Bear in Mind (Tattoosday Goes to Philly)

Philadelphia may be the home of the Eagles, but this Bear caught my eye last weekend at the 20th Annual Philadelphia Tattoo Arts Convention (@villainarts):

That's on the back of the head of Brian Vaillancourt (@brianvaillancourt) from Inkslingers Studio (@inkslingers_studio) in Alhambra, California. Brian credited Frank Sanchez (@frank310) with creating this piece.

Thanks to Brian for sharing this bad ass tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2018 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website 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 http://tattoosday.blogspot.com 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.

Jeremy's Bear Roars

My friend Jeremy works at our local beer garden and has quite a collection of amazing tattoos, among them an eagle on his throat and a warthog on his right knee. This past fall, Jeremy shared the newest addition to his canvas, this fierce bear on his other knee:

"Why a bear?" you may be wondering. Well, originally he wanted something else. He was hoping for a rhinoceros but, Jeremy explained,  "rhinos look really fucking weird from the front." Can't argue with that logic, and his bear looks pretty damn awesome.

The artist responsible for this cool knee tattoo is Carly "Weez" Weasill (@carlyweasill) at The Inkquisition Tattoo Studio (@the_inkquisition) in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey.

Thanks to Jeremy for once again sharing his cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2018 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website 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 http://tattoosday.blogspot.com 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.

Three for Thursday - Kirsten Shares Her Tattoos

I spotted Kirsten last month in lower Manhattan after I saw the tattoo on the back of her calf. I had to ask about it but, it turns out, she had other tattoos, as well. Fortunately for me, she was in a generous sharing mood, and took the time to tell me about all of them.

First up, her feet:

Kirsten, who hails from Australia, explained the origins of these tattoos

"I grew up in Canada, so I kind of just wanted to start getting some mystic animals going on ... it's just like nicknames for my parents; I always called my dad Papa Bear and my mom Momma Wolf, so I got them for my parents.

She credited the work to a Sydney-based artist who works under the moniker Sprinkles (@Sprinkles_).

Sprinkles took her to his friend Scott M. Harrison to get this tattoo, on her thigh:

Here's a clearer shot from right after the tattoo was completed, liberally taken, with attribution from Harrison's Instagram (follow him @scott_m_harrison).

Photo via Instagram - @scott_m_harrison

Harrison noted " Really enjoyed doing the background pattern, would love to incorporate them into more pieces."

Kirsten explained:

"I've got like a theme of threes going on with all my other tattoos, so a three-eyed cat, it's kind of sll-seeing eye ... I got it kind of in honor of my friend that I'm visiting [in New York], she was always a crazy cat lady ... so one eye's for her, one eye's for the cat I grew up with [Betty Lou], and [one for] the cat I have now [Runty]."

And, finally, we have the tattoo I spotted in the first place:

She credited this to an artist named Louise that she met at the Australian Tattoo Expo in Sydney. This was one of the designs she had on display and Kirsten liked it.

Thanks to Kirsten for taking the time to share all of these tattoos with me. We here at Tattoosday our very grateful!

This entry is ©2016 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website 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 http://tattoosday.blogspot.com 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.

The Tattooed Poets Project: Ruth Awad

In 2012, the poet Traci Brimhall said I had to talk to Ruth Awad. Ruth has a lot of tattoos and she is a damn fine poet. Ruth and I have emailed back and forth for four years (and in the mean time, at least a dozen other poets said, "Ruth is tattooed!"). Well, the planets finally aligned in 2016 and I am happy to have Ruth and her work appearing on The Tattooed Poets Project.

We don't get a lot of fully-sleeved poets, so let's just take a moment and look at all of the details in this work:

Ruth calls this her "poppy fox bunny sleeve" and credits Roger Ziegler, owner of  Bomber Crew Tattoo in Carbondale, Illinois. She adds that Roger "has a real talent for creating depth and detail with color, and he's one of the few artists who isn't my mother who has tattooed me."

Now, check out this lovely tattoo:

This is Ruth's "disco watercolor bear." She elaborates:

"Like nearly all of my tattoos, this one was done by my mother Deborah Stevenson. She used to run her own tattoo shop and art gallery in East Nashville, Tennessee, and I hope she opens another shop one day. She's incredible, and I'm not just saying that because I'm her daughter."

I'd have to agree her work is remarkable.

