Tattoorism: Petrina's Beetle by ZSO

We recently received the following contribution from one of our Canadian readers, Petrina:

Petrina credits the original artwork of this beetle to New York City-based artists and illustrato ZSO, aka Sarah Blake, whose website ZSO highlights her phenomenal work.

The tattoo was created by MelanieWayland of Mel's Tattoos in Goderich, Ontario, Canada.

Thanks to Petrina for sharing her wonderful tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

See more art from ZSO at http://www.hellozso.com.

This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday.

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.

Spodee. Wine With a Kick!

I recently got to try a new beverage, produced by White Mule Farms.

It's called Spodee and is, indeed, "wine with a kick".

I'm more of a beer guy, but I will drink wine from time to time with my oenophile wife.

Spodee is based on the legend of "a Depression era hooch that mixed up homemade country wines with garden herbs, spices and moonshine."

I enjoyed the bottle I had, which was a hearty 36 proof mule kick that was a sweet treat indeed. The bottle described it as "grape wine with natural chocolate flavor," and it certainly came across strong. My wife took a sip and crinkled her nose, expressing her distaste. Bad for her, good for me! I didn't have to share any of my Spodee!

I like it because it is different, and I love the old-timey milk bottle Spodee comes in.

Spodee is only on sale in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, but it can be acquired through mail order to open states (here).

We don't endorse a lot of hooch here on the pages of Tattoosday, but Spodee is definitely worth a try! 

Check out more about Spodee below.

Michael Wears His Football Heart on His Sleeve

Last spring, my old friend Michael was up in NYC for a visit. In the early days of Tattoosday, he emailed me out of the blue to share this amazing half-sleeve, which blew my mind, especially since I didn't even know he had tattoos.

Now that he was up for a visit, he shared his other half-sleeve, again throwing me for a loop:

This collage captures the gist of Michael's sleeve, an homage to two of his favorite things, the Manchester United Football Club and zombies.

There's a great sense of humor about the piece, especially the image on the inside of the arm:

That's a commentary on an "American" football player, carrying the ball as if it were the American version of the game of football.

The sleeve also has a small element that pays homage to his wife, Carrie. Behold the smiling sunflower in a field of football-playing zombies:

This amazing sleeve was inked by Eric Doyle at Jinx Proof Tattoos in Washington, D.C.

Thanks again to my friend Michael for sharing this incredible tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday.

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.

Ryan Shares an Amazing Portrait of His Mom

I know we've been a little sparse with our posting of late, but we're coming back with a bang.

Last February, I met Ryan in my local laundromat and he shared some of his old school ink here.

I've seen him around since, but today when he walked into the laundromat, he had a stunning new piece.

A couple months ago I had run into my friend John (who shared new ink, which is also forthcoming) who tattoos out of Brooklyn Made Tattoo and he had told me that the legendary Freddy Negrete was going to be in the neighborhood doing guest spots at Brooklyn Made.

A few weeks later I was walking down 93rd Street in Bay Ridge and spotted Mr. Kaves outside of his shop. I stopped to say hello and he pointed out that Freddy and his son Isaiah were hard at work inside. They are both based out of Mark Mahoney's Shamrock Social Club in Los Angeles. I was meeting family for dinner so I couldn't hang around, but it was cool to get a glimpse of a legendary artist at work.

Which brings us back to Ryan this morning in the laundromat. I knew it almost as he told me, he got this sweet portrait of his mother from Freddy Negrete himself that week:

Ryan explained that this portrait is based on a photo of his mother from when she was in her early twenties, when he was around two years old. He elaborated:

"My mother died ... about an hour before her fortieth birthday, so this tattoo means a lot to me. It's the most beautiful work I have on me and I wouldn't have let anyone else do it. Freddy Negrete is a great guy ... he's a humbling guy and he's very humble himself and I am grateful to have met him and his son."

It really is an astonishingly beautiful piece of portrait work, and done by one of the true masters of the art here in our own little slice of Brooklyn.

Thanks again to Ryan for sharing this amazing tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday.

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.

