Showing posts with label Roses. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Merette's Sleeve Stuns With Its Beauty

On the last day of May, I met Merette, walking on 4th Avenue in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

I'll be honest, I spotted her fifty yards away and stopped dead in my tracks, because I knew she had an incredible tattoo sleeve. Some work you know is great, even before you can see the details.

Thankfully, she let me take pictures of her amazing black and gray sleeve. Here's hoping these shots do justice to the work:

Merette credited artist Soner Turan, formerly of Citizen Ink Tattoo in Brooklyn, and now at Bang Bang Tattoos in Manhattan.

This beautiful work features roses, sunflowers, and a half-skull, half-face with a pop of color in the one green eye.

Thanks to Merette for sharing her stunning ink 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.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.

Friday, June 26, 2015

Shauna Osborn's First Tattoo (The Tattooed Poets Project)

Our next Tattooed Poet of the Week is Shauna Osborn, who sent us this image:

Now, I know readers have been spoiled of late with some exceptional work, but this one has an interesting origin, as Shauna explains:

"This tat may not look like much, but it has a great back story. I’d wanted a tattoo since I was a little kid—I envied my grandpa’s large Navy tats he’d gotten while in the service. Most of my family was square against it, especially since I was female, so I figured it’d be a while after I moved out before I’d get the chance to ink up. I turned eighteen in the spring of ’98, moved out, and started college.

One Saturday a couple months into my first semester, my dad came by the dorms unexpectedly and told me we were going on a road trip. He didn’t tell me what we were doing, or why, just said it was a surprise.

We drove south several hours toward Texas until we hit Wichita Falls. Dad pulled up to Altered Images and said he was getting us both our first tattoos. Tattoo shops were still illegal in Oklahoma at that time, so he’d brought us to the closest shop he’d heard good things about from some coworkers.

He got a bicep tat of the Chevy logo with American flag detailing. Because I wasn't prepared with the designs I'd drawn up I had to go with a piece of flash. I chose this one as an representation of my past and hopes for the future. Allie, an apprenticing female artist, fixed me up with this one and gave my baby sister a temporary tattoo of Timon, Nathan Lane’s character in the Lion King."

Shauna sent us the following poem, which first appeared in Poesis Review #6:

Doppelgänger

My nocturnal self has left--

lost her somewhere in Oakland

to the blacktop covered roads.

She feared the desert heat

after the coldness of the city.

Feared it’d melt her resolution,

drown out her loudest screech--

replace the hard, coal-pressed hate

that serves as her grounding center

with a dripping puddle of snot.

While I wander the white & painted sand,

she frolics through asphalt & smog,

roams among drag queens & junkies

that ride the waves of Puget Sound--

making love to dreadlocked poet beggars

stealing rides on cable cars &

slicing the leash off every dog she sees

with her dad’s rusty pocketknife.

Scott saw her late last week, flagged her down

from alternate subway platforms, screaming & jumping

like someone slain in the spirit

but the only response he received was a dramatic

turn, her long braided dreads brushing the subway

floor, as she bent in full curtsey

& then a slow-blown kiss

as she walked away.

~ ~ ~

Shauna Osborn is an artist, wordsmith, and community organizer. Recently, she became Artist in Residence for the 2015 A Room of Her Own Foundation’s Writing Retreat. She is working on a series of indigenous comic books and a book length choreopoem. Her creative work is included in As/Us, Adrienne, Cultural Weekly, Hueso Loco, Poets’ Quarterly, Puerto del Sol, Spiral Orb, Mas Tequila Review, Yellow Medicine Review, and Upstreet. You can find her online at shaunamosborn.wordpress.com.

Thanks to Shauna for her contribution to the Tattooed Poets Project 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, June 9, 2015

Melissa Shares a Kiss That Transcends Life

At the Fifth Avenue Festival in Bay Ridge a couple Sundays ago, I met a couple, Matt and Melissa, who are significantly tattooed.

We'll see Matt's tattoos tomorrow, but today we are checking out this cool tattoo on the back of Melissa's right calf:

These are two Day of the Dead skulls, with roses, caught in an embrace.

The work is by Jessica Lockard from Third Dimension Tattoo Studio in Marshalls Creek, Pennsylvania.

