Sean Shares Two Circular Tattoos

As we patiently wait for this forsaken winter to end and for the city's tattoos to come out of hiding, my new friend Sean and I were talking about the site recently and he offered up his two tattoos for us here on the site.

First up is this piece on his upper left arm:

The tattoo reads "Blackbird singing in the dead of night...take these sunken eyes and learn to see... all your life, you were only waiting for this moment to be free ...". This is, for those who don't know, a fragment of lyrics from The Beatles classic "Blackbird."

Sean explains how he came by this, his first tattoo:

"I had my Blackbird tattoo done in honor of my dad whom like myself, loved The Beatles. At the risk of sounding like a weirdo, it started from a dream I had that included the lyrics, 'All you need is love' in the shape of a peace sign. When I woke up, I tried sketching what I dreamt about (I still have the sketch that I drew with my finger on my phone), but it came out looking like shit. However, I was inspired to get a tattoo if I could perfect the design. After playing around with some of the lyrics to Instant Karma! (not the Beatles, but still Lennon!), Blackbird and All You Need Is Love, I settled on Blackbird, since that was supposedly one of my dad's favorites. Anyway, I literally spent months working on the design with my best friend, Darryll Brandwine who is great with graphic art, as he owns his own architecture firm in Las Vegas (D3 Design Studios). During this time, I stumbled upon a 'John Lennon' font which we were able to use in Photoshop. I liked this touch a lot because I felt it gave the tattoo a more 'authentic' feel. After a few different revisions, I brought it into Will [Sheldon at Saved Tattoo in Williamsburg]. Soon after he applied the template to my shoulder, I went out to my wife, Madeline to see how she liked it. Her eyes said it all, which meant a lot since while she was supportive of my decision, she was not really a big tattoo fan. I went back in, Will finished it up and I was very happy with my decision to get my first tattoo." 

Sean also has this piece, which I think is really cool, on his inner right wrist:

 I'll let Sean describe this Ensō, or  Zen circle, tattoo, as well:

"Religion was never something that I felt very comfortable with. However, as I got older, I began to see the value of having one. Coincidentally, over the past few years, a friend of mine has been urging me to try meditation as well as learn about some of the Buddhist teachings. I took to it almost immediately, as it didn't seem as 'restrictive' and 'invasive' as the religions I had come to know. I still joke around with people and tell them that you're not going to see me walking around in a red robe and a shaved head, but Buddhism has taught me a lot and I continue to read books and watch videos on it. Somewhere along the way, I came across the 'Zen Circle' and it seemed like it would make for a simple, nice-looking tattoo. Naturally, people always ask what does it mean and why did I get it. They have no idea what it is or even if it's complete. Like most people who have tattoos, I got it because I like what it represents (strength and enlightenment, for starters) and it IS done...haha. Anyway, Bella [Kozyreva] from Brooklyn Made [in Bay Ridge] did this one and while I envisioned it being smaller on my wrist, I really like how it came out."

Thanks to Sean for sharing his circular tattoos with us here on Tattoosday! Will we see more from him? Sean's final words on the subject were, "I'd say I am done with tattoos, but I said that after my first one too."

I'd add, every tattoo is your last tattoo, until you get the next one!

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