wrists. "They are," she said proudly. "I've gotten all of them since May." It was September. "I'd love to know more," I said, curious about what prompted so many tattoos, in such a short period of time, and all inked later in life. It turns out that Althouse, who lives in the Bay Area, was on what she calls "a tattoo journey," in what she describes as a deliberate act of self-care. She told me her husband of 35 years had recently been diagnosed with a serious disease and Althouse, in addition to being heartbroken, had become his caretaker while also working full-time as a radio announcer at KQED in San Francisco.

Getting tattooed is a way for Althouse to shift focus back onto herself, she explained to me, in order to remain strong and resilient for herself and her family. Sitting in a tattoo studio chair and feeling the ongoing prick of the needle for up to seven hours is a repetitive, almost meditative act that helps ground her in the present moment, she said. According to Althouse, it helps excise the emotional pain, giving it physical form a release of sorts.

"We're dealing with a severe diagnosis," Althouse said of her husband. "It's a new part of life.