Come back tomorrow to see work by Brian Murphy from Third Dimension on Matt.

In the mean time, thanks to Melissa for sharing this cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Monday, June 1, 2015

Three Roses from Jane

On Friday I met Jane while walking on Broadway, across from Zuccotti Park. She was kind enough to share these stunning roses with us:

These roses are simple in design, but were executed masterfully. Jane credited Elizabeth Markova from Bang Bang Tattoos in Manhattan. Read a small feature on Markov here.

Jane explained, "the three roses are a representation of the beauty my grandfather, grandmother and daughter have contributed into my life; molding me into the woman I am today."

Thanks to Jane for sharing these stunning flowers with us here on Tattoosday!

Sunday, April 5, 2015

The Tattooed Poets Project: Michael Mlekoday

Our first Monday poet in this year's Tattooed Poets Project is Michael Mlekoday, who shared a few pretty cool pieces.

Before sharing them, I want to thank Tara Betts (appearing later this month), who referred me to Michael last year, after spotting his ink at the 2014 Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference in Seattle:

Photo by Tara Betts

I reached out to Michael to get some clearer shots and some background about his work. He credited his work to one shop:

"All of my tattoos are designed and inked by my fam Ryan & Naama at Lucky Bear Tattoo. They used to run their queer, family-operated business in Brooklyn, but recently moved to Northern California and will start tattooing in San Francisco soon. They’ve got an Instagram @luckybeartattoo."

Let's take a closer look:

Photo by Doug Paul Case

Michael explains:

"The fish/skyline tattoo is a drawing Ryan made called 'Big Fish / Big Pond.' I had him change it to my home skyline, Minneapolis. I grew up fishing, and even living in the city proper there were plenty of lakes and water (Minnesota has more shoreline than California, Florida, and Hawaii combined! sort of…), so it seemed fitting. The fish & skyline is a way of marking where my body comes from—August Wilson, after all, says that 'art is beholden to the kiln in which the artist was fired.' "

On his other arm:

Photo by Doug Paul Case

Michael tells us:

"The other arm has a Mason jar with fireflies inside it, another homage to the Midwest, and a bear skull, which is an image from my first book of poems—The Dead Eat Everything. Though I’m a Midwest kid, born and raised, I’ve felt pulled towards the coasts for the past few years, which is the subject of my second poetry manuscript, currently titled Junk Turquoise, hence the oceanic background on my left arm."

Here's a poem Michael sent us:

HOME REMEDIES

Baba once cast a demon out of my brother.
She slapped him hard across the face
and left a glass of vodka
on the kitchen table overnight.
By morning, the glass was empty
and the rainclouds hung fat and fanged
over our block. Whenever it stormed,
she tongued her dentures out of her mouth
and sucked them back in, staring
out the window, and crossed herself,
cursing under her breath in Polish.

She taught us the old curses and the blessings,
brought us to the cemetery to practice both.
I was always better with the curses.
The way they had to be dragged
from the body, the odor
of sea salt stuck to the breath,
how they kicked the heart
like the pop of a burnt out bulb.

~ ~ ~

Michael Mlekoday is the author of The Dead Eat Everything (Kent State University Press, 2014). Mlekoday is a National Poetry Slam Champion, serves as Editor & Publisher of Button Poetry / Exploding Pinecone Press, and has poems in Verse Daily, Ploughshares, Ninth Letter, The BreakBeat Poets, and other venues. More poems and stuff at michaelmlekoday.com.

Thanks to Michael Mlekoday for sharing his work with us here on Tattoosday's Tattooed Poets Project!

Monday, March 16, 2015

Melanie's Birthday Rose

When my wife said she wanted a new tattoo for her birthday, which fell on Friday the 13th this year, I was eager to help. She was born on s Friday the 13th and, after her father counted all her fingers and toes and determined she had the correct amount, 13 became her lucky number.

The last time her birthday fell on Friday the 13th was back in 2009 and I documented it here. I'm guessing she will be getting another one the next time it rolls around in 2020.

Anyway, I wanted to surprise her, because spending an entire day getting one of the typical Friday the 13th specials is worth doing once (or maybe twice), but it can be tiring. I also knew that she would prefer to get inked by a good artist, one that she was familiar with, and not necessarily in the chaotic setting of a bargain flash frenzy.