Next up are these swallows:

Ruth tell us:

"These are about a decade old now and could use a touch up. Anyway, Marty, the tattoo artist who trained my mom, did the swallow under my right collarbone as a kind of test for her when she was an apprentice – she had to make the left one match his (she did a fine job, too). Marty died a few years ago – it's interesting to think about a tattoo artist's work outliving them in this very literal way in someone's skin."

Readers following the site this month may recall that Katie Riegel's tattoo (here) was done by Ruth. A poet and a tattooist! Well check these cardinals out:

Ruth tells us:

"I tattooed these birds on my own ankle a few years ago. I was probably bored, and I immediately regretted the decision after I tattooed the first line – it was a hard pose to maintain! Wouldn't do that again, but I'm pretty happy with the result." 

Not bad for tattooing oneself, I must admit.

Ruth also chose to share the following poem, which isn't tattoo-related, but she's "still particularly fond of" it. It previously appeared in Diode:

Shame, Abridged 

Walk a circle of salt
around the bed. A handful 
of leaves or feathers.
This is how we hide 
every moment we lived in the ground.

~

When shame becomes your phantom hand that digs its nails into its fist.
When you move it like a muscle just to feel your skin tighten.
I was thirteen. I stood calf-high in meadow grass. Two high school boys,
counting each pixel of flesh as I peeled the fabric from my body.
Become a worse animal. Let your quills pin their eager hands to the dirt.

~

Here, my armor: a plate of bone beneath my breasts
and your weight on top of it. Your wife and kid waited at home.
But I could feel them, too.
The ceiling fan, turning and turning over,
always above you.

~

I am the yarrow at your heel, leave your starved with me.

~

Your chest rising the way a bow draws an arrow.
I want to teach this song
to the children we won’t make.

~

A lover said, You can’t make me fall in love with you
and just leave. It was like in the movies. What power
tastes like: knowing I could have him, even then.
How that one-room apartment with no AC
in the dead of summer made his skin wet,
made me want to see just how cold I could be.

~

I’m trying out what it means to be a woman
and take out the world with one bite.
Out of the garden and into the bog.

~

I am awake as any animal
under the star-wheeled night.

My skin a red slip
I could slick from my back
and start over

if I don’t get in my own way.

~

Behind the screen, vines cursive the names of ghosts,
the faucet beads into the basin.
Be the space between each drip.  

In the kitchen his calloused hand pins my thigh.  

I don’t want to be held that way,
but the body is already bones and dirt.
You can bury it anywhere.

~ ~ ~

Ruth Awad has an MFA in poetry from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The NewRepublic, The Missouri Review Poem of the Week, Atticus Review, Crab Orchard Review, CALYX, Diode, Southern Indiana Review, Rattle, The Adroit Journal, Vinyl Poetry, Epiphany, The Drunken Boat, and in the anthologies The Hundred Years' War: Modern War Poems (Bloodaxe Books, 2014), New Poetry from the Midwest 2014 (New American Press, 2015), and Poets on Growth (Math Paper Press, 2015). She won the 2013 and 2012 Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Prize and the 2011 Copper Nickel Poetry Contest, and she was a finalist for the 2013 Ruth Lily Fellowship. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband and two Pomeranians.

Thanks to Ruth for sharing her poem and her amazing tattoos with us here on Tattoosday's Tattooed Poets Project!

This entry is ©2016 Tattoosday. The poem and tattoos are reprinted with the poet's permission.

If you are reading this on another website 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 http://tattoosday.blogspot.com 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.

Scott and His Friends with Their Spirit Animals

I met Scott while he was having a sandwich in Bowling Green Park last week in lower Manhattan. He had this cool tattoo on his forearm:

Scott explained that the three heads on his forearm represent him and two of his friends. They each got the same tattoo, but with their animal totem in the middle, with the other friends above and below them. He was kind enough to send me a shot of all three together:

Scott elaborated for me:

"This tattoo represents the bond that myself and 2 others share. The three of us actually met online playing video games like Counter-Strike about 12 years ago. It was complete luck that we even met. We spent those 12 years just talking and playing games over the internet from miles away.

Dima (on the left) and Ethan (right) live in NY. I have been in Wisconsin for my whole life up until 2 months ago when I moved here for a job upon Dima's referral.

We spent a good few months discussing how we could signify this bond..and we ended up on spirit animals essentially. I chose the lion because it represents pride and I, too a fault at times, have a great sense of pride. Dima has the bear because his last name is Medved which is Russian for bear. Ethan has the wolf because of how strong they can be individually.

So I took a plane to Albany and Dima came up from Brooklyn and we met Ethan and we all got our tattoos together. It was mine and Dima's first (of many) tattoos."

