Tattoosday: Pin-ups

Showing posts with label Pin-ups. Show all posts

Monday, June 29, 2015

Annie Rocks a Cowgirl Tattoo, with a Vegan Twist

Last week on Wall Street, I passed a woman with several tattoos and I stopped to ask her about them.

She introduced herself as Annie and was kind enough to share this spectacular thigh tattoo:

This is the work of Amanda Wachob, who at the time, about four years ago, was still working out of DareDevil Tattoo in Manhattan.

Annie explained that "this is actually a Gil Elvgren pin-up. I've changed it up a little bit. She was like on this barrel-horse thing... and the rooster was not there, so I just had [Amanda] put her on a fence and put the chicken in"

Why the added chicken? Annie elaborated:

"I was raised in Texas, and I used to raise chickens ... slaughtering them and everything and I've since become a vegan and ... it's sort of like, this is the person who I was, and I'm still this person ...a coming around full circle thing. I used to always hang out with chickens, but exploit them, slaughter them, eat them. Now I like to hang out with chickens and let them live their lives as individuals [with] freedom, and it looks the same ... I got this as I was transitioning into veganism, coming to terms with my past of slaughtering [chickens] and feeling pretty badly about it now and looking at it from a different perspective, being an animal rights activist."

Annie does vegan education, "trying to make the world better," and is affiliated with Evolve for Animals. Check out their website here if you would like more information.

Thanks so much to Annie for sharing her work with us 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.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, April 27, 2015

The Tattooed Poets Project: Amanda Crum

Our next tattooed poet is Amanda Crum:

Amanda explains:

"As a horror lover, I was looking for a tattoo that appealed to that side of my nature. Zombies, monsters, slashers, I love them all. But I also wanted to incorporate a part of myself--the artist and writer--so after I drew up a pinup girl, I asked my friend Leon Cress at Lion's Den Tattoo in Nicholasville, Kentucky to zombie-fy her and add some details to give her some personality. He added a paintbrush and pencil to make her even more unique to me, and I love her."

Here is a poem from Amanda:

P.W.T.

People have called me

TRASH

because I’m tattooed

and grew up in a trailer park

Because I bear marks and

I bare them

The sin of skin

and of pride

But I’ve always been of the opinion

that TRASH

is a matter of behavior

and not style or geography

~ ~ ~

Amanda Crum is an artist and writer from Kentucky whose work can be seen online and in print publications such as Cracked Eye Magazine, SQ Magazine, and Dark Eclipse, among others. She loves horror, movies of all kinds, and the smell of old books.

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

If you are reading this on another web site 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.

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Taylor, Tops, and Ink Master Returns!

Over the years, we've been fortunate enough to have featured the work of Taylor here on Tattoosday. We first met her here in 2010 and she has shared several new pieces as she has added to her collection. Taylor lives in my neighborhood, working at her family's business, and keeping me posted on her latest work.

I was pleased to see this, her latest tattoo, in my inbox last week:

Taylor explained that she got this pin-up "in honor of Tops Restaurant Supplies, which was established in 1968 by [her] grandfather Harry Monier, who was also owner of the Parakeet Club back in the day."

It's also in honor of her grandmother, who passed away at a very young age, and her father, who started with Tops at the beginning at the age of 17. Taylor works there, too, helping with the family business.

Like a lot of Taylor's other work, this is by Angel at Puncture Tattoo in Brooklyn. Angel is appearing on Ink Master Season 5, premiering tonight on Spike. This season has a twist, in which artists are paired with "rivals," and Angel is paired with Cris Element, now out of Leathernecks Tattoo in Brooklyn.

Both artists will be at a viewing party tonight in Bay Ridge at The Wicked Monk

Be sure to stop by and help usher in the new season of Ink Master!

Thanks to Taylor for once again sharing her awesome tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Two Tattoos From Jason

I met Jason in Penn Station last month and he shared two tattoos with me. First, this tiger on his forearm:

He credited this to an artist named Mike at Immortal Ink in Flemington, New Jersey.

Jason also shared this cover-up on his upper right arm:

The woman in the tattoo represents his wife, and Jason had spent time in the Navy. He likes the art for art's sake and told me, "I'm not much of a meaning guy." This was done by Adam Hays at Red Rocket Tattoo in New York City. We've featured work by Adam previously on Tattoosday here and here.

