Remembering Julien's Father

A couple weeks ago outside of Madison Square Garden, I met Julien, who shared this portrait of his father:

As it turns out, today, July 20, 2012, marks the twentieth anniversary of his passing. Julien was only seven years old when his father died.

This wonderful portrait was inked by the always-amazing Virginia Elwood at New York Adorned.

Via e-mail, Julien explained the name at the top of the portrait:

"I actually chose my last name rather than my father's name because I got the tattoo done a few months after my grandfather (father of my father) past away, this way paid homage to both of them, and honor my family name at the same time. Since my father past away when I was 7 years old, my grandfather became very important to me."

Thanks to Julien for sharing this lovely tattoo with us here on Tattoosday, and for agreeing to let me post it on the anniversary of his father's passing.

This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday.

If you are reading 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.

The Story Behind Teddy Roosevelt and the Bear in a Wheelchair

Well, America is another year older, so it seems appropriate to honor our post-birthday euphoria with this unique presidential tattoo:

I spotted this piece back in May in Penn Station on the right calf of Emma. And, your eyes are not deceiving you, that's Theodore Roosevelt and a bear cub in a wheelchair.

The million dollar question, of course, was "Why do you have Theodore Roosevelt on your leg?" Emma replied:

"The short answer is that I think that he was super bad-ass and he's my favorite president. The long answer is that it came from a long decision process - I was gonna get Stephen Hawking and F.D.R, one on either calves, in wheelchairs, so then they could go for walks together and then I realized that that was just absolutely stupid. So I wanted to keep the wheelchair because I really like the way wheelchairs look and I decided instead of FDR, that I'd choose Teddy because he's my favorite president. And then I stuck the bear in the wheelchair so they could be friends because of all of his [Roosevelt's] naturalism...".

An interesting, well-thought out response, but certainly unusual. In fact, the artist, Virginia Elwood at New York Adorned, posted this on her website here, under the heading, What's the Weirdest Tattoo You've Ever Done? As Virginia says in her post, "this was her first tattoo and she sat like a champ. Teddy would be proud."


Thanks to Emma for sharing this wonderful and unusual tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!


This entry is ©2012 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.

Two Peacocks for a Tuesday

Back in June, I met two women on separate days who had peacock tattoos.

First was Charlotte, a filmmaker who I spotted on the uptown 3 train. I snapped these pictures when we got off the subway at 72nd Street:

 

Charlotte credited Daniel Albrigo as the artist, who did this when he worked at Brooklyn Adorned. He now tattoos out of Three Kings in Brooklyn.

She explained that she "wanted something beautiful to offset the Kali tattoo on her right shoulder".

A week later I met Emily near Penn Station, who had this different perspective on the peacock, inked on her calf:

Emily explained:

"My mother used to work at a school in Dallas, Texas, where I'm from, that has peacocks that roam wild on campus ... when I was a child I used to go play with them (or just watch them)."

Emily told me she "drew it and designed it with the help of Dave Wallin." Dave tattooed this when working at Tattoo Culture in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, but he now works out of Eight of Swords Tattoo Studio.

Thanks to both Charlotte and Emily for sharing their very different peacocks here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2011 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.

Nicole Takes Us to Candyland

At the beginning of the month, I had the pleasure of encountering a young lady named Nicole in Herald Square (34th Street and 6th Avenue, for you out-of-towners).

Nicole is heavily inked, estimating that "about 45%" of her body is tattooed.

So with so much work, where to begin? She offered up her lower left leg, which is fully-sleeved.

I always find photographing sleeves challenging, because it is so hard to capture all of the details accurately and perfectly in a photograph. So here's a collage of Nicole's Candyland sleeve:

Why a Candylamd-themed sleeve? Nicole explained,

"Growing up, that was my favorite game in the whole world.

Getting my tattoos never really meant anything, so that was kinda the one, like, childhood thing . . . I feel like if you're a girl, you should have pretty, colorful tattoos ... otherwise, you don't look 'girly' anymore.

So that's why I did that."

Nicole credited Brian Randolph, formerly of New York Adorned, with this work

Nicole informed me that Brian had moved to California, but he comes back and forth every six months.  She did say that, although this work is solely from Brian, she also gets tattooed by Justin Weatherholtz at Kings Avenue Tattoo in Massapequa, New York.

Thanks to Nicole for sharing her incredibly colorful leg sleeve with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2011 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.

Emily's Typewriter

Last week, on Eighth Avenue, I spotted an incredible tattoo on the back of a woman's calf and knew that I had to speak to her about it. Check it out:

This vintage typewriter belongs to Emily, and was tattooed by one of my favorite artists in New York, Virginia Elwood at New York Adorned. You can click the tag at the bottom of the post to see other work of Virginia's that I have been fortunate enough to spot in my Tattoosday travels.