Bailey's Pocket Watch at the New York City Poetry Festival

Last month I had the pleasure of attending the second annual New York City Poetry Festival on Governor's Island. I met some great tattooed poets, but I also ran into a few tattooed poetry fans, one of whom was Bailey, who has this cool tattoo on her foot:

The chain from this pocket watch runs up and around part of her calf, which makes this piece even neater. Bailey explains:

"It's the White Rabbit's pocket watch from Alice in Wonderland ... It's always been my favorite story and something that's stuck with me for a long time ... and I thought it was going to be the only tattoo that I got, so I wanted to get something big and meaningful."

I asked her if there was a significance to the time shown on the watch. She confirmed, "Yeah, it's 3:36, it was a time that connected with this band that I was really into and I wanted to make a little tribute without doing their logo and when [the artist] actually put the hands on the clock, he looked up to see where they were placed and it was 3:36."

The band in question? AFI. 336 is the name of one of their EPs. And, as it turned out, Bailey didn't stop with the pocket watch, she also has two sparrows at the top of her chest.

She credited this tattoo to "Pee Wee" at Bolder Ink in Boulder, Colorado.

Thanks to Bailey for sharing this cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday.

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.

Rus and His Sailor Jerry Ducks

I met Rus in Penn Station last month. He had quite a lot of ink, and offered up this piece from the front of his lower left leg.

He credited Mike Wilson at Inksmith & Rogers in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, as the artist who tattooed this. A piece by Mike appeared here on Tattoosday back in 2010.

When I asked Rus if there was a particular story behind the tattoo or a reason he got the ducks, he replied,

"No. I just liked it. It's an old Sailor Jerry design. It didin't make any sense, like, why is there a bunch of ducks? [There was a flash sheet with] all the old usual nautical stuff, skulls, you know, boats, things like that and in the middle of it is a bunch of ducks, so I thought I would get that."

Thanks to Rus for sharing this tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday.

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.

Matt's Black Flag Tribute

I met Matt on the 59th Street subway platform in Brooklyn back in October 2011 and he shared one of his tattoos with me.

Before I proceed though, I should point out that this is my last photo from 2011. I was holding out to make this an elaborate post, combined with a book review, but it just never evolved that way.

And, as Tattoosday recently reached its five year milestone (more on that later), we're going to try things a little differently around here. Of course, that has nothing to do with this tattoo:

This tattoo is based on the album cover for Black Flag's My War.

Note the slight artistic differences:

Matt credited this work to Oscar Varela, a visiting artist at New York Hardcore Tattoo in Manhattan.

When I asked Matt why he chose to pay tribute to this album with a tattoo, he explained, "That's been one of my favorite hardcore albums of all time ... I grew up in Anaheim, California, so, you know, the So Cal scene and everything like that ... gotta keep it real."

I had originally wanted to tie this piece in with a review of Henry Rollins' book Occupants.

With Rollins the lead singer of Black Flag, it seemed like a cool tie-in.

The problem is, I really couldn't wrap my head around a book review for the site, but I can give it a rousing endorsement. The volume consists of Rollins' photos as he has traveled the world, and essays he has written to accompany the images. The words are profound and the linked photos are stark and moving. I strongly suggest that people check out the book.

Thanks to Matt for sharing his Black Flag tattoo with us here on Tattoosday, and for waiting patiently these past months for me to post it!

This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday.

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.

Ashley's Hermit Thursh

One of my favorite tattoo sites is Tattoosnob.com, which features top quality work daily from around the world.

At the Coney Island Mermaid Parade back in June, I had the distinct pleasure of running into a woman named Ashley, whose tattoo had appeared on Tattoo Snob earlier in the year. Whereas I generally don't like to post work that has appeared previously on other sites, this piece is exceptional and, as I had the good fortune to encounter it in person, I feel obligated to share it with my readers.

Here is Ashley's Hermit Thrush tattoo:

This was tattooed by Bald Bill at Yankee Tattoo in Burlington, Vermont.

You can also see the piece as it appeared on Tattoo Snob here.

Thanks to Ashley for sharing with us here on Tattoosday!


This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday.
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..