Laman

Michelle's Amazing Owl Tattoo Honors Her Dad


I follow a method to creating content for this blog and I generally post ink in the chronological order that I see it. Sometimes a post may take longer because it requires more research. Other times, a tattoo is so good, it deserves to be seen right away. The tattoo above is one of those that demanded it be posted immediately. It helped that the story behind it is short and sweet.

I had left the office for lunch on Friday and I spotted this owl (sorry, bad pun) going into Starbucks. I suddenly realized I had left my camera on my desk. What to do? Run upstairs and risk missing the chance? Ask her to send me a photo? Then, I realized I had my phone, a recent upgrade, with a functioning camera. But would it take a good tattoo picture?

I believe so.

This is Michelle's tattoo, covering her upper left arm. It is dedicated to her father, who is her very own "wise old owl". The tattoo artist was Marina, who was apprenticing at Fly-Rite Studio, in Brooklyn.

All I can say is, "Wow." Not only is it an amazingly beautiful piece of body art, but it rendered the dozen or so tattoos I saw throughout the day uninteresting. When you fly first class, it's hard to go back to sitting in coach.

Everything I've seen come out of Fly-Rite has been spot-on. See other tattoos that were inked st the studio here.

Thanks again profusely to Michelle for sharing her wonderful owl tattoo with us here on Tattoosday, and thanks to Marina for inking such a cool piece!
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MY 1979 MONTE/ MOTEL HELL

HERE ARE A COUPLE OF FLICKS OF MY MONTE BEING WORKED ON FOR THE EXHIBITION BEING HELD AT THE MESA ARTS CENTER. THIS CAR WAS ORIGINALY OWNED BY DOC OF LIFESTYLE C.C. IN 1979 WHO ROLLED IT DOWN WHITTIER BLVD. A YEAR LATER IT WAS CANDY PAINTED BY BIG ED AND IN 1983 BOB AND SONS PUT THE TUCK AND ROLL THAT STILL BLESSES THE CAR TODAY. THE ONLY THING THAT I DID TO THE INTERIOR IS ADD A BILLET STEERING WHEEL AND A CLARION DVD HEAD UNIT. WHEN I WAS A KID AND I DREAMT OF MY PAINTINGS I NEVER THOUGHT MY CAR WOULD BE THE CANVAS.. ITS NOT ALL ABOUT ME THOUGHT THERE ARE ARTIST THAT WILL BE FEATURED THAT ARE MY FRIENDS AND INFLUENCES. MIKE PICKEL IS AN O.G. CAR BUILDER AND ARTIST AS A MEMBER OF THE BEATNIKS C.C. HE WILL BE THERE TO EXHIBIT LOWRIDER ART. HE IS BEST KNOWN FOR DESIGNING THE LOW RIDER MAGAZINE LOGO AND DRAWING PORTRAITS OF BOMBAS LOWRIDERS SLAMMED TO THE TEETH. JACK RUDY ALSO A MEMBER OF BEATNIKS C.C. IS FAMOUS FOR BEING THE GODFATHER OF BLACK AND GREY. JACK IS A REAL LOWRIDER AND THE ON THE HOMIE THAT I KNOW THAT HAS DROVEN A LIFTED CAR WITH WHITE WALLS TO NEW YORK AND BACK. ESTEVAN IS KNOW FOR HIS ABILITY TO CAPTURE THE RAW STREETS LOS ANGELES AND STREET CULTURE FROM AROUND THE WORLD HE IS ALSO MEMBER OF LIFESTYLE C.C. THERE WILL ALSO BE WORLD FAMOUS PINSTRIPERS DANNY D AND HOME TOWN HERO BUGS GONZALES.....








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A Butterfly Journeys with Gillian


I spotted this absolutely beautiful butterfly on the back of Gillian at a street fair in Manhattan last Saturday.

Gillian and her sister got the same butterfly together just before she left for college and before her sister headed off on a trip to Europe.