Thanks to Jason for sharing his cool ink tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Monday, April 7, 2014

The Tattooed Poets Project: Heidi Czerwiec

Heidi Czerwiec is our next tattooed poet, and you only need look at the cover of her book to see her cool ink:

Heidi explains:

"It’s the cover of Self-Portrait as Bettie Page, which I think is a cool tie-in between poetry and tattoos ... The tattoo of Bettie Page came about as a way to solve a copyright issue. The editor publishing Self-Portrait as Bettie Page, Anna Evans, felt we needed an image of Page for the cover, but the cost was prohibitive. I often get a tattoo to commemorate each poetry project I finish, and had been considering a Bettie Page tattoo already, so I suggested it as a solution since new medium equals new (uncopyrighted) image, and also because it would be a vivid way to convey the title. And because I wanted the tattoo and it seemed pretty badass. I went with a graphic b&w image of a famous photo, found a terrific artist – Paul Johnson, owner of 46 and 2 Tattoo in Fargo, ND – who was interested in the project, and got my amazing photographer friend – Britta Trygstad – to shoot the tattoo during and after. This is the image we chose. I’m not sure I came out much ahead of the cost to acquire copyright, but the process was so much fun and I have a badass tattoo at the end of it."

Heidi selected two poems to accompany her submission, both from the book. Since they're both fairly short, I've included both below. Heidi adds, "both were ... published in Self-Portrait as Bettie Page (Barefoot Muse Press, 2013), but “Autobioerotic” first appeared in South Dakota Review (Winter 2011/2012)."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I know what you’re probably thinking. Yes,
I had my goth and rockabilly phase:
the black hair and attitude, the glaze
of red lipstick, silk knickers beneath my dress
for lindy-hopping – the whole enchilada.
I even imitated Bettie one year
for Halloween, in full jungle attire –
a favorite photo. I knew nothing, nada,
about her. But the more I learned, I liked.
Not for what you’d think, not the trappings –
no – I’m interested in paradox:
the more severe she looked, the more she winked.
I want to do that, make art in racy wrappings,
fit pretty content in a strict box.

AUTOBIOEROTIC

You started innocently: first, a pair
of words that rhyme, a sweet pentameter
that left you wanting more. And so you wrote,
for fun. And it was good. Someone took note
(young girl, new style) but thought you needed edge;
put you onto sonnets, with just a smidge
of sapphics – titillating, but still, quite tame.
You got a kick out of it. It was a game.
But then you got a penchant for harder stuff:
ballades, rondeaux – those French ticklers not enough
for you – you published hard-core villanelles
for magazines with certain clienteles.
You’re verse’s vixen. Where do you go from here?
You keep composing; or, you disappear.

~ ~ ~

Heidi Czerwiec is associate professor of Literature and Creative Writing at the University of North Dakota. She is the author of two chapbooks: Hiking the Maze (Finishing Line Press, 2009) and Self-Portrait as Bettie Page (Barefoot Muse Press, 2013). Find more information at www.heidiczerwiec.com.

Thanks to Heidi for sharing her awesome tattoo with us here on Tattoosday's Tattooed Poets Project!

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Michelle Shares A Pin-Up Modeled After Her Passion for Pool

Last month I was hanging out with some friends at a bar called Niles across the street from Madison Square Garden.

It was a gathering of old work friends, actually, and my friend Brooke (who last appeared on Tattoosday here) and her husband were going to Eric Clapton's Crossroads Festival concert at MSG.

At some point in the evening, I spotted a woman near the front of the bar, standing with several people, including a gentleman wearing a jacket from the Buddy Guy band.

What jumped out at me, however, was the tattoo on the woman's left calf. As she was leaving the bar, I approached her and was thrilled when she agreed to let me photograph her work:

When I asked her why the woman on her calf was holding a pool cue and an eight ball, she explained that she was a competitive pool player.

It turns out I was talking to Michelle Hughes, a member of the Northwest Women's Pool Association and their 2009 Rookie of the Year.

Michelle Hughes in action, from Flickr

The tattoo was inked by Paula Hathaway at Industry Tattoo in Bellingham, Washington.

Thanks to Michelle for sharing this cool pin-up with us here on Tattoosday!