So I reached out to Alex McWatt, from Three Kings Tattoo, a shop that has stopped doing these events, but had churned out some of the better Friday the 13th designs in the past.

Alex tattooed my second Friday the 13th piece back in 2012 (documented here) and I loved it. Melanie met him at the time, as well, so she was familiar with him and his top-notch work.

So I contacted Alex and he had me coordinate with Antonio, from their new Manhattan shop, and the plans were set in motion. I gave some general ideas to Antonio to pass on to Alex, and we set up a time to come by on the 13th.

After a birthday dinner with our daughter and one of her college friends on 1st Avenue, we strolled around the East Village and Melanie wondered where we were headed. Since Three Kings opened up last summer in Manhattan, she had no idea where we were headed. When we walked past East Side Ink, I said "Nope, not there."

As we neared the shop, I realized why the address was familiar - they had taken over the space where Thicker Than Water had been, Melanie and I had both been tattooed there when it was under different management.

When we reached the shop, she saw it was Three Kings, and then saw that Alex was there, she was grinning. She knew she was going to get something good, and from an artist she knew.

Alex brought out a sheet with 4 designs on it - a traditional skull with Friday the 13th themes, an osprey, a fierce tiger exhaling a 13 of smoke, and a rose.

After some wavering between two of the designs, Melanie decided on the rose for her outside left ankle (she has another flower on her right ankle).

So, Alex set to work, laying on the stencil:

and then outlining it:

Alex was great, working quickly and efficiently:

Until we had the finished product:

Wait, you may be wondering, what makes this a Friday the 13th tattoo?

This lovely rose has thirteen leaves.

Melanie was extremely pleased with her birthday rose and we loved the atmosphere in the shop. She's already talking about going back to Alex for more work, and I don't think she wants to wait until 2020.

Thanks to Alex and all the staff at Three Kings in Manhattan for helping make Melanie's tattoo birthday surprise a great one!

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Kelsy: The Flesh is Weak, But The Soul is Willing

Last month I met Kelsy at The Lock Yard, one of my favorite places for craft beer and artisanal hot sausages. It's also becoming one pf my favorite places for inkspotting.

Kelsy was showing a lot of ink and offered up her chest piece for inclusion on Tattoosday:

Kelsy explained this lovely work:

"I got the tattoo for my grandmother that passed away when I was seventeen. She was basically a mom to me. She always was so nurturing and close to me. So I got the flesh is weak but the soul is willing because I feel that all of the things and all the pain that you go through is only going to shape your soul, what goes on in your soul is willing to persevere through everything ... I got roses because she grew roses and I'm not Hispanic, but I got a Day of the Dead skull, Dia de Los Muertos, because it's a celebration of death, not the loss ... but the celebration of what they gain and what I gain from always being with me ... even though i'm 3000 miles away from my family, I feel like they're always with me..."

She said the piece was created by "a mix of a couple people," most notably Eli Falconette at Blacklist Tattoo in Portland, Oregon. Eli was responsible for the roses.

Thanks to Kelsy for sharing this beautiful tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Vince's Half-Sleeve: One Dragon, Lots of Skulls

I met Vince last month on Broadway in Lower Manhattan last month and I asked him about his half sleeve. He was more than willing to share it:

The sleeve includes an old gnarled tree, a dragon clutching a skull, a rose, smoke additional skulls and a moon and stars.

Vince also has this section on his inner bicep:

The playing card, aflame with a skull-faced suicide king, is bright in the center of the inner arm. You also can see another flower with a skull peeking out.

Vince had the dragon inked twenty years ago at The Tattoo Shoppe in Carlstadt, New Jersey, but all of the surrounding work was done by Charlie at Lola's Tattoos in Bogota, New Jersey.

"There's a lot of skulls in there," he told me, "I just like skulls."

Thanks to Vince for taking the time to stop and share his cool tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

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!

Monday, June 30, 2014

Three from Christina at the NYC Urban Tattoo Convention

This past weekend at the NYC Urban Tattoo Convention, I met Christina, who has all of her work done by a Phoenix-based artist named Mike Claypool.

