Amy and Her Colorful Hot Air Balloon

Today's tattoos are from Amy, who I met a couple weeks ago in Penn Station. First is this stunning hot air balloon on her upper right arm:

This was done by Brian Marsman at Powerhouse Tattoo Company in Montclair, New Jersey. "I just wanted a hot air balloon and I didn't have a picture for him or anything," Amy told me, "he just drew it up for me."

She also had this tattoo, on her inner right forearm,

This is an interpretation of a watercolor by Angelique Houtkamp entitled "Edith Piaf":

©Angelique Houtkamp

This was done by an artist named Giordano who was visiting from Brazil, set up shop in Amy's dining room, and tattooed a handful of friends and family, including Amy's husband and father.

Thanks to Amy for chatting with me and sharing these tattoos 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.

Two for Tattoosday: Elise Remembers Paris and Shares a Cardinal

These next tattoos would not be here on Tattoosday were it not for signal problems at the Jay Street subway station in Brooklyn.

For it was an e-mail alert about those problems disrupting train service which sent me away from my normal routine and directed me last week to the Herald Square subway station to catch a D train.

It was there on the southbound platform that I met Elise who displayed some cool ink on her arms. We chatted a bit and, because her top partially obscured sections of her tattoos, she told me she'd email me photos. Not everybody who says that means it, or follows up, but Elise did not disappoint and sent me the following photos later that evening.

First, is this interesting tattoo on her upper right arm:

Elise calls this “Paris in a Woman,” which is inspired by the fact that she was born and raised in France. The idea of including the Parisian cityscape came from Charmaine Olivia, an artist based out of San Francisco. Elise included the Eiffel Tower in it. The tattoo was done by John Poverty, who tattoos out of Goose Tattoo in Brooklyn.

Lower on her right arm is this amazing bird tattoo:

Elise explained:

“The cardinal by Mike Adams [of True Sight Tattoo Company in Detroit] was inspired by family. Once all my siblings and I ‘flew the coop,’ my parents took up bird watching, and are now avid cardinal lovers.  Mike inked this out of Thicker Than Water in Manhattan, [where he] will have a short residency in the beginning of December.”

Work by Mike appeared over the summer on Tattoosday here.

Thanks again to Elise for sharing these wonderful tattoos 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.

Zoe's Birds, Aloft

I met Zoe a couple weeks ago when I spotted an incredible bird tattoo creeping up over her shoulder:

What's especially mesmerizing about this tattoo is where it begins:

Starting in the middle of her back, this flock of birds lifts up off of her flesh, and flies over her shoulder.

So from where did the inspiration for this tattoo come? Zoe explains:

"I stole the color combination and the silhouetted birds from my favorite album [Deja Entendu by Brand New].

I went in [to Name Brand Tattoo in Ann Arbor, Michigan] and gave [tattoo artist Dawn Cooke] the music and said this is why ... it helped me get through a really bad point in my life. I told her what I wanted and she figured out the placement on my body. I originally wanted it straight across my back, but she worked with my body to get it on there ... after three hours of tattooing, I asked her if she put coloring in and she did. It's all free-hand."

The tattoo took four hours in all to complete, and Zoe had nothing but praise for the artist and the shop. Name Brand, she said, "is great, super-relaxed ... they weren't judgmental [and] tend to have people with art degrees, which is really interesting." Artist Dawn Cook has moved, however, and now tattoos out of Depot Town Tattoo, in Traverse City, Michigan.

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

Asa an added treat, here's a track from Brand New, from the album that helped inspire this body art:



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.

The Tattooed Poets Project: Michael Henry Lee

Today's tattoo was submitted by Michael Henry Lee:

Photo courtesy of Michael Henry Lee

There's a lot going on here, so let's let Michael explain:

"The work pictured began about 36 years ago in Kansas City, Mo. I only remember the artist's name as John. The piece started with the stylized exotic bird's head that John took credit for as his own. A few years later I found the same piece on the back of a Mountain album cover. Imagine. Fast forward a couple of decades to a fantastic shop [Soul Expressions Tattoo Studio] in Temecula Ca. and an artist named Dan Adair. The sun and Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah were added there. The sun was David's design and the Lion comes from the Ethiopian flag borrowed from a Bob Marley album. The conceptual idea was mine and is meant to be symbolic of the Christian trinity: Father (as the sun), the Son (as the Conquering Lion) and our old buddy the bird (as the holy spirit). The seven is symbolic of the biblical number of completion and is repeated three times. The piece was just retouched and colored last year in Saint Augustine, Florida, by Tattoo Mike from Tattoo Garden."

