Happy Birthday, John...

On what would be John Lennon's 70th birthday, we'll pay a tribute with this tattoo I spotted back at the end of July:

This tattoo belongs to Julia, who I met on Penn Plaza outside of Borders near Madison Square Garden.

This is her first tattoo, and it is based on John Lennon's artwork, one of his self-portrait sketches.

Julia is named after the Beatles song "Julia," which Lennon wrote about his mother.

The tattoo was inked at Tattoo Seen & Body Piercing on East Tremont in the Bronx, New York.

It seemed appropriate to hang on to this post until John's birthday, as a special way we here at Tattoosday could honor the great musician's memory.

Thanks to Julia for sharing this tattoo with us and allowing us to honor the memory of the Great John Lennon on what would have been his seventieth birthday!

Jackie's Bouncing Lyrics

At the beginning of the week, I posted Jackie's beautiful tattoo and didn't include some work on her wrists that I also photographed:

These lyrics, "What are dreams for anyway/without the guts to live your life that way," are from the song "Highway Kings" by The Bouncing Souls, from their 2003 album Anchors Aweigh.



Thanks to Jackie for sharing her tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Jessica's Floral Half-Sleeve

A trip to the Fairway market in Red Hook last month was not only remarkable for the experience with the cheese monger, but because I met Jessica, the owner of this beautiful tattoo:

 

I love the variety of flowers, colors, and textures:

Jessica credited this work to Greg at Planet New York Tattoo in Poughkeepsie.

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

Melanie's Phoenix Helps Her Rise Above

I met Melanie in Penn Station and had to stop her to ask about this colorful phoenix on her back:

She originally had just the Yin and Yang tattoo, but expanded the work to include the legendary bird rising through the ashes. To Melanie, this represents being "better and stronger" after picking up the pieces from life's challenges, overcoming difficulties and rising above everything.

The tattoo was inked by Rick Schreck at House of 1000 Tattoos in Middlesex, New Jersey.

Thanks to Melanie for sharing her cool phoenix tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Sew You Want a Cool Tattoo? Check This One out from Vicky...

I met Vicky back in August outside of Penn Station and marveled about the colorful vibrancy of this beautiful tattoo:

Vicky explained that she is a seamstress for a new company called Cupcake Provocateur. Check out their site, it's pretty cool. Vicky's boss, Cynthia, is the brainchild behind the business, designing all of the aprons and other housewares, as well as making the cupcakes. There are several tattoo-inspired apron designs on their site, including this one, which would make a great holiday gift, no?

But back to the tattoo, Vicky hopes to grow this tattoo into a half-sleeve, and it started out as a design that she had Angelique Houtkamp design for her. "It wasn't drawn exactly the way I wanted it," Vicky explained, so she took it to Sunday Dawne-Marie at Skinflower Cosmic Arts in Phoenecia, New York and, she continued, "Sunday went with my basic idea, an antique sewing machine in a cameo, and re-drew and re-designed the entire thing."

I am most familiar with Sunday's work at Lark Tattoo on the poet Adam Deutsch.

Thanks to Vicky for sharing her amazing tattoo with us here on Tattoosday! We look forward to seeing the sleeve grow in the future!

Jackie's Vintage Postcard

I caught up to Jackie after she passed me in Penn Station and I was delighted when she agreed to share her tattoo with us:

It's a truly remarkable piece, and I was thrilled to hear it was tattooed by the amazingly talented Amanda Wachob at Dare Devil Tattoo in New York City. She is well-known for an amazing eye for detail for tattoos that appear as if they were just painted on. I mean, look at this delicate touch on the back side of the piece:

Jackie explained that the tattoo is inspired by art in a book of vintage, early 1900's postcards that she found from Pleiades Press. She credited S. Solomko as the artist who created the original piece which inspired this tattoo.

She loved the vintage appearance of the original and Asked Amanda to recreate that feel.

She also loves, from an artistic perspective, the female form, and the sensuality of the peacock feathers fanning out at the bottom of the tattoo.

 

Again, I can't help but marvel at Amanda's artistry and how she paints on a tattoo:

Thanks again to Jackie for sharing her amazing tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Sandra's Cherry Blossoms

I met Sandra at the local laundromat at the end of August and she shared this lovely tattoo on her upper right arm:

There are two elements to this design, the cherry blossoms and the quote. The cherry blossoms were inked after her father was initially diagnosed with cancer. The quote was added when Sandra decided to move to New York from Oregon.

Reading "When your heart is in your dream, no request is too extreme...", this quote is from the film Pinocchio, in the song "When You Wish Upon a Star".

The tattoo was done by Dragon at Star Tattoo, in Portland, Oregon.

Thanks to Sandra for sharing her lovely tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!


Here's a little bonus: