Johnny Shares His Angels and Demons

I met Johnny on the Coney Island boardwalk, and he allowed me to take a photo of his back to share with Tattoosday readers:

The top of the back reads "Brooklyn" and the bottom sums it up: Angels & Demons.

Johnny explained:

"It's just the passions of my life. I went through turmoil and came out of it. So, basically, I'm wearing on my skin, my griefs, my sins and my dislikes."

He couldn't be specific about who did what, but he said that the majority of the work was done by Coney Island Vinny and Michael Angelo, two staples of old-school Brooklyn tattooing.

Thanks to Johnny for sharing his back tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Krystina and a Krooked Ken Tattoo

I met Krystina in my neighborhood of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn last month, after stopping to ask her about her tattoos.

Turns out, she works as a manager at North Star Tattoo in Manhattan, a wonderful shop with some amazing artists.

She shared this small tattoo of a black cat, a skull, and the number 13, credited to Krooked Ken, who owns Black Anchor Tattoo in Denton, Maryland and Powerhouse Tattoo Company in Montclair, New Jersey:

Krystina explained how she came by this tattoo from Krooked Ken:

"I'm good friends with him. I used to work for him and we went to Rodrigo Melo's [the owner of North Star Tattoo] wedding ... the day after Rodrigo's wedding, we were staying at the same hotel in Jersey, I went to Powerhouse ... and he did this tattoo that day. Daniel Cotté did the flash. The only copy of it, he never did prints or anything, just the hand-painted flash, is at Powerhouse, and Daniel Cotté works at North Star, as well."

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

This entry is ©2013 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.

Hannah's Skull by Shawn Barber (NYC Tattoo Convention 2013)

As I briefly mentioned in my initial post from this year's New York City Tattoo Convention (which concluded yesterday), I met a woman named Hannah, who I spotted near one of the many booths. It was her tattoo on her upper right arm that really jumped out at me:

My curiosity about the tattoo was not unfounded, when Hannah informed me this was the work of famed artist, Shawn Barber.

Hannah hails from Southern California, and got this tattoo at Memoir Tattoo in Los Angeles.

Hannah talked about her appreciation of the art of Shawn Barber, his influence on her own work, and his creation of her tattoo:

"He was a huge influence ... I was never into oil painting until I saw his oil paintings and I'm obsessed ...  I'm really into skulls and succulents ...that's my main choice of what I like to paint ... I told him what I wanted and let him go with it ... probably one of my favorite parts is the little squiggle [above the eyes] ...

... and the cactus flowers coming through the cheekbone ... I didn't really ask for flowers or anything and he put those in and that's one of my favorite parts... they're all succulents, like aloe plants and cactus ...".

It is always a thrill to share work of people I meet who have been adorned by the creations of artists at the top of their game. If you want to see an amazing array of Shawn Barber's work, visit his web page here.

Thanks to Hannah for sharing this incredible tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2013 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.

Tattoosday Goes to L.A.: Stephanie's Southwestern Scene

Last week I was headed back to New York from L.A. when I met Stephanie out near my gate at LAX.

She estimates that she is about 70% covered with tattoos, and she shared this piece on her foot:

Stephanie is originally from Philadelphia, but she got this as a ten-year anniversary gift commemorating  a decade of living on the West Coast.

She credited this colorful Southwestern tattoo, complete with cacti and animal skull, to Cameron Chase at Tat-Fu Tattoo in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Thanks to Stephanie for sharing her colorful anniversary tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2013 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.

Dave's Unusual Skull

Just a quick post for Friday.

Earlier this week, I met Dave on the West 4th Street platform and took a picture of this tattoo on his leg:

I like this skull because it's so unusual. It has the feel of a sugar skull, but it's not quite, It's certainly not your typical piece, and the neon colors really make it jump off the skin.

He got this about three years ago at a shop in Atlanta called the Ink Spot.

Thanks to Dave for sharing this cool 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.

An Anonymous Half-Sleeve from the Subway

This is an orphan post - I ran into the subject on the West 4th Street subway platform back in April. She consented to my photographing her half-sleeve but, before I could get any info, including her name, her train rolled in and she left me in the station with only a few photos.

