PRESCOTT, Ariz. — Eva Rupert finished a two-hour session in early April inking a tattoo of a Chinook helicopter on the left arm of Chris Duffy.
Rupert, 31, used a tattoo machine with seven needles to re-create a scene of the helicopter dropping off Duffy's Army squadron in Khost, Afghanistan.
Duffy, 24, of Prescott sat expressionless in a barber-style chair as Rupert worked the machine, which buzzed. She wore rubber gloves.
"Go ahead and stand up," Rupert commanded Duffy. She snapped photos of his left arm with her iPhone, and taped a paper towel to the arm.
"It's good stuff," said Duffy, an Army veteran who served in both Afghanistan and Iraq and now attends Yavapai College. "I feel confident. She does good work."
Rupert gave Duffy an after-care kit. She instructed him to keep the bandage on for two hours and wash the tattoo with a "really mild" organic soap.
Duffy made another appointment with Rupert at the Porthole to Soul tattoo parlor at 621 E. Gurley St.
Shortly after Duffy left, Megan O'Dell, 29, of Prescott arrived to request a tattoo of begonias on her back.
"I'm really excited about it because I love flowers," Rupert said.
Rupert said she defers appointments to Porthole owner Ciejay Gear, 39, because she is serving an informal apprenticeship under him.
Rupert, who received her first tattoo during her teens and has about 14 tattoos on her body, moved to Prescott about two months ago from Connecticut to apprentice under Gear. They have known each other about seven years.
"He has amazing technical aptitude," Rupert said. "The idea is we are here not just to slap a picture on somebody's skin."
Becoming a tattoo artist might appear to be an unlikely path for Rupert, who earned a bachelor's degree in film and photography in 2000 from Emerson College, a private liberal arts school in Boston.
"I have a really wildly diverse background," said Rupert, the daughter of an artist and an electrical engineer.
Rupert said she has run wilderness-based empowerment program for women and girls for 10 years. She and another woman incorporated Four Directions Journeys Inc. in New Milford, Conn., in 2009.
"We are dedicated to empowering individuals through outdoor exposure," Rupert said, adding the nonprofit focuses on backpacking and rock climbing.
Before returning to Connecticut in 2010, Rupert said she spent three and a half years in Estes Park, Colo., where she served with AmeriCorps. She taught art at an alternative high school boarding school called Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center, and earned her teaching credential.
Rupert said she also apprenticed as a mechanic for a year in Connecticut and loved it.
"I had an artistic vision but a technical grounding," Rupert said.
While in Prescott, Rupert also works part time as a server in a restaurant, and is on the board of the Prescott Mountain Bike Alliance. She is continuing with plans for wilderness trips during the summers along the Appalachian Trail between Connecticut and Maine.
Rupert is not sure what path where life will take her.
She said she wants to continue doing auto mechanical work, and plans to start a branch of her nonprofit entity in Prescott.
"I love teaching," Rupert said. "Getting a master's degree is in my future. Teaching is my background."
Meanwhile, Rupert is content to hone her craft as a tattoo artist under Gear's tutelage.
"I think (tattooing) is something that I really see as being part of my life, not really a livelihood," Rupert said. "I'm a Renaissance woman. It is one more thing that helps me build bridges with people."
Information from: The Daily Courier, http://www.dcourier.com