Austin's Sleeve Pays Tribute to His Grandmother

Austin was visiting New York when I stopped him on 7th Avenue right in front of the Fuse studio.

He offered up this sleeve on his left arm:


























This was inked by Amanda Grace at Truth and Triumph Tattoos. She now works at Smartbomb Tattoo. Both shops are in Dayton, Ohio.

The playing cards are a tribute to his grandmother, who was a card player. She also tended roses, so these flowers also pay homage to her.

Of the other elements, Austin says he just likes skulls, artistically. Also, the words "Never Again" are there to remind him to remain strong his sobriety, and not to go down that same road of dependency.

I appreciate Austin stopping and chatting with me, and thank him for his forthrightness, and for sharing his tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Tattoorism: Kelly's Backpiece for Her Daughters

It's been a while since we've had a tattoorist in this neck of the woods, so we ought to enjoy a lovely submission.

For those of you new to Tattoosday, or unfamiliar with the term "tattoorist," that refers to someone who is visiting the blog from out of town, sending us their tattoo from the blogosphere and beyond.

Generally, I don't want to encourage e-mail submissions, especially during the summer when my coffers are full of great tattoo photos from people I meet in New York, but I will generally post something if it's particularly awesome.

Enter Kelly, who sent me this phenomenal piece at the end of July:



I'll let Kelly tell us about this:

"It is of the Norse goddess Freya - with her blue cat she got from Thor. She is standing on a bed of Lilies. It is actually a partial cover up that I will add a few more leaves too to even it out a bit.

I got it because I have two daughters - Lilly and Freya. Freya absolutely loves cats - and actually both of their first words was cat. Odd I know. But I think its pretty cool and has real personal meaning. Hope you like it!

Oh yeah - and the pink in the shading is just my angry skin - its just grey now."

Kelly is doing a pop culture/diet experiment called the Hot Pocket Diet. She jokingly admits that this is evidence that she is "just marginally crazy".

This wonderful tattoo was inked by Jeremy Miller at Screamin' Ink Tattoo in Fair Lawn, New Jersey.

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

Laugh Now, Cry Later

I met Rico outside of Madison Square Garden and he offered up this, one of his fifteen tattoos:


There's no real story behind this Comedy and Tragedy mask design. The added banner "Laugh now, cry later" resonates with me as a favorite saying in my family, from my wife's oft-quoted Grandmother Sadie Liss, is "You start out laughing, you end up crying".

Rico just liked the design from Island Avenue Tattoo in Pittsburgh.

Thanks to Rico for sharing his ink with us here on Tattoosday!

Josh's Black Widow Tattoo Dangles on His Arm

Not much to elaborate here on Josh's black widow spider tattoo. His girlfriend was nicknamed Spider, so it seemed appropriate to have one tattooed om his left forearm.

This was inked by Pat at Pat's Tattooing Studio in Farmingville, New York.

Thanks to Josh for sharing his Black Widow tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Flare Rib

Marilyn sent in this excellent submission, a Gil Elvgren piece by Jose Lopez at Lowrider Tattoo in Fountain Valley.

Wonderous!

You can't beat a bit of Lynda Carter! Done by the brilliant Nikko Hurtado.

Tracy's Indian God

I approached Tracy in Penn Station to ask her about the large Shiva tattoo on her right arm.

However, the piece wasn't finished, so she rolled up her left pant leg to display this intricate tattoo:


She couldn't remember which god this is, in the Hindu pantheon. I'm going to guess it is Brahma, the Creator, but I will entertain corrections, especially if I'm wrong.


Tracy loves Asian art and similarly loved this design.

It was inked in about four hours at Brooklyn Tattoo by Robert. Work from Brooklyn Tattoo has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

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

Miro-culous!

Bjorn sent in this great recreation of a Loish (Lois van Baarle) pinup, done by Miro at Skinlab Tattoo, Prague.

Thigh, Robots

Awesome reader submission here from Gareth, whose sci-fi themed sleeves were done by Mo Coppoletta of the Family Business in Laaaaaaahdan.

Erika Sports Some Amazing Art and Design

Erika is the first person, in over two years of inkspotting, who asked, jokingly, "Were you stalking me?"

News to my readers: I don't stalk people. I may have followed someone a block or two until I've caught up with them, but following someone longer just seems creepy, and I will bail out on a tattoo if I can't catch up to someone.

But what I told Erika in Penn Station made her laugh.

"I was about to approach someone else about their tattoo," I confessed, "but you walked by and yours was much better."