She had traveled from Arizona with him and shared some of her work with me. First, this piece on her stomach:

I like this classic-style piece with the nautical elements, with the anchor, compass rose and ship's wheel. The diamond, heart and wings are a nice touch too.

Then she shared this rose on her knee:

And finally, I snapped a quick pic of this circus elephant, still shiny as it had been inked the day before:

To really appreciate Mike Claypool's work, follow him on Instagram @ClaypoolTattoos.

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

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Krispy's Collection

Last week I ran into a guy named Krispy sitting on a bench across the street from the New York Stock Exchange.

A approached him because a lot of cool ink, and I was hoping he'd be open to talking with me. Fortunately, he was kind enough to share several pieces for Tattoosday, and he expounded on his collection.

"I look at my body as kind of an open canvas to collect art," he told me, adding "I look at tattoos as sort of like how some people look at art collections in their house, except this is kind of something I can wear on me all the time."

Krispy is co-founder/co-owner of Anonymous Mad Villainy, a clothing company based out of Philadelphia. He is an artist himself, and expounded at great length about the tattoo as art:

"I like to use tattoos as a way to connect to other artists and give them an opportunity to be creative with their work ‘cause I don’t really put a lot of restrictions on what I am getting from an artist. I usually just tell them that I like their style and give them a general idea and just let them do what they’re gonna do. I’m from Philly originally and I have a friend, Brian, that’s done about four or five of them…I have work from five different artists on me right now…. A lot of the work is just aesthetic appreciation, appreciation for well-developed art."

The tattoo above he credited to a friend of his named Dan Mugrauer, who originally tattooed one of his friends and, as he explained, "I really liked his work so I went and talked to him about getting some and he and I developed a really good relationship with each other."

When I asked what his favorite piece by Dan was he said the one above or, more likely this beetle on his ankle:

Krispy elaborated:

"I like this one particularly because it was one of the most painful pieces I’ve gotten. Going through getting that done, even though it’s really small, was a lot to handle [Ed. Note: I love how he called this ‘really small’!]. That one spent probably the smaller amount of time and is the most painful and …. I originally got it lined and waited about six months to get it colored and when it was done it looked exactly like I imagined it would. [It's] just like a scarab beetle, I’m really interested in the symmetry of different flies and moths and beetles. I plan on finishing this leg sleeve as just a bunch of different beetles and bugs then filling the negative space with some patterned wood.

This one I think I like a lot because I made a pretty long trip for it. I lived in New York since September and at the end of October I went up to the Boston Tattoo Convention to help my friend work at the convention. So he gave me this when I was there and it was one of the longest pieces I have sat for…this one was about seven hours, so I sat, like for the whole day."

Finally Krispy shared this piece on the back of his calf:

He explained:

"This one is from Justin Harris, he’s a tattoo artist out of Green Bay, Wisconsin. He was in Philly for a guest spot when I happened to be on break for a week so I managed to catch him at the right time and so I have the King on my one calf and the queen on my other one. I was trying to think of who I wanted to do the queen. I had my friend Dan do the king one and I like Justin's work a lot and I thought that his work with women’s faces and demonic women was really good so I thought he’d be the right person to talk to it about."

Thanks to Krispy for sharing some of his art collection with us here on Tattoosday! Be sure to check out the Anonymous Mad Villainy site here to check out their clothing line!

This entry is ©2014 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.

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Ending April with Sharon Mesmer's Rose (The Tattooed Poets Project)

I met Sharon Mesmer last July at the NYC Poetry Festival on Governor's Island. Sharon is a wonderful poet, and she seemed initially surprised that I was interested in the tattoo on her left arm:

This rose on the top of her forearm, below her wrist, is an older piece but, as you would imagine, the story behind it is fascinating:

"I got my tattoo because I was traveling in Europe and Asia, and wanted a tattoo on each wrist for each continent. I got the rose tattoo (which also signifies the source of my name: the Rose of Sharon) in Paris from a guy named Gaby, who had a shop on the Boulevard du Temple, near the Cirque d'Hiver. This was in 1986, when everybody was getting tattoos; my (then) boyfriend also got a tattoo in Paris during that time.