I asked her to e-mail me with details, but two months later, I still have not heard from her, so I figured I'd just share what I have, which are the photos:

If anyone knows this tattoo and can get the host to e-mail me so, at the very least, I can credit the artist, please send her my way.

The combination of skulls and flowers, including the cherry blossoms, makes this quite a lovely piece.

Thanks to the young lady who shared her ink, wherever she may be. Her anonymous contribution to Tattoosday is greatly appreciated!

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.

Matt's Skull

It's always a bonus when I run into a tattoo artist somewhere other than a tattoo shop.

For example, I spotted Matthew Adams on the platform of the 34th Street Station, waiting for a downtown A train last week.

Like most artists, he had a lot of ink, so he picked this one piece to share:

And on the back side of the forearm:

 

Matt works at Sacred Tattoo in Manhattan with Lalo Yunda, who is the artist that inked this incredible skull.

As it turns out, I have featured Matt's work on the site before here and here, as well as this piece by Lalo.

Thanks to Matt for sharing this great 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.

Ivan Shares an Amazing David Sena Tattoo

This post is a straggler from 2011 and readers may wonder why it took so long to appear here on the site.

First, take a gander:

Pretty cool, isn't it?

Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of information on it, as I snapped this on the subway one evening last June, and I wasn't able to record a lot of details. This is what I do know: the host of this tattoo is Ivan, and the piece  took 2 sessions and approximately 15 hours to complete. The talented artist behind this is David Sena from North Star Tattoo in New York City.

The detail in the piece is wonderful:

And the scale of the tattoo as it wraps around the arm is impressive:

Unfortunately, there's not much more I can provide in terms of what went into the work, but the quality of the tattoo speaks for itself.

Thanks to Ivan for allowing me to snap these shots on the subway and consenting to sharing them 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.

A Trio of Tattoos from Devin

I met Devin walking down Third Avenue in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, back in September.

He had a lot of ink, so I just grabbed a shot of his left leg:

He broke these three pieces down for me, explaining that the butterfly on the top is an old Sailor Jerry flash piece that was his friend Shawn first tattoo as an apprentice at Ron & Dave's Tattooing on Staten Island.

His friend Shawn's second tattoo as an apprentice was the skull at the bottom:

In the middle of these two pieces is a piece of art that Devin attributed to artwork from the first album by a Staten Island band called The Cable Car Theory:

Thanks to Devin for sharing these three 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.

Niki Returns with a New Tattoo by Dr. Lakra

I think I'm within the statute of limitations for Thanksgiving, so let me say I am also thankful for past contributors sending me photos of new work that they want to share with the Tattoosday community.

Take Niki, for example, who I met in the summer of 2010, and whose tattoo appeared here. Out of the blue she recently sent me this e-mail:

"about a year ago, you featured my beautiful cat memorial tattoo (by John Reardon, who was at Saved Tattoo at the time). i follow your blog regularly.  you always feature beautiful work with interesting stories attached. i just got a crazy new tattoo that i thought i'd send along, in case you think it's worthy of sharing.  it was done by the incredible dr. lakra in oaxaca, mexico."

 

That's pretty darn cool, if I do say so myself. Skulls are common tattoo themes, so it is exciting to see a spin on that idea, and what better way to honor getting inked by a famous Mexican artist than by getting a skull with a tattered lucha libre mask?

Thanks to Niki for staying in touch and sharing her new tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

You can see more art by Dr. Lakra here in his Google photostream.

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.

Petra's Tattoo with Teeth

A couple weeks back, I was coming out of my office at 7 Penn Plaza when a woman named Petra walked by with this tattoo on her foot:

When I stopped her and introduced myself, she was happy to share it with us here on Tattoosday.

Petra explained that this is the skull of a Velociraptor. When I asked why this particular design for a tattoo, she elaborated:

"Velociraptor is my spirit dinosaur. They're small and quick and very vicious and I identify with that as a person ... I really like dinosaurs. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a rock-climbing paleontologist, so I knew it was something that I'd like, you know, for the rest of the time I have my skin on."

This is Petra's first tattoo, and she got it inked by Cheyenne Sawyer at Atlas Tattoo in Portland, Oregon.

