Siobhan's Colorful Girlie Skull

I still occasionally get people who ask me with wide eyes, "So you just go up to people you don't know and ask them to take a picture of their tattoos?" Pretty much, yeah.<br /><br />Despite this sometimes daunting hobby, I'm generally pretty comfortable just asking away. Occasionally, however, I am quite self-conscious, fearing that I'll come across as creepy, which is why you rarely see lower back tattoos here on Tattoosday. I only show them when they are offered. Similarly, when a woman has a colorful or elaborate chest piece, I try not to make that the center of my focus and, again, I generally only ask about it if it's exceptional or very interesting.<br /><br />Such was the case with Siobhan, who I spotted outside of Penn Station on the corner of 31st Street and 7th Avenue last last month. She has three tattoos, but this piece was the only one I really noticed, not necessarily because of where it was, but because of its colorful playfulness:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIW4ALGqFuYKKHnBukryzf47_YNUVC0Cwru4KhK7bVe2XM5s_MYhE5JUdEpwNgWagm7HTKqDIFbWcIDlR42JGu_X5XBa3NEN_Qfq8gFzfws-mJ_S7ojKM7WTMOI85FLIOHaxlu2AojlgE/s1600/Siobhan+skull.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIW4ALGqFuYKKHnBukryzf47_YNUVC0Cwru4KhK7bVe2XM5s_MYhE5JUdEpwNgWagm7HTKqDIFbWcIDlR42JGu_X5XBa3NEN_Qfq8gFzfws-mJ_S7ojKM7WTMOI85FLIOHaxlu2AojlgE/s400/Siobhan+skull.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Siobhan credits this piece to a free-lance tattoo artist in Philadelphia named Joe Tizzo. She says she wanted a girlie skull, and this was his creation. He added the flurries of stars to fill out the piece. I particularly like the use of negative space and the use of  multi-colored dots to add a little zip to the edges of the tattoo.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-8UF8ZuUJ7KJx2esy_psED_eOFkcG640RJWzQtDWGaBPV-l7ZWr7sA720E-_rcGGapShMyHWVjTeClEcGOqRp1UtLwFnry00JvLK5nw_AJa8avzVTpfbi6Ec_7Y9BihCrFouXsFVn6IA/s1600/Siobhan+skull+detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-8UF8ZuUJ7KJx2esy_psED_eOFkcG640RJWzQtDWGaBPV-l7ZWr7sA720E-_rcGGapShMyHWVjTeClEcGOqRp1UtLwFnry00JvLK5nw_AJa8avzVTpfbi6Ec_7Y9BihCrFouXsFVn6IA/s400/Siobhan+skull+detail.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Thanks to Siobhan for sharing her beautiful tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Siobhan's Colorful Girlie Skull

I still occasionally get people who ask me with wide eyes, "So you just go up to people you don't know and ask them to take a pictu...

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Out With the Old.....

