Yuiko's Cherry Blossoms Ring in a New YearAs an old year ends, and a new year begins, let's celebrate with this photo of Yuiko's cherry blossoms:I met Yuiko at the Brooklyn Lyceum over the summer.She was sitting a couple rows ahead of me during a performance of Piper Theater's Fiddler on the Roof.After the show, we chatted about her work an…
Yukio's Cherry Blossoms Ring in a New YearAs an old year ends, and a new year begins, let's celebrate with this photo of Yukio's cherry blossoms:I met Yukio at the Brooklyn Lyceum over the summer.She was sitting a couple rows ahead of me during a performance of Piper Theater's Fiddler on the Roof.After the show, we chatted about her work an…
Matty's Christmas Eve OwlThis is an awesome owl that I spotted back in October.I met Matty outside of Penn Station and he explained that he was travelling through Flagstaff, Arizona a while back and stopped in on Christmas Eve at Burly Fish Tattoo and Body Piercing. He couldn't recall the name of the artist and never e-mail…
Repost: Richard's Mayan Calendar Honors His HeritageSeeing today was predicted to be the end of the world, it seemed appropriate to repost this entry from last February: Just two weeks ago, back in the first month of the current year, 2012, which as many may have heard, is the last year in the Mayan calendar, I met Richard in Penn Station. He has thi…
Moki's Pink ElephantYesterday we posted a tattoo belonging to my wife's cousin Erica, who had come over to our home last month for a family gathering. Accompanying her was her girlfriend Moki, who has a multitude of tattoos. Among her work is this whimsical elephant tattoo:Moki explains:"The elephant was drawn by a fri…
Ink on 45, Courtesy of Erica (Musician Monday!)It has been a while since we celebrated "Musician Mondays" here on Tattoosday so, it is with pleasure that we return with a musical tattoo.Last month I had the pleasure of meeting my wife's cousin Erica for the first time.She and her girlfriend Moki came over to visit for a small gathering at our ho…
A Moment to Pause and Appreciate Our ChildrenCamille Boivin, right, Philippe Aumond, left, show their tattoos with their son Jacob, in this undated photo. Click to enlarge. There's been a lot of negativity in the news, what with the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut dominating our collective consciousness.A good friend on Facebook posted Buzzfee…
Caitlin's Faulknerian Tattoo and LanguageThis past summer, while attending the 2nd Annual New York City Poetry Festival on Governor's Island, I saw a lot of great ink. I have a soft spot for word tattoos, and was drawn to this one, on the back of Caitlin:This reads, in Latin, "Et ego in Arcadia.""It's actually grammatically incorrect, but …
Donna's Hamsa at Max's Bar MitzvahYou'd think a bar mitzvah would be the last place I'd see interesting tattoos but, over the years, I've posted photos from work that I have encountered at such events. Today we have the third, from my friend Max's bar mitzvah, earlier this month in Brooklyn.I was at the reception in the evening when…
A Chance Encounter with an Amazing Artist (with Brando and Lady Day)I was getting off of the subway at Bryant Park last June when I spotted Marlon Brando:This amazing portrait graces the arm of Davinia Do Santo, a tattoo artist from Spain who was visiting New York City and doing a guest spot at White Rabbit Tattoo in the East Village.She credits this portrait of Mar…
Two Chickens for TattoosdayI met Amy back in June while walking in Penn Station. She has a lot of tattoos, and offered up these chickens:Amy told me that she got these from Joanne Martin at the Jade Mermaid Tattoo Parlor in Portland, Oregon. She and a friend were supposed to get the same tattoo. Amy elaborated:"She [Joanne Ma…
Max at the Mermaid Parade - Where the Wild Things AreIt may be December, but I've been spreading out all the tattoos I spotted at last June's Mermaid Parade in Coney Island, and I'm sharing the last in the 2012 series, which also happens to be the last piece I photographed on that wonderful day at the beginning of the summer.When I saw this guy's tatt…
Ryan and the AristocantsI met Ryan back in July outside of Penn Station. He had a bunch of tattoos. I interviewed him and took some pictures. He was with friends.I'd love to dub this an orphan post, but all the required elements are here. It just didn't sit right with me.After blogging about tattoos for more than five year…
Checking Out Patti's New SleeveLast year we got a pleasant surprise from a reader named Patti, who shared a stunning floral sleeve, which we posted in September.One of the problems with interviewing people with sleeves is that it is hard to document the great work, especially when I've met them on the street. Even a collage of sl…
