“That was about mothering me,” he says. “I went through a lot of stuff leaving home and becoming a father and growing up to be my own mother. I have a mother; she’s amazing. But this is about being able to mother my parents and my son and myself - which is very painful. Getting my head around that growth spurt.”
The Madonna and child, not quite done, is the first work Glatiotis did on Hardy. “We searched high and low for somebody who can do a portrait really well,” Hardy said.
He was on the set of This Means War with his aforementioned best friend (and also trainer/nutritionist/right-hand-man) Patrick “P-NuT” Monroe, when they were both drawn to the intricate Geisha/tree/dragon work on the right arm of props assistant Sonia Zimmerman’s right arm. Glatiotis had done the work freehand, based on a fable Zimmerman’s mother had told her when she was a child.
“He’s not a tattoo artist,” says Zimmerman. “He’s an artist who does tattoos.”
In fact, Glatiolis was training as an artist when he fell into tattooing in Vernon, BC. He now has two shops; the other one in Red Deer, Alta.
Since Zimmerman made the introduction, Hardy has spent many nights at the shop and will spend a few more there in the weeks ahead. In addition to the Madonna and child and the Union Jack, he is planning a large tattoo on his back: an angel-themed portrait based on a photograph he took of his fiancée, Charlotte Riley, which will float above a rendering of the London skyline.
“This is my angel,” he says, showing off the photo.
Lying on his back with his knees bent and spread apart, Hardy keeps busy while having the work done: he’s on his BlackBerry, he’s having a coffee, he’s watching the 2009 movie Fighting. He conducts conversations about topics ranging from the war in Afghanistan to Steven Seagal (Witherspoon just bought his house, Hardy reveals).
“This is me time,” he says. “I’m having a swim in Lake Me. A cool swim in Lake Tommy Hardy.” He’s charming and funny, even when he says he’s in some pain.
“When I’m hanging out with him, it’s just effortless,” says Glatiolis. “He’s just a nice, nice human being. A lot of energy, really creative. A borderline genius. He’s always going, he’s always moving.”
Hardy had to take off on Sunday before the Union Jack could be completed. He was late for a fight-training session. After more than an hour on the table, he hopped up, took a good look at himself in the mirror, and smiled. “That’s a nice start, isn’t it?”