As we wind down 2010, and look ahead to 2011, I wanted to take care of one of my several loose ends from the past year.<br /><br />Back in July, I met a guy named John on the D train. He had tattooed arms and we chatted a bit. He said he'd send me photos and he did a few weeks later.<br /><br />I never posted the photos because the resolution was low, and when I tried to increase the size, they blurred. I was going to include these in the Christmas housecleaning post, but the work is just too good.<br /><br />So hear you have them, small photos, but recognizably amazing:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLB0yrwBaKQiU8GTRyRKycRGTu4juzXv_cPwYJMcnak_AumFetWMaM83_raHzgPT9SJmJHa-Kt0zjtLaSsECudDjZ_IvEFEq51mIkidx5xGrFQC_CZLJfuorjuq5lNiHpvCWGJLOn7CCw/s1600/john+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLB0yrwBaKQiU8GTRyRKycRGTu4juzXv_cPwYJMcnak_AumFetWMaM83_raHzgPT9SJmJHa-Kt0zjtLaSsECudDjZ_IvEFEq51mIkidx5xGrFQC_CZLJfuorjuq5lNiHpvCWGJLOn7CCw/s1600/john+2.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHHQcd4qRP6_W8UJe5cWPYfzxA14z8RTeNAZl9C5Ezn6DceL8-jJuu91Ab0vEg2XGBjnCm3MvvvBgfOZbv2O2HzpwF8fzXCI31BaKhfozVTcpUeuoJCHGv9C4aEwEaPwRPWlDaGQ-BUQo/s1600/john.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHHQcd4qRP6_W8UJe5cWPYfzxA14z8RTeNAZl9C5Ezn6DceL8-jJuu91Ab0vEg2XGBjnCm3MvvvBgfOZbv2O2HzpwF8fzXCI31BaKhfozVTcpUeuoJCHGv9C4aEwEaPwRPWlDaGQ-BUQo/s1600/john.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6U2wKZoZOaCfm_ofbGhyphenhyphen1JV8z0GmhHPM4X6nMdHIsWOhQMJlNw3Y8grfYo9u39yb5r9Jg9MUZAsWxZWzaC08qYiebErEt8Ich_kWZTYHKVRqTuSHwaftQH_yudBlYs37g6Il7ev6Y8Pc/s1600/john3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6U2wKZoZOaCfm_ofbGhyphenhyphen1JV8z0GmhHPM4X6nMdHIsWOhQMJlNw3Y8grfYo9u39yb5r9Jg9MUZAsWxZWzaC08qYiebErEt8Ich_kWZTYHKVRqTuSHwaftQH_yudBlYs37g6Il7ev6Y8Pc/s1600/john3.jpg" /></a></div><br />I mean, what is there to say? This work is quite excellent. The koi, the tiger, the sailing ship, sugar skull, nautical stars - it's all quite a body of work!<br /><br />The artist is Nacho, who appeared once before on the blog <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2009/06/matt-wears-his-heart-of-bacon-on-his.html">here</a>. You can check out Nacho's work <a href="http://www.nachotattoo.com.ar/home_eng.htm">here</a>. in New York, he tattoos out of <a href="http://www.studioenigma.com/">Studio Enigma</a> on Avenue U.<br /><br />Thanks to John for sharing these amazing tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!<br /><br />And thanks to all of our fans and contributors for making 2010 a successful year of inkspotting!

Out With the Old.....

As we wind down 2010, and look ahead to 2011, I wanted to take care of one of my several loose ends from the past year. Back in July, I met ...

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Jessica's Chest Piece and a Tale of Two Tigers

