Tattoosday: Mermaid Parade

Showing posts with label Mermaid Parade. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

A Rendition of Erin, at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade

With summer ending this week, I want to celebrate with one last tattoo from June's Mermaid Parade on Coney Island:

I met Erin at the end of the parade on the boardwalk:

You may notice the colorful tattoo on her upper left arm:

Erin explained that this piece was conceived by a friend of hers who works for the designer Ana Sui.
This is a rendition of Erin, in the spirit of Ana Sui's style. The phrase "Sans la musique, je n'existe," means, in French, "without music, I don't exist."

Erin credited the tattoo itself to Marissa Mikeo, an independent NYC-based artist.

Thanks to Erin for sharing her cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2015 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Monday, September 7, 2015

Coney Denizen and Her Dick: Our First NSFW Tattoo

In the eight years of Tattoosday's existence, we have never featured an NSFW tattoo, so it's really about time, don't you think? Especially since it's Labor Day, when no one is supposed to be at work, anyway.

I met Mary at the Mermaid Parade in June and immediately asked if I could take a picture of this phallic tattoo on the back of her arm:

Mary is an artist that uses the moniker Coney Denizen (click through for Flickr photostream).

She initially told me that this was based on her husband's drawing and that "old ladies in banks love it."

Later, she elaborated:

"I stole this piece from my husband's drawing board. I was a buyer of Indonesian and other folk art for many years. Became fascinated by the use of dicks as a prosperity symbol. I collected dick pull toys-actual dicks with wheels. When I saw this piece I thought it funny and went for it. Squid did all my work at the time, it was a fun night in the shop.Over the years I found it was a funny kind of litmus test. Older women love it, never have I had a reaction of offense. Men never notice it is a dick, until someone points it out. I did a lot of dick art for a bit. Men also never saw the dicks (blatant as they were)-unless pointed out. It has been a great one to enjoy."

Mary's reference to Squid is Sydney "Squid" Silver, or Syd the Squid, from the New York-based punk band the Lunachicks. More from Mary on Squid:

Squid did my first tattoos. I think the first was at Venus. The dick was done at Fly Rite, in Brooklyn. I remember getting faint for this one-took 6 hours-straight. Squid’s band was amazing-all girls-wicked. I knew her thru my baby sitter at the time, she lived in our pal Eddies house. I love Squid. She had the best back tattoo I had ever seen. Squid-Underwater. It is something to behold. There was no finer gal to play this way with. She was fierce and sweet. The kindest soul. Used to let me take my daughter backstage at shows. My kid thought she was the best. I believe she stopped working when she had her son, but it would not surprise me to find her somewhere ... Those were the halcyon days…."

Thanks to Mary for sharing her awesome tattoo with us here on Tattoosday, and helping us break the Dick Barrier!

Monday, August 17, 2015

Lauren's Floral Tattoo, with a Bluebird

At the Coney Island Mermaid Parade in June, I met Lauren, who was parading with a squadron of Roller Derby women.

She let me take this photo of her cool tattoo and promised to email me with details.

Her Roller Derby name was "Laurena Bob-it" and she credited this to Kati Vaughn from Magic Cobra Tattoo Society in Brooklyn.

I don't have any further details, but maybe one day, Lauren will find my card and email me.

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Colorless Robins at the Mermaid Parade

I met Jodie at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade in June and she shared this fascinating and beautiful tattoo:

Jodie credited thew tattoo to Brian Mullen at Art Freek Tattoo in Rhode Island, describing it as a collaborative design effort:

"The Secret Garden was my favorite book when I was a kid. And so they're robins, even though they're not colored. And I'm a little bit obsessed with Charlie Harper who was an illustrator from the 50's and 60's and Japanese bird and flower prints, so we kinda mashed bird and flower prints from the Floating World Era .... Hiroshige ...so we kinda mashed all that up and designed it together."

I totally love tattoos that take are unusual in design and appearance and, frankly, this one is exquisite and knocks it out of the park. The simplicity of the solid line work and the beauty of the design create a phenomenal tattoo.

Thanks to Jodie for sharing her awesome tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Friday, July 24, 2015

Flowers for a Friday: Leila's Pansies

I met Leila last month in Coney Island as the Mermaid Parade was winding down. She shared these beautiful flowers on her arm:

These pansies were inked by Bryan Register, who currently works out of Ms. Deborah's Fountain of Youth Tattoo in St. Augustine, Florida.

Thanks to Leila for sharing her lovely tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Jay, Josephine Baker, and More!

I met Jay at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade last month and she shared this cool Jospehine Baker tattoo on her right arm:

This was done by Cynthia Rudzis, owner and curator at Cirque du Rouge in Washington D.C.

In addition to this photo I took, Jay sent me photos of some additional work she has from Rudzis, on her back:

Jay tells us this:

"... is a tribute to my dad's Japanese Buddhist roots, [and] is actually a stylized version of one of the old Sherlock Holmes drawings that accompanied the original stories. The kanji [lower right] reads, 'every day is a good day'- my family's favorite Buddhist saying. Several of my family members also have it tattooed elsewhere on themselves.