Emily explained that she is a writer, and wanted a vintage typewriter inked to represent her vocation. My guess she had decided on one of these Royal typewriters, and then Virginia worked her magic. Emily elaborates:

"I asked her originally to give me a little typewriter on top of the books here:

but there wasn't enough room ... [Virginia] was like It'll be too small if I put it on your arm, we'll have to do a big one to get the best detail."

The rest, as they say, is history.

Emily has nine tattoos in all, counting a half-sleeve as one large piece, and all of her work has been done by Virginia.

Emily is managing editor for a website called xoJane, and has even written about her tattoos. She directed me to this article she recently wrote, called "My Tattoos Make Guys Think I'm Easy." She's got a smart style that really taps into the heart and soul of the subject. I'm sure many tattooed women can relate to the sentiment in that piece. She also pointed to a more current article she wrote, with some input from Virginia, as well, about sexism in tattoo shops, specifically with the drama in the premiere (and subsequent episodes) of the latest tattoo reality series, New York Ink.

I, for one, certainly recommend checking out Emily's site, xoJane, and exploring not only her contributions, but those of the other writers, as well.

Thanks to Emily for sharing her incredible work with us here on Tattoosday, and for talking with me, even though she was running late. I do appreciate it and hope we'll see more of her tattoos here in the future!

This entry is ©2011 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.

Tova's Mockingbird Takes Wing

Late last month, I met Tova at my local Borders store. She was sporting this incredible tattoo on her upper left arm:

When she told me she had it recently inked at New York Adorned, I guessed correctly that Virginia Elwood had been the artist. Virginia in incredibly talented, and seems to especially excel at bird tattoos (her work has been seen previously on Tattoosday here, here and here).

Tova explained that she loves birds, and that this mockingbird reflects a turn of events that occurred in Southern California. She described to me how, the night before she had to take defend  her Ph.D. exams dissertation, her husband had a guest staying with them, and this individual seemed particular insensitive to the momentous occasion Tova was facing the next day, as he was playing loud music well into the night.

Tova recalled how her anxiety and displeasure over this guest’s inconsiderate activity forced her from her home in search of a little peace and quiet. As she circled her block, she was struck by the large number of mockingbirds that were flying around.

She successfully passed her exams defended her dissertation and associates the mockingbird with this landmark event in her life.

As her Ph.D. Is in English, I asked her if she was familiar with one of my favorite poems, Charles Bukowski’s “The Mockingbird”. She wasn’t, so I suggested she check it out and I thought it appropriate to share here:

the mockingbird

the mockingbird had been following the cat
all summer
mocking mocking mocking
teasing and cocksure;
the cat crawled under rockers on porches
tail flashing
and said something angry to the mockingbird
which I didn't understand.

yesterday the cat walked calmly up the driveway
with the mockingbird alive in its mouth,
wings fanned, beautiful wings fanned and flopping,
feathers parted like a woman's legs,
and the bird was no longer mocking,
it was asking, it was praying
but the cat
striding down through centuries
would not listen.

I saw it crawl under a yellow car
with the bird
to bargain it to another place.

summer was over.

 ~

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

This entry is Copyright ©2011 by Tattoosday, with the exception of "The Mockingbird," which is Copyright ©1972 by Charles Bukowski.

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.

Melanie's Marilyn

A trip to the laundromat on Saturday yielded a meeting with a young lady who had a couple visible tattoos on one of her feet and an ankle. Fortunately, my curiosity got the better of me because, when I asked her about them, she revealed much better work, namely this phenomenal Marilyn Monroe portrait on her inner right forearm:

This stunning work was created by the incomparable Virginia Elwood at New York Adorned. I have been fortunate to encounter Ms. Elwood's work previously here and here.

Melanie is a huge fan of Marilyn Monroe and she is proud to wear this icon on her sleeve. Clicking on the tag for Marilyn Monrow below will reveal other Marilyn tattoos that have appeared previously on Tattoosday.

Thanks to Melanie for sharing this phenomenal portrait with us here on Tattoosday!

Stacy's Amigo Tugs Her Back to Milwaukee

At the end of July, I ran into Stacy waiting for the F train at West 4th Street in Manhattan.

She had a panther peeking out from under her shirt on her back, but we couldn't get the whole tattoo in a shot, so she offered up this piece on her right arm:

Stacy is a poet and the Artistic Director of The Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church in New York City. She has been here five years and originally hails from Milwaukee.

Living next to Lake Michigan has many benefits. Having always lived in a location near a large body of water, I can relate to her admiration for the beauty of a seascape, whether it be an ocean or a great lake.

Stacy told me she enjoyed watching the tugboats in her home town, and that these small vessels are a "connective image" that draws her back to her original home.

This tattoo was designed and inked by Stephanie Tamez at New York Adorned. Work from Stephanie on Tattoosday can be viewed here.

This is also the second tugboat of the summer. The first one is here.

Thanks to Stacy for sharing her tugboat with us here at Tattoosday. Perhaps we'll see her panther when the Tattooed Poets Project returns next April for its third year!