Michael also offered up several short poems, including some haiku:

"tattoo impressions"

    van goes home

stepping out in a starry night    

(first appeared in graffiti kolkata Aug 2010)

~

tattoo garden

 the blush returns

 to mother's rose

~

What Love’s Got to do with It

It was rumored of late

that Love;

is suffering from a stolen identity

Eros has hacked into Agape

like the evil twin exchanged at birth;

     Ying for Yang

           The Pauper for the Prince

                    Cain for Abel

The imposter has taken control

using seduction and guile

to manipulate the hearts and minds

of whoever might be deceived

Love’s calling all investors

Setting the record straight

Distancing itself from a nefarious sibling

Love does not

          sell cars, clothes, food, or personal hygiene products

Love knows

          the grass isn’t greener in the next field,

          and besides brown is highly underrated anyway

Love always makes deposits

          but not withdrawals

Love is patient as water

          smoothing stone          

Love knows the worst

          but hopes for the best

Love bites its tongue and swallows its pride

Love looks at the heart

          not: boobs, biceps, or bank accounts

Love is the first one into a burning building

          an the last one off a sinking ship

Love builds

         Marriages

             Families

                  and  Nations 

                                                            

Love is an invisible necessity

         like  time, gravity, and oxygen

Love is beyond time and space

Eternal

Unconditional

                          a

                         gift

                    a promise

            one poured out for all 

                     that they

                       might

                        know

                         that

                         God

                           is

                           L

                           O

                           V

                           E

"What Love's Got to do with It" first appeared in Heart Pour The Love Book from Poet Plant Press, 2011

~

Michael Henry Lee is a husband, father and grandfather. He and his wife of 30 years reside in St. Augustine, Florida; the nation’s oldest city, along with two cats, and numerous bonsai trees.

Michael is a member of Ancient City Poets and the Haiku Society of America. The last Sunday of every month generally finds him at the Heart Pour Matinee; an open mic poetry reading that features seasoned artists as well as new talents. 

Mr. Lee serves as contributing co-editor for Poet Plant Press, and is a frequent contributor to Haiku News, and Haiku Ramblings. His work has appeared in Berry Blue Haiku, and Graffiti Kolkata He was voted among the favorites in the 2009 Alibi Weekly annual haiku contest, and was awarded third place prize in the Yukei Teikei Annual Tokutomi Haiku Contest for 2010.

Mr. Lee is quoted as saying “my objective is to express the good news and mystery of life in every breath, through the simplicity of haiku”.

Thanks to Michael Henry Lee for sharing his tattoo and his work with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday. The poems are reprinted here with the permission of the author.

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.

Sal's Tattoo Takes Wing

Today's tattoo comes to us courtesy of Sal, who is making his third appearance on Tattoosday. We first met him in 2008 when he shared this Guns N Roses tattoo, and then again, in 2009 with this quote, inked on his forearm.

Both times I ran into Sal at the video store where he works in Brooklyn Heights. He alerted me to the fact that he had new ink, so I just had to stop by and see in person:

The collage might not bring out the finer details as seen in a closer view:

The bird is an American Robin. Why this particular bird? Sal explains: "Robins mean a lot to me - not just for their beauty, but for their meaning of hope and new beginnings".

American Robin -- Humber Bay Park (East) (Toronto, Canada) -- 2005, by en:User:Mdf

The tattoo artist is the phenomenal Mark Harada at East Side Ink in Manhattan. Work from Mark and other East Side Ink artists has appeared previously on our site here.

Thanks again to Sal for sharing his awesome new tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Sharon's Bird on a Saturday

At the end of September, I spotted this bird on the left side of Sharon's upper back:

 

Sharon drew this herself and had it tattooed at Fat Cat Tattoo in Sacramento, California.

I'd love to tell you more about this tattoo, but Sharon never e-mailed me to give me more details. Nonetheless, it's some nice work.

Thanks to Sharon for sharing her bird with us here on Tattoosday!

Mrs. Dirtbird's Wedding Tattoo

Yesterday we enjoyed seeing the neck tattoo of a Missouri-based artist nicknamed "Dirtbird," as well as a piece he had inked on his friend Shawn.

In addition to meeting both Shawn and Dirtbird across the street from where I work, I also met Katie, who half-jokingly referred to herself as "Mrs. Dirtbird". She shared this tattoo with us:

Katie explained that this is a wedding tattoo. The piece depicts a heart, comprised of a male and female bird, sewn together. Since she married Dirtbird, this seems like and appropriate expression of their matrimony.

The tattoo was inked by Becky "Pink Eye" Ashcraft, who works with Dirtbird at Punkteur Tattoo in Joplin, Missouri.

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

Introducing...Dirtbird!

Occasionally in my wanderings, I will meet not just tattooed people, but tattoo practitioners, and often those visiting from outside of New York City.

So it was no surprise, when I approached a gentleman across the street from where I work, at 31st and 7th, to learn that I was talking to an artist.

Working out of Punkteur Tattoos & Piercing in Joplin, Missouri, Derek "Dirtbird" Wieberg estimates he has 130-150 hours of work inked on his personal canvas.

With so much to choose from, he offered up this piece, on the right side of his neck:

It seemed fitting, considering his name.

Dirtbird praised the artist, Rick Pierceall at Karma Tattoo in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who has done all of his throat work.

Considering it is Two-for-Tattoosday, I'll share this photo as well:

That's not Dirtbird, but it's his handiwork! The owner of this tattoo is Shawn, who had the good fortune to be inked by Dirtbird. They collaborated on the design together.