Jon's Molten Flesh TearWell, we seem to be taking care of a lot of our orphan posts earlier in the month than later, as I expected. Our next piece is from Jon, who I met in Herald Square back in June. He was visiting New York from England, and his travelling companion, Marjo, shared her tattoo with us back in July here.Jo…
Jason's Chicago TattoosHere's another set of photos in our Orphans category.Back in August, as my company was closing down, our new parent company had a few guys from Chicago visit our digs, looking for assets to transfer to their office in the Chicago area.They spent several days in Manhattan and we interacted during the…
Michelle's Mermaid Under ManhattanHere's another orphan post from earlier this year. I snapped this mermaid tattoo on Michelle back in August:I spotted Michelle in the passageway under the south end of the 2/3 platform at 34th Street.It was rush hour and Michelle handed me her card so I could follow up and get more details on her ta…
Kate's Owl in Penn StationAs I indicated yesterday, we're showcasing some of our "orphans" - posts that were just not quite perfect. Today we have another one, this one having been separated from its original group.Back in October, we wrote about Kate's amazing portraits by Tommy Montoya here.When I spotted her in Penn Stati…
Shannon's GramophoneWell, it's December 1st and, at the end of every year, I have a handful of posts that do not live up to my normally rigorous standards of blogworthy quality. I call them "orphans". Whether it is due to missing information, or an unresponsive contributor, I have found that, rather than holding the po…
Rocco Shares Some Work by GrezOur previous post featured a tattoo I spotted on Cristine at the Mermaid Parade back in June. Cristine's brother Rocco was also in attendance, and he was kind enough to share this piece on his inner left arm:Rocco credited this to Grez at Kings Avenue Tattoo. He did this out on Long Island in the Ma…
Cristine's 311 TattooBack in June, I met Cristine out on Coney Island, during the Mermaid Parade.She shared this tattoo:Christine is a big fan of the band 311, so this was her tribute to the band she loves. Here's a closer look:This was done by Miss D'Jo at Lark Tattoo in Westbury, New York. We've been lucky enough to h…
Catching Up with Tattoo Age: Thom DeVita (and a Valerie Vargas/Lal Hardy Bonus)It has been a little while since we checked in with the good people at Vice and enjoyed one of their Tattoo Age documentaries. Earlier this week, they dropped the first part of their five(!)-part series on Thom DeVita.Check it out here: Before this segment was released, the good folks over at Vice g…
Shana's Orange Tattoo - More Than Meets the EyeI met Shana on the subway back in June. She shared this tattoo:Shana explained that this is a navel orange from a botanical etching dating back to the 1700's. He explained that he found the illustration in a botanical text book.Shana further elaborated by explaining that she associates oranges with …
Sarah's ThighmondBack in August, I met Sarah on the West 4th Street subway platform in Manhattan.Sarah had eight tattoos at the time of our encounter, and she was kind enough to share this one, on her right thigh:Sarah told me that she drew this up herself and that a freelance artist in Vermont named Jonas Fricke ta…
Sean's Rubber Ducky, Down to the BonesI met Sean back in June at the 5th Avenue Street Fair in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.My wife, Melanie, had been wanting me to meet him, as he is the husband of a co-worker. He has a dozen tattoos and shared this, which has extra special meaning:The tattoo on his ribs commemorates how Sean proposed to his wi…
Re-Post: Happy Birthday, Mr. Vonnegut!Happy Birthday, Mr. Vonnegut! Social media reminds me that today would be Kurt Vonnegut's 90th birthday. It's also Veteran's Day and, since Vonnegut wrote one of the great war novels of all time, Slaughterhouse Five, it seemed appropriate to re-post this classic Vonnegut tattoo. You can see all of t…
Preview: Thom DeVita on Vice's Tattoo Age Coming Soon!Vice has released a trailer for their third installment of this, their second season of Tattoo Age.Featured is tattoo legend Thom DeVita: This looks to be a different episode than those that have aired in the past.We are told this is a longer feature broken up into five parts (rather than the norm…
Tattoosday Celebrates Day of the Dead. Meow.Well, today is November 1, the Day of the Dead, so might as well celebrate with a non-traditional Day of the Dead skull tattoo:This tattoo belongs to Lisa, who I spotted last month during the Tour de Bronx. I passed her right before we reached the rest stop at Clason Point. The break in the ride all…