Scott credited the work to Dan Belcher at the Dead President's Lounge in Albany, New York.

On the other side of his forearm, Dan also had this pretty incredible tattoo:

Or, for a different view:

"This one," Scott told me, "is an interpretation of an album cover." It's based on the work of a band called Protest the Hero. He credited the tattoo to Mark Mansavage at Old Salt Tattooers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. "I gave him the album cover," Scott said, "and he did a loose interpretation of it." Here's the original artwork:

Thanks to Scott for sharing his cool tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2015 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website 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 http://tattoosday.blogspot.com 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.

The Tattooed Poets Project: Michael Mlekoday

Our first Monday poet in this year's Tattooed Poets Project is Michael Mlekoday, who shared a few pretty cool pieces.

Before sharing them, I want to thank Tara Betts (appearing later this month), who referred me to Michael last year, after spotting his ink at the 2014 Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference in Seattle:

Photo by Tara Betts

I reached out to Michael to get some clearer shots and some background about his work. He credited his work to one shop:

"All of my tattoos are designed and inked by my fam Ryan & Naama at Lucky Bear Tattoo. They used to run their queer, family-operated business in Brooklyn, but recently moved to Northern California and will start tattooing in San Francisco soon. They’ve got an Instagram @luckybeartattoo."

Let's take a closer look:

Photo by Doug Paul Case

Michael explains:

"The fish/skyline tattoo is a drawing Ryan made called 'Big Fish / Big Pond.' I had him change it to my home skyline, Minneapolis. I grew up fishing, and even living in the city proper there were plenty of lakes and water (Minnesota has more shoreline than California, Florida, and Hawaii combined! sort of…), so it seemed fitting. The fish & skyline is a way of marking where my body comes from—August Wilson, after all, says that 'art is beholden to the kiln in which the artist was fired.' "

On his other arm:

Photo by Doug Paul Case

Photo by Doug Paul Case

Michael tells us:

"The other arm has a Mason jar with fireflies inside it, another homage to the Midwest, and a bear skull, which is an image from my first book of poems—The Dead Eat Everything. Though I’m a Midwest kid, born and raised, I’ve felt pulled towards the coasts for the past few years, which is the subject of my second poetry manuscript, currently titled Junk Turquoise, hence the oceanic background on my left arm."

Here's a poem Michael sent us:

HOME REMEDIES

Baba once cast a demon out of my brother.
She slapped him hard across the face
and left a glass of vodka
on the kitchen table overnight.
By morning, the glass was empty
and the rainclouds hung fat and fanged
over our block. Whenever it stormed,
she tongued her dentures out of her mouth
and sucked them back in, staring
out the window, and crossed herself,
cursing under her breath in Polish.

She taught us the old curses and the blessings,
brought us to the cemetery to practice both.
I was always better with the curses.
The way they had to be dragged
from the body, the odor
of sea salt stuck to the breath,
how they kicked the heart
like the pop of a burnt out bulb.

~ ~ ~

Michael Mlekoday is the author of The Dead Eat Everything (Kent State University Press, 2014). Mlekoday is a National Poetry Slam Champion, serves as Editor & Publisher of Button Poetry / Exploding Pinecone Press, and has poems in Verse Daily, Ploughshares, Ninth Letter, The BreakBeat Poets, and other venues. More poems and stuff at michaelmlekoday.com.

Thanks to Michael Mlekoday for sharing his work with us here on Tattoosday's Tattooed Poets Project!

This entry is ©2015 Tattoosday. The poem and tattoo are reprinted with the poet's permission.

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 http://tattoosday.blogspot.com 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.

Margot's Leg o' Liberty (at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade)

The best way to celebrate the 4th of July is some traditional American tattoos, no? How about an explosion of great ink on Margot's leg:

I love the bear trying to catch the red white and blue salmon. The roses add nice pops of color to the leg and the skulls are fun. The Go Vegan/Stay Vegan badge is cool and here's a better angle of Lady Justice:

Her sword rears Liberty and she's standing above a banner that warns "Snitches Get Stitches."

I met Margot at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade last month and she credited Dave at Oddball Studios in Portland, Oregon. Dave has done every one of Margo's tattoos.

Thanks to Margot for sharing her leg o' tattoos with us here on Tattoosday! Have a safe and happy 4th of July everyone!

This entry is ©2014 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website 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 http://tattoosday.blogspot.com 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.