After Paris we went to London, and then India, where I planned to get a lotus tattoo on my other wrist. We went to a tattoo place in a small town near Mumbai (then Bombay), but I changed my mind when I saw a rat with mange running around in the shop. Then we ran out of money. I had the rose re-colored in the 90's, but it looks horrible now. People sometimes ask me why I have a tattoo of a turtle."

Sharon shared this poem, which you shouldn't read out loud at your desk, because it is definitely NSFW:

Evacuated Elmo Head Elmo

Dear Wal-Mart: Elmo vs.Tigger vs. Barney is mildly funny.

Also funny is Barney hijacks stuff plucked out of his head

with iron pincers.

More funny is Suicide Pact/Potty Training Elmo,

Beat Me Up Elmo Elmo,

and Chinese-led Anti-Christian Conspiracy at Wal-Mart

to Brainwash our Children Elmo.

Not funny is Condi & Those Fucking Googly Eyes Elmo.

Not funny is O’Reilly Factor for Kids Hosted by Richard Nixon

Livin’ Large on His Gold and Diamond Potty That Spells Out

"Elmo's Gotta Do What Elmo's Gotta Do” Elmo.

((No, wait — that is funny.))

Funny is Bird Seed Milkshake/Oxycontin Cocktail Elmo.

Funny is Jay Gatsby, Fat-Elvis-Playa-at-Large Elmo.

Not funny is Do I Really Want To Get Beat Up by the Ginormous

Fat Elvis Who Plays Elmo Fisted By Fat Elvis? Elmo.

If Fisher-Price had taken my concerns seriously

none of this would’ve happened.

Funny is Mary Poppins Tells Boy To 'Beat Up Elmo'

After Screwing Osama Bin Laden and Then Shooting Up

with Shoot Me Up Elmo Elmo.

Funny is Elmo Farting All Over the Teletubbies (Uh huh —

jazz hands!) Elmo.

Not funny is the feminine lack of a penis.

Not funny is my otherwise wonderful child

who wakes up every morning wrestling Elmo’s huge nipples

and stinking of breast milk.

Not funny is trying to find a penis faucet.

Can you club a baby seal to death with a flaccid penis?

NYU’s school of medicine didn’t beat around the bush:

“That’s a flat NO.” And don't get me started on that penis.

That penis is the most sickly, mutated thing ever formed.

And what is up with that pubic hair?

Before I get into how Beat Me Up Elmo beat up Grover,

I’d like to tell you a little story:

Once upon a time, there was a great lord in Japan, and

his name was Elmo . . .

~ ~ ~

Sharon Mesmer is a descendant of Franz Anton Mesmer (”mesmerism”) and Otto Messmer (“Felix the Cat”). She has had poems in places as diverse as the Wall Street Journal and Postmodern American Poetry: A Norton Anthology. Her most recent poetry collections are The Virgin Formica (Hanging Loose Press) and Annoying Diabetic Bitch (Combo Books). Most people think that that title refers to her being diabetic, but she is not diabetic. She is, however, annoying and a bitch.

Bitchiness aside, it is truly an honor to have Sharon on the Tattooed Poets Project on Tattoosday and we thank her from the bottom of our tattoo and poetry-loving hearts!

Friday, March 28, 2014

Catching Up with Meaghan Farrell (at the NYC Tattoo Convention)

One last post from the NYC Tattoo Convention earlier this month.

Three years ago, I met a woman named Meaghan in Penn Station, and she was generous in sharing her tattoos with us here on Tattoosday - we split them into two posts here and here.

Occasionally, when I meet some random total stranger and interview them, we connect through social media, and we become acquaintances and, occasionally, friends. Meaghan is one of those special contributors who I now consider a friend. That said, I was delighted when, on day two of the convention she messaged me that she was on her way to Roseland.

One of the tattoos we featured back in 2011 when I first met Meaghan was this rose on her shoulder:

As I explained back then, the rose represented her memory of her grandmother, who had an amazing garden.

In the three years since we last saw each other, this sole blossom has developed into a cluster of flowers:

And her grandmother, still close to her art, resides on her inner right biceps:

I always love checking back in on people we've featured before to see how there work is coming along. These tattoos were done by Meaghan's sole tattooist, Mr. Beans from Fat Cat Tattoos NYC in Astoria, Queens. I even had the pleasure of meeting him at the show, as well.

