Colleen Returns to Share Some Lovely Ink

I spotted a woman with some really great tattoos out on Penn Plaza and, after talking to her a brief moment, realized it was Colleen, who appeared on Tattoosday once before, back in 2009, as chronicled <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2009/07/behold-quadrapus.html">here</a>.<br /><br />Colleen shared two tattoos that grace her upper arms:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWNVEjP-6Nb6DW2sFbsIgXj6tYCdy2GVjFedAgDyoSamja4BXL5YreVSvoAcEFIvoY7-jVXl56zJ8CxoUZwJi6t7mKoBJTAMGH1PMcvjdrc9BE2wvMcr_VQmXPDsoYYY6ar9oZMvyb018/s1600/lotus+skull.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWNVEjP-6Nb6DW2sFbsIgXj6tYCdy2GVjFedAgDyoSamja4BXL5YreVSvoAcEFIvoY7-jVXl56zJ8CxoUZwJi6t7mKoBJTAMGH1PMcvjdrc9BE2wvMcr_VQmXPDsoYYY6ar9oZMvyb018/s640/lotus+skull.jpg" width="450" /></a></div><br />Colleen <b>loves</b> this tattoo and I can't say I blame her. As a Buddhist, she appreciates the symbolism of the lotus and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Om"><i>om</i></a> on the skull. She explained:<br /><blockquote>"the lotus comes out of the mud at the bottom of the water and blooms out of that and that's ... birth. And the skull [represents] death."</blockquote>The piece encompasses the cycle of life and death. She credits this wonderful work to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Conlon_%28artist%29">Patrick Conlon</a> at <a href="http://www.facebook.com/gracelandbrooklyn?sk=info">Graceland Brooklyn</a>.<br /><br />Colleen also has this work on her right arm:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBvgYLGhlbYRj1mm3SZUvDtucd3qZq8guNSYOmZM1zYNoALptnbahCkP-DJ98zfR4CWU6v7oCda2mac09jJNIB1Rl81O56XhWrqv9bqAJj-JlffEhJ1ci18qLA_oAj8lsddNhhYJSO3-Q/s1600/dragon+colleen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBvgYLGhlbYRj1mm3SZUvDtucd3qZq8guNSYOmZM1zYNoALptnbahCkP-DJ98zfR4CWU6v7oCda2mac09jJNIB1Rl81O56XhWrqv9bqAJj-JlffEhJ1ci18qLA_oAj8lsddNhhYJSO3-Q/s640/dragon+colleen.jpg" width="290" /></a></div><br />Colleen explained that the dragon was there first, and then Patrick added the fire and pansies, to make it a much more beautiful tattoo.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeB8blhIXbu1aaTlQnkg2-9KaFZf13Lf6ZdJ9UvmYV_wbNBJ_XWECfqC9UiY9oqt0skEkPn384bAudk2kf9op_krsbnKusAjAYIr5Y8OVE9LewfQGk7mEDnFCYtvnxiuKUbNvz-FYX30E/s1600/colleen+detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeB8blhIXbu1aaTlQnkg2-9KaFZf13Lf6ZdJ9UvmYV_wbNBJ_XWECfqC9UiY9oqt0skEkPn384bAudk2kf9op_krsbnKusAjAYIr5Y8OVE9LewfQGk7mEDnFCYtvnxiuKUbNvz-FYX30E/s640/colleen+detail.jpg" width="342" /></a></div><br />Thanks to Colleen for sharing her tattoos with us (again) on Tattoosday!<br /><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--> <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday. </span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;">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 <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</a> 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.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>

Colleen Returns to Share Some Lovely Ink

I spotted a woman with some really great tattoos out on Penn Plaza and, after talking to her a brief moment, realized it was Colleen, who ap...