The color piece at the top was taken from a 1930's wallpaper pattern and [is] used to connect the colors in my various pieces."

I was also delighted to see another photo that Jay sent me, considering I had recently been emblazoned with a crab myself:

Jay explained that this was done by Joey at Citizen Ink in Brooklyn and that "it's representative of my home state of Maryland, with a blue crab and the state motto, 'fatti maschii parole femine' or 'manly deeds, womanly words.' "

Thanks to Jay for sharing her cool tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Lee Shares a Joey Knuckles Original

Last month at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, I spotted this tattoo on the back of Lee's calf:

Lee told me "the tattoo was done by Joey Knuckles (Instagram here) ... he is an amazing artist and he enjoys his work." Lee got this work done in Philadelphia a while back and added, "I really like how he uses bright colors and strong shading in his tattoos."

Here's a shot of the same tattoo from Joey's website:

Joey Knuckles can now be found at High Street Tattoo in Columbus, Ohio.

Thanks to Lee for sharing this cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Monday, July 20, 2015

Stephanie's Tattoo Bring Her Home

I spotted some pretty spectacular tattoos at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade last month. This one, on Stephanie, was one such example:

Stephanie credited this to Jesse Roberts at Dark Age Tattoo in Seattle, Washington. She also told me a little bit about the symbolism of the piece:

"It's a Chinese junk ... that's a merchant ship. I chose it to have red sails because red is a lucky color in Chinese folklore ...there's a prosperity aspect of it being a merchant ship. Sunset ... is a symbol of change, the waves are clam and ships are a kind of homecoming, I got it when I moved back east from Seattle."

Thanks to Stephanie for sharing this cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2015 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Saturday, July 18, 2015

A Mermaid's Thigh

I spotted this nautical tattoo last month at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade:

This belongs to a woman named Danielle who credited Dave Kotinsley at Anthem Tattoo in Gainesville, Florida.

Thanks to Danielle for sharing her tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Kelly's Cool Geisha and Fan

I met Kelly last month at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade and she shared this tattoo on her upper arm:

Kelly is "really big into Japanese art" and came up with this really cool concept, as it features a geisha holding up a fan to obscure her face, but the design of the fan - the face of a Japanese hannya mask, lines up with the geisha's face, producing a stunning artistic effect.

This was inked at a top-notch shop, Kings Avenue Tattoo in Massepequa, New York, by Matt Beckerich.

Thanks to Kelly for sharing her awesome tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Thursday, July 9, 2015

"What, Me Worry?" Said Fred

We're approaching our eighth anniversary here on Tattoosday and there' something we've never posted, at least as far back as I can remember. One of these:

Yes, my friends, that's an ass tattoo. I generally don't see them, for obvious reasons, but this year at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, I spotted Fred posing with some New York City cops on the boardwalk, and then, as he walked away saw the tattoo from afar.

I figured, what the hell? and stopped Fred, who happily obliged a picture of the tattoo on his butt.

For those that don't know, "What, Me Worry?" was the catchphrase of Mad Magazine's Alfred E. Neuman.

Fred credited this to an artist named "Astro" on one of the shops on Manhattan's 6th Avenue, quite possibly Crazy Fantasy Tattoo.

Thanks to Fred for baring and sharing his cool tattoo for us here on Tattoosday!

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Some of Amanda's Ink at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade

I met Amanda at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade back in June. She shared a bunch of her tattoos, like these on her right arm:

A little more detail:

The peacock and the gypsy are really lovely.

Amanda also has this sugar skull:

And this super cat and fiddle on her left arm:

She credited all of the work shown here to her artist Eric Edward from Hudson River Tattoo in Hudson, New York.

Amanda's tattoos are art for art's sake. As for the cat and the fiddle, she told me, ""It was just a fantastic piece that was just pretty unique and then we just fine-tuned him and then just worked on integrating everything."

Thanks to Amanda for sharing her tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Sunday, August 3, 2014

A Mermaid Shares a Tattoo

You rarely see me on Tattoosday, but the stranger who took a photo with my phone did some funky multiple-frame picture taking that generated this gif.

Incidentally, I'm standing with Kristen who posed for a ton of photos at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, as she was part of the group that put the whole event together.

When I mentioned Tattoosday, Kristen was kind enough to share a tattoo on her thigh that was below her shimmering mermaid skirt:

She credited this cool tattoo to her boyfriend, Joe Khay at Citizen Ink in Brooklyn. Joe also designed this year's Mermaid Parade poster.

Kristen explained that her leg has a death theme, thus the skull and the crow, a bird often thought to carry souls within them. The tattoo has a greater significance for her, as she explained:

"It's actually what got me and my boyfriend together ... it's kind of a love story behind it. The tattoo got us together ... I was going to a different artist at the same shop and then I decided, 'Hi, I'm going to go with him for one of these tattoos' ... it was out of his element, he doesn't really do much realism, he does more neo-traditional tattoos so I kinda brought him out of his element, expanding ever since and it brought us together - it's eight months later."