She appreciated my honesty and showed me the tattoo that had so intrigued me:




















She found this artwork online from an artist named Tim Biedron. She was drawn to this piece because it "looked different and deranged". The detail is phenomenal as well. It reminds me a bit of Picasso's iconic mural Guernica. I believe it is based on his 2003 piece "Catch and the Click Beetle":


This tattoo is on her right shoulder and on her left bicep she has this amazing tattoo:


It's based on a work by Shepard Fairey, an artist and graphic designer who is most famous for designing the Obama "HOPE" campaign poster. I believe this is the original source material, part of Fairey's retired "Stencil Collage" collection:


Both tattoos were inked by John Torres in Yonkers.

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

Johnny's Crows Are His Spiritual Guides

Back in May, I got off the subway in Bay Ridge and was walking behind a guy with ink I couldn't quite make out.

I thought I saw birds on his right arm, but wasn't sure. He was talking to someone so I didn't bother him. I figure, in my neighborhood, I'll run into him again.

About a week later, my wife Melanie is telling me about someone with amazing tattoos with crows on it. She was so impressed, she struck up a conversation with him and passed him my card. I tell her I'm certain I know who she's talking about.

Johnny e-mailed me a day or two later. After some back and forth, we agreed to meet the first Sunday in June. I told him when I would be at the laundromat that morning and we met up and I took pictures.

The problem is, the pictures didn't come out great. It was a bright sunny day and the shots are very light. I e-mailed him back and explained what happened. He said he could send me some better photos. And so it goes.

That was the last time we communicated and I've decided to run the pictures anyway. The sleeve, for that's what it is, isn't complete anyway, so I figure we can get some better shots when the piece is complete.





Johnny has had about four sessions on this piece, and expects about four more.


The birds depicted are crows, which represent his "animal spiritual guide". In his words, "I am not only paying respect to spirit my guide, but also my ancestors, family and friends."


Represented in the various sections of the piece are Mother Earth, Father Sky, and The Great Being.



This work has been done by Half-Stack at Addiction Ink Tattoo & Piercings in Manhattan..

Thanks to Johnny for sharing his amazing ink with us here on Tattoosday! Sorry it took so lone to see the light of the blogosphere!

Wilson's Heart Reminds Him of a Painful Loss

Today I'm posting two hearts, spotted on the same day, from two different people in two different places.

First up is Wilson, who has a lot of ink, most of which is tribal-style.

He decided to share, however, this deeply personal piece on his left bicep:


Wilson had this inked after his wife left him and took his kids. It was immensely painful and he found that this tattoo, a heart with a knife through it, helped him heal a lot.

In fact, he said, that six months after she left him, Wilson's wife called him back and made overtures toward reconciliation. He says he looked at his tattoo, a symbol of the pain he had endured, and told her no.

He is hazy about the place where he had this done, but believes it was at a shop in Atlantic City.

Thanks to Wilson for sharing his tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Jessica's Heart Flutters With Birds

Above, I mentioned a man with a heart on his outer left bicep.

Later that same day, I met Jessica on the R train.

A California transplant now living in Brooklyn, she had this beautiful heart done at the Philadelphia Tattoo Arts Convention:


It's your standard heart on the sleeve motif, but this piece is a little more biologically correct and features two small birds holding a ribbon up around it.

Jessica wasn't sure of the name of the artist on whom this work was based, but the end result was a tattoo that recalled the original piece, although not copying it.

This tattoo was inked in a little over an hour at the convention by Rick Lohm at Scarab Body Art Studio in Syracuse, New York.

Work from Scarab has appeared previously here on Tattoosday.

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

Skeleton Emerging

I met Javier outside of Madison Square Garden back in July and he shared this incredible tattoo on the back of his right calf:


He had the idea in mind and took it to Uccio, a tattoo artist in a shop in Salamanca, located in western Spain.

This amazing piece has an incredible three-dimensional feel, with a skeleton emerging through the torn flesh of Javier's leg.

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

UPDATE:

Javier was kind enough to clarify for us that the shop where this was done is called Stres Tattoo in Salamanca.

He also sent me images of the sketches upon which this amazing tattoo was based:




Thanks to Javier for the update!

Chris' Koi on His Inner Arm

I ran into Chris in Penn Station and spotted this colorful tattoo:


He had this tattooed on the inside of his upper arm because it seemed like a more original place to have it done, as opposed to going straight for the outer bicep. Here's a different perspective with the koi angled down:


He originally just wanted the flower, but everything else was added for the purpose of flow and artistic continuity. The detail and color are remarkable:


The tattoo was created by Jack Kowalzyk at Primal Graphics Tattoo in Albany, New York.

Work from Primal Graphics has appeared previously on the site here.

Thanks to Chris for sharing this awesome tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!