There may be eight million people in New York, but it's still, at times, a small world town.<br /><br />Last month in the Amtrak section of Penn Station, I spotted Jessica, a young woman with a beautiful tattoo across her chest:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO0rQAGS6Pm8flf8jjkZCYLEQn-EGdkX2yUSRmOaRMe3cpLVcMiEbu0Kj797pu3LnFqme17net_uTJBzFtfCo8Bgwoq0SqL5QDaVJHL29F3x-SPTGuvi2jV2LRYVBsKzrBJiaBhsSr/s1600/never+love.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO0rQAGS6Pm8flf8jjkZCYLEQn-EGdkX2yUSRmOaRMe3cpLVcMiEbu0Kj797pu3LnFqme17net_uTJBzFtfCo8Bgwoq0SqL5QDaVJHL29F3x-SPTGuvi2jV2LRYVBsKzrBJiaBhsSr/s400/never+love.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />This piece even was our banner here for a few weeks, thanks to Jessica.<br /><br />The inscription reads "Never Love, Never Lose," which is certainly thought-provoking, a slight spin on the aphorism, "It is better to have loved and lost than never loved at all." It also recalls an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claddagh_ring">Irish claddagh ring</a>, with two hands holding a heart. Feathers on the ends of the hands were added to even out the design.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTO7UfDJRADPs5c18LKPxPh0RwLdKCqp0RLiT8VnHkiY7cK4o76DJFArwqkKCfkaG7qIeBe7fdW_i1uwJmr_kgbenWMUCpmWFhcXP9qPNlVNpo-uJAssUimmM73QtQgsZmbpgVQ4s5/s1600/feather+hands.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTO7UfDJRADPs5c18LKPxPh0RwLdKCqp0RLiT8VnHkiY7cK4o76DJFArwqkKCfkaG7qIeBe7fdW_i1uwJmr_kgbenWMUCpmWFhcXP9qPNlVNpo-uJAssUimmM73QtQgsZmbpgVQ4s5/s320/feather+hands.jpg" /></a></div><br /><br />I particularly like the fact that Jessica is wearing a key around her neck and, in the photo, it is lying across the keyhole at the center of the heart.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ0xTTUrvdPBB9fpdp3YJIX90DqJ1dSmni3IfCDHMBuYsRbw3TLxVIl5SJ-I5h64SYj5PQDJ5E_EBhyCT3uSXdO1X4pUBzXMrJI7G-CywzzBbzrU4CcfDNZ1nn701fzLleNGKLWcmt/s1600/never+love+key.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ0xTTUrvdPBB9fpdp3YJIX90DqJ1dSmni3IfCDHMBuYsRbw3TLxVIl5SJ-I5h64SYj5PQDJ5E_EBhyCT3uSXdO1X4pUBzXMrJI7G-CywzzBbzrU4CcfDNZ1nn701fzLleNGKLWcmt/s400/never+love+key.jpg" width="297" /></a></div><br />Jessica collaborated with the artist known as <a href="http://www.goodoldfashionedtattoos.com/">Ollie XXX</a> in Montreal. If you look at his portfolio on <a href="http://www.goodoldfashionedtattoos.com/">his site</a>, slide 87 shows a brighter original version of the tattoo when it was first completed.<br /><br />When I asked her how many tattoos she had, she said, twenty-two, and showed me her most recent, a Peanuts tattoo. When I inquired where she got it, she said <a href="http://www.thickerthanwatertattoo.com/">Thicker Than Water</a> on the Lower East Side. "Oh," I commented, "you got one of the $50 specials?" I knew that the shop had done a $50 tattoo event the previous Saturday. Jessica confirmed that she had, in fact, attended with a friend.<br /><br /><br />I continued, "<a href="http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#%21/Djoner?ref=ts">Shon Lindauer</a> was the artist for <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2010/01/tyger-tyger-burning-bright.html">my tiger</a>,"and I rolled up my pant leg to reveal <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2010/01/tyger-tyger-burning-bright.html">the piece</a> Shon had inked at the beginning of the year when they were in "<a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2010/01/year-o-tiger-has-begun.html">Year of the Tiger</a>" mode. Well, you could have knocked Jessica over with a feather and her aunt, who Jessica was seeing off at the station, was also surprised. Why?<br /><br />Jessica pulled down her right sleeve to reveal a familiar, but more feminine version of my tiger from my calf.<br /><br /><br />Shon had inked a variation on the tiger for her in February. Jessica's aunt insisted we pose with our tigers together.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPNSbn1P8QX4229nhybsCVQIKlVclPcp3prDO-Af8w1cbDgwSaRYkkrmbAsk9i4Ive3L_DUOhSWtGmRZETVbuiFhgcqnRbZsPNaFoeYeEbhttVglggHRUE6UiIfPCsuZl2BNtsPEFU/s1600/106_0106.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPNSbn1P8QX4229nhybsCVQIKlVclPcp3prDO-Af8w1cbDgwSaRYkkrmbAsk9i4Ive3L_DUOhSWtGmRZETVbuiFhgcqnRbZsPNaFoeYeEbhttVglggHRUE6UiIfPCsuZl2BNtsPEFU/s400/106_0106.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifd9o_K9V1YDlIVE-ZlpcVh77WBR_eSdJQ7eqC-GcuOJ8hGrTtGQhtp_KE-mo3K7UjjapoxQlbEbHtIudGPQVoZ-MKF-8kYVj0rPN_-IwG1bVfadpFypETMZpawIXJ4y3CM3okthBi/s1600/two+tigers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifd9o_K9V1YDlIVE-ZlpcVh77WBR_eSdJQ7eqC-GcuOJ8hGrTtGQhtp_KE-mo3K7UjjapoxQlbEbHtIudGPQVoZ-MKF-8kYVj0rPN_-IwG1bVfadpFypETMZpawIXJ4y3CM3okthBi/s400/two+tigers.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />I love how the designs are so similar, yet hers is much more feminine (or mine is much more masculine).<br /><br />Granted, inkspotting certainly reduces the odds, but nonetheless, our paths crossing still seemed incredibly amazing.<br /><br />Thanks to Jessica for sharing her work with us here on Tattoosday!

Jessica's Chest Piece and a Tale of Two Tigers

There may be eight million people in New York, but it's still, at times, a small world town. Last month in the Amtrak section of Penn St...

Read more »