The butterfly can represent numerous things. In Gillian's case, it not only represents a bond with her sister, but it also is a symbol for a journey through life.

This piece was inked at Purple Lotus Tattoos in Frisco, Colorado, by Brett.

Thanks to Gillian for sharing her butterfly with us here on Tattoosday!
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A Butterfly Koi Rising on the Arm of Belquis


Had I not forgotten to get my daughter Shayna her copy of Judy Blume's Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, I wouldn't have wandered into the Court Street Barnes & Noble in Brooklyn on Labor Day and spotted this awesome butterfly koi above.

Belquis, who has five tattoos, explained that this tattoo represents an interpretation of the koi fish mythology, where the koi is rising out of the water, about to turn into a dragon.

The piece was designed by her friend Karleen Ang, and inked by Kazuhisa (Kaz) Matsumoto at New York Adorned. Belquis has been loyal to Kaz since he was an artist working out of his home. When he moved to Adorned, she followed.

Belquis added, "All five of my tattoos were done by Kaz...I have an ohm (neck), the ambigram (neck), dark fairy (left back shoulder), my first and middle name in Arabic under the symbol for Zahir (right back shoulder). All black." Who knows? Maybe we'll see more of Bel's ink in the future here on the blog.

Work from NY Adorned has appeared on Tattoosday previously here.

Thanks to Belquis for sharing her awesome tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!
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Verrazano Redux

Just the other day, I posted a cool graffiti-style tattoo of the Verrazano-Narrows bridge, which connects Brooklyn to Staten Island.

While on the bike on Sunday, I spotted another amazing bridge tattoo. How amazing? Another Tattoosday first: I pulled up along side the owner of the piece while he was riding his bike and he pulled over to tell me about it.

This tattoo, which is a colorful depiction of the V-N Bridge during a sunset, was inked by Joe at Brooklyn Ink. The piece belongs to Paul, who knows, whenever he sees the bridge, he is close to home. One could say, then, that by wearing it on his left shoulder, the bridge is always close
to him, even when he is out of town.

We talked about the beauty of the stretch of shoreline which runs along the south of Brooklyn. Paul and I have a lot in common in that we love to take pictures of the bridge. In fact, check out these shots I took in January 2007 which are here on BillyBlog. The sunset always seems to be spectacular with the Verrazano in the foreground.

Paul has several other tattoos, one of which is slated for a future, more fitting, post in the next few weeks.

Thanks to Paul for sharing this tattoo with us!

As always, you can see work from Brooklyn Ink that has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.
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Michael's Taurus Tattoo

I ran into Michael at Borders in Penn Plaza. He has five tattoos, including a large koi sleeve on his right arm. He offered up the bull tattoo above on his left arm.

The piece was inked at Mike's Tattoo in Peterborough, Ontario, north of the border in Canada.

Michael is a Taurus, and this bull tattoo represents the astrological sign in the Zodiac. I have featured a Taurus tattoo before in the blog here.

Michael is an artist and traded one of his prints to the tattooist, in exchange for this piece on his left forearm. Check out Michael's website here to see his art. It's pretty amazing.

Thanks to Michael for sharing his tattoo here on Tattoosday!
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Alexa's Blue Bird Honors Her Grandfather's Memory


I met Alexa on the southeast corner of 34th Street and 7th Avenue last Tuesday and may have saved her from a little bit of parental grief.

I asked her about the sparrow below her neck and she was happy to tell me about it, especially since I reminded her about it. She was waiting to meet her father, who doesn't know she's inked, and she covered up after I snapped the picture.


Alexa got this tattoo on the first anniversary of her grandfather's passing. All that it symbolizes to her, the color blue, the freedom from the earth, true love - all of these combine to empower the symbol she finds as especially fitting for the memory of her grandfather.

The sparrow was designed by a friend of hers. She took the drawing to Crazy Fantasy Tattoo in the West Village where the artist colored the design and inked it.

Thanks to Alexa for sharing her sparrow with us on Tattoosday!
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