Thanks to Dirt Bird and Shawn for sharing their tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Tune in tomorrow to see a tattoo from Katie, aka Mrs. Dirtbird!

Rachel's Bird Helped Her Let Go

The same night I met Brian, I met Rachel, who has eight tattoos.

She shared this one with me:

This piece on her left biceps is based on the work of artist Kurt Halsey. This little bird appears in multiple works by the artist, but Rachel imagined it for her own personal situation. She got it after a break-up a couple of years ago, and the tattoo gave her the strength to "let the bird go". In this case, the bird represents the ended relationship and the tattoo is a transitional piece that helped her recover from the difficulty of moving past it.

From Memphis, Tennessee, Rachel had this inked at Underground Art Tattoos and Body Piercing by Chris Fitzgerald. Chris had been a piercer at the shop and then moved into tattooing. He has since left tattooing and moved to photography. His new business is Cult Noir Photography, and his work can be seen here.

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

Two Rocking Tattoos from Joe

I met Joe last month outside of Penn Station and he shared two tattoos with us.

First is this hellcat:

Why this cat? It's a design, Joe says, inspired by the band Rancid, whose music appears on Hellcat Records.

Not to mention, he likes cats. Need he have more reasons? That's on his upper left arm.

I'm more excited to share this photo, which actually is a rare Tattoosday shot in which one can see the contributor's face. I could have cropped it out, but I think it's a cool shot.

This tattoo arose out of Joe's desire to have some body art made with red ink. The design is based on the album art for a disbanded musical act out of Washington called Isa.

The two tattoos are among five Joe has in total and were done by Milton Sillas at Tattoo Royale in the Pacific Beach section of  San Diego, California.

Thanks to Joe for sharing his ink with us here on Tattoosday and for waiting so patiently for me to get to his tattoos. The summer backlog is both a bane and a blessing.

As a postscript, readers familiar with the site will notice that I've watermarked these photos. I've grown tired of seeing Tattoosday content appropriated elsewhere on the web, without attribution. This is an attempt to maintain credit of our content here at Tattoosday.

Lindsay's Ink for Peace

When I recently upgraded my camera, the first new photo I took, of Lindsay's tattoo, convinced me I had selected well:

This lovely tattoo, on Lindsay's upper left arm, is punctuated by this part of the tattoo on her biceps:



The picture tells the story and the words, all meaning a form of "peace" in Hebrew, Arabic, Sanskrit, and English, punctuate the images just inches away.

Lindsay took a class on world religions at the University of Rhode Island and this influenced her greatly. She wanted the tattoo to focus on the beauty at the heart of religion, and to disregard the conflict that so often plagues religious dogma.

Lindsay feels that the tenet of peace is often lost and this is her way of expressing how it means so much, but is forgotten in relations with people of different backgrounds.

She brought a picture that somewhat embodied how she wanted the tattoo to look in to Artfreek Tattoo in Providence, Rhode Island. She and the artist Brian Mullen collaborated on interpreting what she wanted the piece to embody and she was very happy with the end result.

The tattoo was completed in two short sittings that spanned four hours.

Work from Artfreek has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

Thanks to Lindsay for sharing this fabulous tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Mor's Key is Found and Kept Forever

On the last Monday evening in June, I met Mor at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square. Her website identifies Mor as a "character animator and 'moving collage' artist".

However, we didn't talk about Mor's work.That never came up.Rather,we discussed the Tattoo on Mor's forearm:

Mor's mother had given her a little golden key as a gift that she wore on her earlobe. At some point in the middle of the night, this began to bother Mor, who would pluck the key off and throw it across the room. In the morning, Mor would find the key. This unusual pattern became a ritual of sorts until one morning, the key was nowhere to be found. Lost forever over the years, this tattoo reclaimed the key, and now Mor has it tattooed forever.

The bird represents a friend of Mor who is an "adopted mother" and someone very close to Mor.

The tattoo was done by Shiloah Rusciolelli, who currently lives in Seattle.

Thanks to Mor for sharing this unusual tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Here is Mor's "Bimboim's Trip to the Western Wall":



Mornography's YouTube channel is here.

Jenn's Ink Celebrates a Seventies Vibe

On a day that found me unsuccessful with inkspotting the 5th Avenue Festival in Bay Ridge, Fate walked me past Jenn, sitting outside a laundromat a block away from my home.

She happily shared the work on her upper left arm:

These stunning colors encircled her biceps.

She said this piece, inked by Jared Stomber at Kustom Kulture Ink in Baldwin, New York, is an "ode to 1970's fashion". This is one area of interest to her that moves her artistically and she wanted to express it through body art.

Fictional character Rhoda Morgenstern (from The Mary Tyler Moore Show and spin off Rhoda) was among the cultural icons that inspired the design.

The inner part of Jenn's arm also features artwork that recalls the animated birds from the opening sequence of The Partridge Family.

Although her birds are much more elaborate.

Thanks to Jenn for sharing this amazing tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!