Read more »

Four from Christine

I met Christine at the <a href="http://www.yelp.com/topic/new-york-trader-joes-uws">Trader Joe's</a> on the Upper West Side yesterday evening and she shared these four tattoos:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFM9ftABB89LW6ETmesZ4eOqFTwx_pbl1B6QsExftwJN_zClgwgxqHapK3W0GW4V_02Dy6T74W26w1t7CKnk3AO6RLL23blNn64-mA2FyA-AXt_Vk_fbtUFSoO7rkm-b8_h8322mZlJFg/s1600/Christine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFM9ftABB89LW6ETmesZ4eOqFTwx_pbl1B6QsExftwJN_zClgwgxqHapK3W0GW4V_02Dy6T74W26w1t7CKnk3AO6RLL23blNn64-mA2FyA-AXt_Vk_fbtUFSoO7rkm-b8_h8322mZlJFg/s400/Christine.jpg" width="335" /></a></div><br />Moving clockwise from the upper left in the photo above, we start with an outline of <a href="http://brooklyn.com/">Brooklyn</a>, in honor of the borough in which Christine was born and raised.<br /><br />At the top of the other forearm is an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Om">om</a> symbol, which captures her focus and has occasionally "helped with panic attacks."<br /><br />The two butterflies on opposite arms were inked in honor of her nieces, who both love these colorful insects. The shade of each represents their favorite colors.<br /><br />The Brooklyn piece was inked at <a href="http://asylumtattoostudios.com/">Asylum Studios</a> in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. The om and the butterflies were done by artists at <a href="http://www.threekingstattoo.com/site/">Three Kings Tattoo</a>. Both shops are in Brooklyn and have had work appear on Tattoosday previously <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/search/label/Asylum%20Studios">here</a> (Asylum) and <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/search/label/Three%20Kings%20Tattoo">here</a> (Three Kings).<br /><br />Thanks to Christine for sharing these four of her eleven (!) tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!<br /><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--> <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday.<br /><br />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 </span> <span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</a> 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.</span></div>

Four from Christine

I met Christine at the Trader Joe's on the Upper West Side yesterday evening and she shared these four tattoos: Moving clockwise from t...

Read more »