I'd be remiss if I failed to mention that Meaghan is a singer/songwriter and is worth checking out at her website here. In fact, she's performing a week from today (April 4) at the Bowery Electic to celebrate the release of her new EP, East Coast Girl. You can get a free download of the title track on her Facebook page here.

It was great seeing Meaghan again and catching up with her tattoos! Go see her live next Friday!

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Sam Shares Two Cool Tattoos at the NYC Tattoo Convention

It has been a brutal winter, and the tattoos have been scarce here in New York City, so I was excited to get back to the New York City Tattoo Convention and see some great tattoos.

The event is early this year, to account for the closing of Roseland Ballroom, so unfortunately there were an inordinate amount of people wearing jackets and long sleeves - meaning body art was not overflowing as much as it has been in the past. However, today looks to be warmer, and I'm looking forward to Day 2!

That said, I did interview a woman named Sam, who works at Lark Tattoo in Westbury, NY. She was kind enough to share two tattoos with us for Tattoosday.

First is this giant piece on her thigh:

Sam explained the origins of this piece, which was done in three sessions of three hours apiece:

"This tattoo was done at South Shore Tattoo in Amityville, New York by an artist named Mike Nomy ... he's the owner of the shop. I'd actually gotten it done a couple years ago ... it was one of my first tattoos ... I knew that I was gonna be a heavily-tattooed person and I needed a way to introduce it to my parents, in a way that was heart-felt to them and seemed genuine ... I got something that was literally for them - my mom has a little tattoo of a rose on her butt and my dad has always wanted to get snakes tattooed on him ... I kinda took the two ideas and formed it into something that would show them how much I care about them and hopefully they can see me in the way I choose to transform myself and love me that way also ... It's kinda the way I reached out to them ... I dedicated a huge spot on my body to them."

She also offered up this amazing piece on the back of her calf:

Sam credits this cool tattoo to Joe Friedman at Lark Tattoo.

She elaborates:

"It's a Maneki-neko cat which is normally a lucky cat ....this type of cat is an unlucky cat, there's really no name for it - it's something that I kinda came up with based on a toy I had seen actually and it really inspired me to think about the way my life has been running, I'm pretty unlucky ... so I wanted a way to remind myself that I gotta work and not rely on luck."

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

Be sure to head down to Roseland this weekend to catch the last two days of the NYC Tattoo Convention in this historic venue!

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Kimberly's Flowering Sugar Skull

It may be 9 degrees today in New York, but I'm thinking about last July, when I was basking in the warmth of the New York City Poetry Festival on Governor's Island.

And inkspotting, of course!

I met a woman named Kimberly, who shared this sugar skull:

Kimberly got this about six years ago at Addiction Ink in the East Village.

There's a lot of symbolism in this piece, and Kimberly elaborated for me:

"The flowers in the eye are for my grandmother, and then every flower around the edge is a favorite flower of a female member of my family. Left eye is a rose, right eye is a mum, pink one is prairie rose, gerber daisy , cherry blossom, daisy, and then roses [at the bottom]."

"What's the significance of the gold tooth?" I asked.

Kimberly laughed, "I really liked it - if I really want to mess with somebody, I say it's how many men I've killed!"

This is one of four tattoos that she has.

Thanks to Kimberly for sharing this great tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Krystal Shares a Tattoo That Speaks of Life and Death

I met Krystal at the end of June while passing by Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan. I spotted a tattoo on her upper left arm and had to stop and ask about it:

Krystal credited this work to a friend of hers that tattoos freelance under the moniker Shane White Trash.

The design on top with the bird, the rose, and the girl crying blood, is based on Shane's artwork, which she really liked. Krystal added the quote, because she felt it went with the design. It reads:

life asked death,
"WHY DO PEOPLE LOVE ME,
BUT HATE YOU?"
death responded,
"BECAUSE YOU ARE A
BEAUTIFUL LIE
AND I AM A
PAINFUL TRUTH".

Krystal found the quote online, and it appears to be unattributed, one of those sayings with an unknown origin that resonates so profoundly with people.

Thanks to Krystal for sharing this, one of her eleven tattoos, with us here on Tattoosday!