Natalie's Geisha Butterfly

Last month, I ran into Natalie on Seventh Avenue and 24th Street. She had several tattoos, but shared this geisha, with butterfly wings, floating on the top of her back:

She got this about six years ago in the city of Leeds from an artist named Diego.

When I asked why she got this particular tattoo, she replied, "I kind of just wanted something that was quite girly, yet strong at the same time."

Natalie is a professional photographer whose work can be seen on her website here.

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

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Tommy's Geisha

Last week I met Tommy, who has six tattoos, one of which he shared with us:

He brought three or four pictures into Regino Gonzales when he was at Inkstop Tattoo and he came up with this design. Regino is now at Invisible NYC.

The line work took two and a half to three hours but he had to stop because, in Tommy's words, "I'm a bleeder". He came back after he healed for another two and a half hours of shading.

Tommy had a lot of nice protrait work and this piece seemed to just jump off of his left arm.

Regino's work has appeared previously on Tattoosday here and here.

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

Mike & Norma Share Some of Their Ink

I met Mike and Norma at a local drugstore in Brooklyn in early April and they both had amazing work they were willing to share.

Their post was preempted by the Tattooed Poets Project, so I thank them in advance for their patience.

Mike shared this enormous black panther tattoo that covered a huge section of his left calf:


Mike, who estimates he has about 15% coverage, also told me that this was a cover-up. "What did you cover?" I asked. "A dolphin with a tribal design," he replied. Norma indicated that covering that tattoo had been an excellent aesthetic choice.

Mike credits Chad Smith at Screamin Mimi Tattoo in Amarillo, Texas with this piece.

I then turned to Norma, who was gracious enough to share this incredibly beautiful geisha tattoo on her left calf:


Roxxy, an artist at Elite Tattoo Gallery in Fort Worth, Texas, free-handed the design. The Japanese characters form a haiku, the meaning of which Norma didn't have with her. Regardless, it's a stunning work of art.

Thanks to Mike and Norma for sharing a little bit of their extensive ink with us here on Tattoosday!

Benjamin's Amazing Viking-Geisha Sleeve by Tim Kern

Please join me as I extend a metaphor.

I approach inkblogging as if I were one of those guys that goes out on the beach with a metal detector.

You find a lot of interesting stuff and, every once in a while, you find treasure.

Earlier this month, I saw a man in front of Madison Square Garden walking south. I was headed in the opposite direction and, despite my general reluctance to post sleeves here (I wonder if I can even do them justice), I stopped and asked him to show me the amazing work on his right arm.

I should also preface this by acknowledging how awesome it is to randomly find work by a tattoo artist who is at the top of his game, and is a recognized talent in the tattoo community.

Benjamin, the guy I stopped, was visiting New York from Denmark to see his artist, Tim Kern at Tribulation Tattoo. He was in town to begin work on a new sleeve. Benjamin happily shared his first sleeve:


Benjamin summarized the theme of his arm by stating that life is about choices. The two extrmes are, you can take a life, as represented by the Viking warrior at the top of the shoulder:


This is juxtaposed by the geisha who is taking her own life through ritual suicide:


The detail of the blood-spattered hand holding the seppuku blade is fascinating in its stark grisliness:


The sleeve also includes stunning waterfall and pagoda elements on the inside of the arm:


I especially appreciate the beauty and shading of the pagoda:


The color and artistry of this entire sleeve are astonishing and we are honored that Benjamin consented to contributing this work to Tattoosday.

We thank him and the artist Tim Kern for their work!

Doug's Geisha

I met Doug on Penn Plaza on my birthday.

He has 14 tattoos and was, by chance headed down to Rising Dragon Tattoos in Chelsea later that day to get more work on a traditional Japanese piece by Horisei (see his work featured previously here).

The goal is to eventually cover his whole upper body with traditional Japanese tattoo art. He already has foo dogs, demons and kite masks. The favorite piece of his that I saw was this geisha:


Just stunning work!

This was done by Sam Hambrick at Fat Kat Tattoo in Keyport, New Jersey.

Thanks to Doug for sharing his tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Ben's Amazing Back Piece

With the Tattooed Poets Series under way last month, I was a bit remiss in posting about the "regular" tattoo encounters.

With apologies to the following volunteer, I am presenting some amazing work on a gentleman named Ben, who I spotted back on April 2 while walking through Penn Station.