The Story Behind Teddy Roosevelt and the Bear in a Wheelchair

Well, America is another year older, so it seems appropriate to honor our post-birthday euphoria with this unique presidential tattoo:

I spotted this piece back in May in Penn Station on the right calf of Emma. And, your eyes are not deceiving you, that's Theodore Roosevelt and a bear cub in a wheelchair.

The million dollar question, of course, was "Why do you have Theodore Roosevelt on your leg?" Emma replied:

"The short answer is that I think that he was super bad-ass and he's my favorite president. The long answer is that it came from a long decision process - I was gonna get Stephen Hawking and F.D.R, one on either calves, in wheelchairs, so then they could go for walks together and then I realized that that was just absolutely stupid. So I wanted to keep the wheelchair because I really like the way wheelchairs look and I decided instead of FDR, that I'd choose Teddy because he's my favorite president. And then I stuck the bear in the wheelchair so they could be friends because of all of his [Roosevelt's] naturalism...".

An interesting, well-thought out response, but certainly unusual. In fact, the artist, Virginia Elwood at New York Adorned, posted this on her website here, under the heading, What's the Weirdest Tattoo You've Ever Done? As Virginia says in her post, "this was her first tattoo and she sat like a champ. Teddy would be proud."


Thanks to Emma for sharing this wonderful and unusual tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!


This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday.

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 http://tattoosday.blogspot.com 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.

Tattoosday Goes to Hawai'i - Sylvia's Back Piece

The one day in Hawai'i when I didn't take any tattoo pictures, I did pass out a few fliers. One I handed to a woman sitting in a chair at the Safeway Center on Kapahulu Avenue.

She had what appeared to be an incredible back piece, the top of which was visible to passers-by.

Sylvia later e-mailed me and shared a link to a site that featured a photo of the tattoo, along with an explanation of the piece. I have extracted it here for the enjoyment of the Tattoosday audience.

First, the tattoo:

Sylvia explains:

"My tattoo represents my ancestry...from the family of the 'Royal Hawai'ian Ole' (chanters of the Alii court), from the snowy mountains of Japan, the homeland of Portuguese Bean soup, and the inter-mix marriages of American Indians and Puerto Ricans. I believe the seven I have on my back describe who I am the best. Most locals have meaning for their tattoos but we also have people like Lindsay who just go with their flow. Many families have several signs that make up their families even as far as the Scottish Clan "Duncan" like me..."

What's wonderful about this tattoo to me is that Sylvia has incorporated so many cultures and motifs into the design which, as she acknowledges, is based on the wonderful mix of heritage and ancestry that comprises her background. This is very typical of people who live in Hawai'i, which is host to such an explosion of multicultural intermingling.

I love how the honu/sea turtle brings all of the elements together. The eagle, dragonfly, bear paw, wolf, buffalo, and shark all join to provide a rich tapestry of images that each speak to a different aspect of her heritage.

Sylvia's tattoo was inked by Joseph Garcia, Trigga Happy Tattoo in Waipahu. Eagle, Dragonfly, Bear Paw, Turtle, Wolf, Buffalo, and Shark.

Thanks to Sylvia for responding to me initially and for sharing her tattoo via her post here. We here at Tattoosday appreciate your contribution!

Two Eclectic Tattoos from TG

I will pace subway platforms, while waiting for my train, so that I may exercise a bit, and, let's face it, spot the occasional tattoo.

After meeting TG on the 59th Street platform in Brooklyn, and talking tattoo with him all the way to 95th Street, he told me I was lucky he had removed his sweater back on 59th.

For it was there that I spotted his tattoos. First I noticed this one:


That is a brontosaurus, which is on his left arm. It was an impulse decision and serves solely as a decorative reminder of a moment in time. TG had just left work with a paycheck and wandered into Rising Dragon Tattoos in their (relatively) new 14th Street location.

The artist was Davide, who hails from Italy, and was most likely a guest tattooer at the time.

TG sings his praises as he took a relatively simple design and gave it his all, down to the shading of the dinosaur's eyes and toe nails.

An even more compelling tattoo is this line-drawn piece:


The caption under the robot and the bear reads "Go for the knees! Bears are known for weak knees!"

This refers to a brief snippet of dialogue in Season 1, Episode 3 ("Blind Date") of the NBC sitcom 30 Rock. The line is uttered by the character Frank, who is played by actor/comedian Judah Friedlander.

The absurdity of the line made it memorable to TG, who chose to immortalize it on his right forearm.

The tattoo was inked by Mike at Mad Pup's Tattooing in Plattsburgh, New York.

Thanks to TG for sharing his two eclectic tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!