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

Four from Frank

It may be the middle of October, but I am still working with a handful of summer photos, like those I took of Frank, who shared four of his ten pieces with us.

The first one is by Cris Element at Puncture Tattoo Studios in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn:

He was reluctant to share the meaning of this tattoo, saying it was personal, but he did elaborate on three others, done by Taze at Groove Tattoo in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. This one, for example, he told me was because "I was born on June 7th [and] I got no luck so maybe I'll get some luck out of this tattoo...".

 

Frank indicated that the element of time figured into this piece, with the naked woman representing life, and the skull representing death:

 

And this one, also by Taze, represents that he had "the best times of [his] life skateboarding":

Thanks to Frank for sharing his ink 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.

Leigh's Skull with a Mouthful of Blossoms

Last month, I ran into Leigh, getting off the C train at 34th Street in Manhattan. She estimates she has 40% of her corporeal canvas covered, and she offered me this tattoo on her left forearm:

We've had  a lot of sugar skulls here on Tattoosday, but everyone is different and unique. This one, inked by Myles Karr at Three Kings Tattoo in Brooklyn, stands out from the bow at the top of the skull, and the open jaw full of cherry blossoms, both items not generally associated with the traditional sugar skull design.

"I'm always talking," Leigh told me, "and it's always positive, so I wanted something that would keep the mouth open." She collaborated with Myles on the piece, saying she wanted a skull, but didn't want a "cliche," and pointed out it's also "kind of a take on the Suicidal Tendencies skull."

Thanks to Leigh for sharing this great tatoo 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 can contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Ryan's Tattoo Commemorates the Life of Dolly

Earlier this month I met Ryan, who has a whole host of tattoos. We were working on a project together, so we spent a bit of time chewing the fat, and he wanted to share this particular tattoo, which is on his right forearm:

Ryan explained how he was raised by his grandmother, whose name was Dolly, but he just called Mom. She lived a full life, well into her nineties, and was pretty much the only mother he really knew. After she passed, he wanted something to memorialize her and got this tattoo which not only has her name, but a black rose, a skull, a sparrow, and a derringer. He elaborated about his grandmother's life:

"Back in the day, when she was 19 or 20 years old, she was in the Irish mob and she made whiskey and hooch and she would basically run it back and forth across state lines and that's how she made her money. That's how she supported her family. That's what the derringer is for, because she would always keep a derringer in her bra, just in case something happened ... the black rose ... is symbolic of her life and her passing, which is the skull ... the bird - she's free - you know, God always keeps his eye on the sparrow ... it's a montage of her very interesting life."

Ryan had this tattoo done in Mobile, Alabama, buy an artist he only knows as 'Link,' a tattooist who spent a lot of time in Philadelphia and who also owns a shop in Pensacola, Florida.

Thanks to Ryan for sharing this tattoo, along with Dolly's story, 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.

A Skull in Penn Station

Last week, I was passing through Penn Station when I spotted a woman with a bunch of interesting tattoos. I introduced myself, and had taken a picture of one of her tattoos, when the loudspeaker announced her train was boarding. Having learned nothing about the tattoo I had just photographed, I gave her my card and asked her to e-mail me the details.

When this happens, I am often left with a tattoo and no story. But fortunately for all of us here at Tattoosday, Stephanie e-mailed me a few days later, and this is what she had to say:

"You stopped me in Penn Station ... and took a picture of my tattoo. Its a skull on my forearm, pink with green flowers and a backwards jaw :)

I got the tattoo years ago now and the color is still incredibly vibrant. I got it at Chameleon Tattoo & Body Piercing  in Harvard Sq, Cambridge Massachusetts. The artist's name is Rueben Kayden. He does amazing traditional work and I've had him work on me several other times. At the time he had been working on two pin-up girls I have on the backs of my arms. I went in for my appointment and Rueben showed me a design he had been doodling. It was a strange skull with its jaw on the back of its head, and flowers all around. I immediately loved it. So, we ended up just tattooing that on me instead. I'm very random and I love random pieces of work. What's better than a random story?"

Work from Chameleon Tattoo and Body Piercing has appeared previously on the site here and here.

Thanks to Stephanie for sharing this tattoo and story 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.