Ben was wearing a short-sleeve shirt and had tattoos covering his arms. When I approached him and explained Tattoosday, he enthusiastically agreed to participate. In fact, he removed his shirt to reveal an incredible back piece:



The one problem with featuring huge tattoos like this is not getting all the details in. What follows are some of the finer points of the tattoo.

At the bottom of the back is an hourglass design, within which is, Ben said, kanji representing the word "redemption":


The piece represents that he has "only so much time to redeem himself".

The main set of Chinese text in the center of the back was loosely translated by Ben as "I have trust in no man except for the trust I save for myself":


Also of note on the back are the two kanji representing "father" (the right side) and "forgive me" (the left side). These characters are in disks on either side at the top of the back.

The back was done by an artist no longer practicing at Skin Deep Tattoo on Long Island.

Imagine busy Penn Station, a guy standing there talking to a bespectacled blogger, camera in hand, beholding a subject covered in ink. Where to even begin?

It's like taking someone to the world's largest buffet and telling them they can only fill one small plate with food.

The back as a whole was impressive, but Ben was willing to share more, and we settled on this view, with a dragon and a geisha:


Ben credits this part of his body's tapestry to an artist named Loco working out of Dharma Tattoo in Miami Springs, Florida.

Thanks to Ben for sharing his amazing tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Tattoorism: Sean Stops by To Unveil More Amazing Work

A month ago, I posted a bit of tattoorism; Sean from New Jersey sent me photos of his left leg, an intricate Japanese-style piece, complete with koi, dragons, a lotus, and a pagoda.

Sean has been kind enough to update us here on Tattoosday with two more pieces, the first being this cool gypsy head that is tattooed on the inside of his upper left arm:


As he was in the last post, Sean is not only generous with the pictures of his tattoos, but he also has provided a thoughtful explanation of his work:

"I got the gypsy woman about two weeks after graduating from college. I really enjoy the traditional, old school style of tattoos and feel it’s important that this style does not disappear... from tattoo culture. Further, I always viewed these women as adventurers, constantly looking for a new journey. Especially, the woman who are looking off to the sides, almost as if into the distance, as opposed to those who look straight forward. I always envision them looking off to a new land, a new adventure, etc. This tattoo signifies my “journey” through life, especially significant due to just graduating college. It is a reminder to never stagnate and to constantly be striving for better things. I plan on getting a banner added underneath with the word "hope," for obvious reasons."

Sean also sent images from his right leg sleeve, to match the work on the left:



Again, in his own words:

"I had my right leg sleeve done for most aesthetic reasons. I explained [previously here]...that I love Asian style artwork, and to keep symmetry with my left leg this was done in just that style. Originally, I believed I had chosen the geisha image solely for its beauty.

However, about a week after my tattoo I realized that my family has a framed picture of a geisha hanging outside of my room that I have honestly never paid much attention to, until seeing it that day. So now, every time I see the tattoo it reminds me of my home and family (particularly, my mother for some reason). Your subconscious has a funny way of revealing itself.

Moving on, the phoenix has always been a very powerful image to me.

I love the idea of rebuilding yourself from the ashes of past selves. This was significant to me as I received that tattoo during my final years at college (the first two years I spent commuting to a community college, the last two years I spent living on campus away from home for the first time in my life). I feel that those two years living away from home was a period of immense change, where, metaphorically, past versions of myself “burned up,” with new versions arising from those ashes.

Finally, the bonsai tree kind of goes hand-in-hand with the phoenix imagery.

It was always interesting to me that in order for a bonsai to grow correctly, a have a long life, it needed to have branches/new growths pruned and trimmed, in essence losing a piece of itself. I feel this ideology also applies to human life. In order, for someone to fully mature, I feel one needs to be prepared to lose parts of oneself (whether they be thought processes, habits, etc.) in order to grow into a better-equipped and well-rounded person. The bonsai reminds me to strive for this."

I once again thank Sean for not only sharing his tattoos with us here, but for putting the effort into writing a thoughtful, detailed account of the meaning of the art gracing his skin. As with previous pieces featured, the tattoos in this post were done by Mike Schweigert at Electric Tattoo in Bradley Beach, New Jersey. Truly a talented artist that was able to so distinctly transform Sean's body into a living canvas. We here at Tattoosday offer our sincerest thanks and appreciation!