Emma's Monarchs, and a Spalsh of VerlaineAt the end of July, a young woman named Emma missed her train in Penn Station and had some time to kill. Her wait was shortened when I chanced upon her and asked about this lovely tattoo she had going on her left arm:She explained the origins of this wonderful body art:"I knew that I wanted a monarc…
Gowrish Shares His Blessing, Amma in InkThere are times when I feel lucky to find a tattoo by an amazing artist and then there are times I find something that is so breathtaking, I feel honored to be able to share work by a true master of the craft.Last week, I was walking down Crosby Street in SoHo when I met Gowrish after spotting a fla…
Kareem's Tattoo is So Brooklyn....Earlier this year, I met Kareem, one of the many inked employees at the Upper West Side Trader Joe's. I gave him my card when I spotted him in the aisles, and saw him on subsequent visits, but I generally won't trouble people while they're working.Earlier this month, I spotted him on a break in near…
Three Tattoos from SabrinaI met Sabrina on Penn Plaza back in June after stopping to admire her tattoos. She has three and talked me through them chronologically.She explained , "I like to get [a tattoo] for every place I lived," and her first one was this butterfly armband:Sabrina is from upstate New York. She went to one o…
Emily Picks Her PoisonIt's always interesting when I meet someone with a lot of tattoos, trying to guess, when you ask them to pick just one, which piece they will choose to share. A couple weeks ago, I met Emily, who has two full sleeves, along with her chest and back tattooed. She selected this tattoo on her right fore…
Ryan's Tattoo Commemorates the Life of DollyEarlier 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, bu…
Daniel Gives Us a Lady Liberty UpdateLast May, we featured this great tattoo, courtesy of Daniel:Read the original post here.Daniel recently sent me updated photos of his sleeve, which I thought we'd share here. This work is all by the amazing Guido Baldini. He tattooed Daniel during a recent stint at Brooklyn Tattoo here in New York. …
Sean's Garnish, Inspired by a FriendWhen I met Sean last month, he had several tattoos to choose from. We ended up selecting this piece, on his left wrist:Granted, there's two tattoos in this photo, but I was fascinated by the pineapple and cherry tattoo. That's not something you see every day. Sean, who is a hairdresser from the Bost…
Alison's Violet LotusI spotted Alison's tattoo as in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, back at the beginning of July. She was kind enough to share this lovely lotus tattoo:This lotus has a spiritual meaning for Alison, and she pointed out the third eye at the center of the flower. This was also a cover-up of an older tattoo.Craig Me…
Anthony and Evolver, Interpreting the Anatomy of TimeI spotted this unusual tattoo on the back of Anthony's arm in a Borders and just had to ask about it:He explained that this image, called "Evolver," is his interpretation of the "anatomy of time". The design is from an album that Anthony's band, Dsciphire, recently released. Dsciphire is hard rock, …
A Panel's Worth a Thousand WordsA few weeks ago, I ran into Steve in the Trader Joe's on the Upper West Side. He has this striking tattoo on his upper right arm, and he kindly agreed to share it with us:Steve explained that this tattoo is based on a panel from Love and Rockets, a comic by the Hernandez Brothers. "I just love the a…
Mike Illustrates His Passion for DC ComicsLast month, I had it all laid out, and was doing a weekend of comic-themed posts coinciding with the opening of Comic-Con 2011 in San Diego.Alas, one such post went awry when the pictures I took of Mike's tattoos went AWOL on my computer, leaving me with a photo-less entry.Mike has since sent me pic…
Ariel's Elm: Rising Upward, but SteadfastI met Ariel last month in the soon-to-be-shuttered Borders bookstore on Penn Plaza and of her three tattoos, she shared this tree on her upper right biceps:Ariel explained that this tattoo "was originally an actual photograph of a maple tree, but it was too difficult - you can see the shading is rel…
Christina's Frankenstein GirlI met Christina at the end of June, unable to help noticing this colorful neck tattoo:Christina, who is a prep chef at a catering hall, as well as a club promoter, explained that this tattoo is based on the album art from a group called Mindless Self-Indulgence. I believe she was referring to the ba…
Adrian's Ink Celebrates His HeritageI met Adrian last month on a fluke - I was on the D train headed to Brooklyn going to a dentist's appointment, having left work early.I approached him about his ink and we had a really great discussion about tattoos and art.Adrian is a wonderful artist and his work can be seen here at Viajero Art (d…
Kate Reminds Us: Two Calves Are Better than OneI met Kate last month and she shared these two, of her eleven tattoos:Kate says these don't have specific meanings behind them, she "just liked the art". Nothing wrong with that at all.On the left calf, Kate has an exquisite black and grey piece by Benjamin Moss at Apocalypse Tattoo in Seattle.The r…
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Juliana's HibiscusI met Juliana last month and, although there's a section of her tattoo that is "in progress," she agreed to share it here: Juliana explained:"I took the picture of the flower myself. The hibiscus means eternal beauty, which I though was really cool. And the symbols [kanji] are respect, love, strengt…
Two Peacocks for a TuesdayBack 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 Ad…
Sammy's Substitute for High FashionWhen I spotted Sammy outside of Macy*s, Herald Square, I noticed a single line of numbers just below her neck.Intrigued, I stopped her and asked about it. It was then that she revealed that the one line of digits, from 0 to 9, was only the top of the tattoo. Here's the whole thing:Sammy explained th…