Erika's Ink: Something Old and Something New

On Sunday, spring-like temperatures made being outside enticing. I was heading home when I spotted, from a good fifty yards away, a young lady approaching. Even from that distance, I noticed her bare calves and the discernable mark of a tattoo above her left ankle.<br /><br />So, as she approached, I slowed down to talk to her. When I asked her about the tattoo, she indicated that I had stopped her before, which puzzled me, as I didn't recognize the ink. She then clarified that her right arm hosted a honeycomb sleeve, with bees. Since it was covered, I didn't recognize her.<br /><br />I first met Erika in July 2009 and stopped her after she walked by me on the street. At the time, she said that the sleeve was a work in progress, and she'd rather not have it posted. I asked if I could take a picture anyway, and promised it wouldn't go live until she was done with the art.<br /><br />I believe I ran into her (or maybe just saw her on the subway) last summer, and the sleeve still amazed me.<br /><br />So here, on the last Sunday in February, she was again. Since her arm was covered, I asked if I could take a picture of the tattoo I had spotted on her ankle. She agreed, although she qualified it as one of her oldest tattoos:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqHyoOX2PMNAWWLeGQQXMoLhf2pvXDKTiwhqzFa6QTbGYIH_wPh7DLEb2NH7iHfZqnw8kRktyGJE7NaZqn4LN9SpalAmIzfbXR8yrw6UXnJtHG_nA3VV0mfkMwIAas6TCsQyIgn5GDuPc/s1600/om.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqHyoOX2PMNAWWLeGQQXMoLhf2pvXDKTiwhqzFa6QTbGYIH_wPh7DLEb2NH7iHfZqnw8kRktyGJE7NaZqn4LN9SpalAmIzfbXR8yrw6UXnJtHG_nA3VV0mfkMwIAas6TCsQyIgn5GDuPc/s320/om.jpg" width="278" /></a></div><br />Erika said this piece is about 15 years old and called it an omkara or aumkara. That would be an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Om">om</a> symbol floating above a lotus flower.<br /><br />She also said that she had not had any more work done on the sleeve and she didn't mind sharing it at this stage of the game. The artist is in Portland, Maine, so it's not easy to just go and get it periodically updated.<br /><br />Here's the sleeve covering the upper two thirds of Erika's arm:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjre3GN5ro8QNv7FHZWevHy1BqL6RfWOL1FU1jQ2ybGdaIultSgnZMxIKE9NsxiXxUG0FZn3uGBsQLhRO4leobY0ov9EM0U7C425M07kHW4bJrg_9w_SfhnmnamREaXQhyg40bc_E8gbII/s1600/Killer+Bees_picnik.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjre3GN5ro8QNv7FHZWevHy1BqL6RfWOL1FU1jQ2ybGdaIultSgnZMxIKE9NsxiXxUG0FZn3uGBsQLhRO4leobY0ov9EM0U7C425M07kHW4bJrg_9w_SfhnmnamREaXQhyg40bc_E8gbII/s640/Killer+Bees_picnik.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br />Definitely worth taking a closer look at the details:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmA96-9Hut6RCnaxBgmBPvHN6tpQG8HE9yCUgbZzbQaaJb5iRMIfKKfF-SZPoxGDlsqq_4g1fmzzbD8QTFjajWAhReIdgFaylu_kqe_QLaLOH-7BVXb-IdIdypxcRgS-JkjyiqQSbNQgQ/s1600/Killer+Bees+detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmA96-9Hut6RCnaxBgmBPvHN6tpQG8HE9yCUgbZzbQaaJb5iRMIfKKfF-SZPoxGDlsqq_4g1fmzzbD8QTFjajWAhReIdgFaylu_kqe_QLaLOH-7BVXb-IdIdypxcRgS-JkjyiqQSbNQgQ/s400/Killer+Bees+detail.jpg" width="258" /></a></div><br />The artist of this honeycomb and her "killer bees" is <a href="http://www.chrisdingwell.com/">Chris Dingwell</a> of <a href="http://www.sanctuarytattoo.com/">Sanctuary Tattoo</a>.<br /><br />Thanks to Erika for sharing one of her older tattoos, as well as this phenomenal sleeve-in-progress!<span id="goog_1341213351"></span><span id="goog_1341213352"></span>

Erika's Ink: Something Old and Something New

On Sunday, spring-like temperatures made being outside enticing. I was heading home when I spotted, from a good fifty yards away, a young l...

Read more »

Jackie's Transcendent Tattoo

I met Jackie briefly on the 34th Street subway platform earlier this month, waiting for an <a href="http://www.mta.info/nyct/service/aline.htm">A train</a>.<br /><br />She was sporting this rather nifty tattoo on her left foot:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-HgeBfl9BvT0GJtFsGvvAa4xSUdr-PmnMRkUrwCR7IT9YW9P5h2ewIjac-xYFNifNEWmmirLrNpmLUIXdeXC1zaVwMly1vYhVKtELJSGTuqM68xfT3qB0DNk4cDyNcwLxVK2ndYLC/s1600/Jackies+om.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459793404534672418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-HgeBfl9BvT0GJtFsGvvAa4xSUdr-PmnMRkUrwCR7IT9YW9P5h2ewIjac-xYFNifNEWmmirLrNpmLUIXdeXC1zaVwMly1vYhVKtELJSGTuqM68xfT3qB0DNk4cDyNcwLxVK2ndYLC/s400/Jackies+om.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 321px; height: 400px;" /></a><br />That is, of course, the symbol for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aum">Om</a>, which carries significant meaning.<br /><br />Jackie does a lot of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga">yoga</a> and said that, to her, the symbol "represents transcendence".<br /><br />It was inked by <a href="http://timelesstat2.com/artists.php">Matt Kimball</a> at <a href="http://www.timelesstat2.com/">Timeless Tat2</a> in Bordentown, New Jersey.<br /><br />Thanks to Jackie for sharing her tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Jackie's Transcendent Tattoo

I met Jackie briefly on the 34th Street subway platform earlier this month, waiting for an A train . She was sporting this rather nifty tatt...

Read more »