Thanks to Kristen for sharing her cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.net and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Monday, July 28, 2014

Sharmeen Has No Regrets About This Beautiful Tattoo (at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade)

Last month at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, I met Sharmeen briefly and snapped a photo of this amazing tattoo on her upper back:

Sharmeen tells us about this incredible work:

"My tattoo was done by Jed from Vintage Tattoo in Pequannok, NJ. It is a Van Gogh painting that was changed a little bit. Instead of one path like the original painting, it has 2 paths and the one is a windy road. That is to symbolize the windy road in the Robert Frost poem, The Road Not Taken. In the path it says nullum desiderium which in Latin means no regrets."

Thanks to Sharmeen for sharing her cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Saturday, July 19, 2014

The Finished Product: Max and the Wild Things

Earlier this month, I posted about a Where the Wild Things Are tattoo spotted at the Mermaid festival last month. Read the original post here.

Turns out, artist Luke LoPorto wasn't done. He messaged me last night showing me the finished product:

Photo Courtesy Luke LoPorto

Thanks to Luke for updating us!

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Esther's Tattoo of Patience

I met Esther last month at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade.

I found her tattoo intriguing and asked her about it.

Esther explained:

"I designed it myself. I got it right when I turned 18. I got it in Hawai'i ... I was going through a tough time, so I was kinda like, you know, strength and wisdom and patience. The kanji itself means patience."

She credited it to an artist named Lee.

Thanks to Esther for sharing her awesome tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Another Year, Another Max (Wild Things at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade)

Last month at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, I spotted a guy with a really cool Where the Wild Things Are tattoo.

I remembered meeting a guy 2 years earlier at the same parade, but I knew that this tattoo was better than the one I had featured two years ago.

When I asked the guy about it and he said his name was Max, I knew I had erred. It was the same guy, same tattoo, only with more detail.

This was the tattoo in 2012:

So when I sat down to write this post, and I pulled the old photo off of the 2012 post, I had a realization. Look at the tattoo I photographed last month:

Guess what, folks. Not the same tattoo. Two years apart, I run into two guys named Max at the Mermaid Parade, each with Maurice Sendak tattoos depicting the characters from Where the Wild Things Are. What are the odds? 2014 Max had more in his tattoo:

The artist for this newer (frankly better) Where the Wild Things Are tattoo is Luke LoPorto from Timmy Tattoo in Huntington, New York.

So, the moral of the story is, if you meet a guy named Max, and he has a Where the Wild Things Are tattoo, don't assume you've met him before. He may be a different Max.

Thanks to the 2014 Max (and the 2012 Max, as well) for sharing his awesome tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

UPDATE: Several weeks after this posted, artist Luke LoPorto shared the finished product. See it here.

Friday, July 4, 2014

Margot's Leg o' Liberty (at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade)

The best way to celebrate the 4th of July is some traditional American tattoos, no? How about an explosion of great ink on Margot's leg:

I love the bear trying to catch the red white and blue salmon. The roses add nice pops of color to the leg and the skulls are fun. The Go Vegan/Stay Vegan badge is cool and here's a better angle of Lady Justice:

Her sword rears Liberty and she's standing above a banner that warns "Snitches Get Stitches."

I met Margot at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade last month and she credited Dave at Oddball Studios in Portland, Oregon. Dave has done every one of Margo's tattoos.

Thanks to Margot for sharing her leg o' tattoos with us here on Tattoosday! Have a safe and happy 4th of July everyone!

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Maria Shows Off An Incredible Sleeve by Bugs at the Mermaid Parade

It's always exciting when I find work by artists I admire out on the street, so when I met Maria on Saturday at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade and I learned that her sleeve was by Bugs, I was thrilled:

I love Bugs' take on the Bird of Paradise flower here and the sleeve is punctuated on Maria's fist with this skull:

Bugs works out of L.A., but I've seen him work at the NYC Tattoo Convention and Maria said some of this sleeve was completed when he did some guest spots at a shop in New Jersey. See other work I have featured by Bugs on Tattoosday here.

Thanks to Maria for sharing this great work with us here on Tattoosday!

Sunday, June 22, 2014

A Mermaid Welcomes in Summer

Yesterday was the first day of summer and I celebrated by heading out to Coney Island for the annual Mermaid Parade.

This was my second time at the parade, having gone first in 2012, and there are wonderful tattoos everywhere. Here at Tattoosday, we'll be sharing tattoos from the parade over the next couple of weeks.
But let's start with the first person I met along Surf Avenue:

This tattoo belongs to Alix, who was dressed up as a mermaid and had a tattoo to match.

"Any story behind this?" I asked, foolishly.

"That's MY story," Alix replied, "I like mermaids."

She credited this to Alex Rios from Hard Knox Tattoo Studio in Yonkers, New York.

She also had phenomenal work on her back, as well:

Thanks to Alix for sharing her awesome work with us here on Tattoosday!