Anthony's Phenomenal Marilyn Monroe Portrait

 Without question, Marilyn Monroe has appeared more on Tattoosday than any other celebrity, living or dead. You'd think I'd get tired of seeing her in ink, but I never do. Probably because there are artists out there doing this:

This portrait is on the left leg of Anthony, a photographer I met on Penn Plaza a couple weeks ago. The work is based on this famous photograph:

Anthony credited the artist as Horacio Martinez, at Golden Eagle Tattoo in Santa Barbara, California. The detail in the piece is really spectacular:

When I asked why he chose to ink the legendary actress on his leg, he said, "I was in photo school at the time and we were doing a lot of Hollywood glamor stuff and it was just kind of, on a whim. Why not?"

The piece is two years old and took only three and a half hours for Horacio to complete.

To see all the Marilyn Monroe work that has appeared on Tattoosday, click here. You can also see Anthony's work as a photographer on Tumblr here, or you can visit his website here.

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

This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday.

If you are reading this on another web site 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.

Tattoos I Know: Mary’s Marilyn

Marilyn Monroe is a pretty popular figure to see tattooed on people. Clicking here will show you this, as well as every other post on Tattoosday that features a Marilyn Monroe tattoo. In the popularity contest, she wins by a mile.

It was with great pleasure that, a couple weeks back, one of my co-workers, Mary, got on the elevator at the end of the day, and the first thing I noticed was this fresh Marilyn Monroe tattoo, peering up at me from her right foot:

Of course, I had to ask Mary about this tattoo. Our exchange follows:

Tattoosday: Why’d you get Marilyn on your foot?

Mary: Anybody who knows me can answer that question. I love Marilyn and I wanted to put it in a spot that can showcase it without being on my forearm or my face or my neck and it seems to be a hit where it is.

Tattoosday: This is your first Marilyn tattoo?

Mary: Well, if you don’t count the mole I have. A tattoo of a mole.

Tattoosday: Oh, so that’s not a real mole?

Mary: Yes.

Tattoosday: So who is the artist?

Mary: It’s a shop that everyone in my neighborhood goes to, it’s called Eddie's Ink on Myrtle Avenue in Queens…I guess he has a following because he just moved from Brooklyn to Queens and everybody recommended him . . . it’s not like it’s in a spot that I can cover up, unless it’s winter, so I wanted to make sure it was  a good job and he went online and I told him exactly what I wanted and he found a couple of pictures and we ended up settling on this one.  I didn’t want color, I just wanted black…”.

I alluded to the popularity of the Marilyn tattoo at the beginning of the post. That said, I have to commend Mary on her originality, as I hadn’t seen one like this before. Thanks go to her for sharing this cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday.

If you are reading this on another web site 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.

Dispatch from the 2011 New York City Tattoo Convention (A Recap)

 

Yesterday I spent a half dozen hours at the Roseland Ballroom, where the New York City Tattoo Convention was holding court. This was my third trip to the show, and each year, I have a different experience, as Tattoosday has evolved as a site (read about 2009 here and 2010 here).

In years past, I have only highlighted one or two pieces, as I go into sensory overload. What, outside of a convention's setting, would normally pique my interest, seems commonplace and ordinary. This year, however, I took many more photos, and actually interviewed four people, so this will be Convention Recap Week.

I do want to say the best part of the show was hanging and chatting with Marisa and Brian from Needles and Sins, as well as with Nathan from Knuckle Tattoos. It's not a portrait of future world domination, yet, but here's the three of us, masterminds of three of the best tattoo sites around, and hands and above, the best three inkbloggers at the show:

Nathan, Marisa and Me (photo by Brian Grosz)

That moment of self-adulation aside, I spent the first few hours talking to vendors about advertising, chatting with colleagues, and saying hello to people I've met in years past, like Greg who was the high point of last year's show for me.

I also like to introduce myself to artists whose work has appeared on the Site before, so I said hi to Adam Rosenthal of Th'Ink Tank in Denver, and Vinny Romanelli at Red Rocket in NYC.

I also took a slew of photos of people I didn't interview, so I will just throw them up here. Unfortunately I can't credit any of the amazing artists responsible. However, if you see your work here, shoot me an email and I can give you your proper due. Many of these shots were taken during the first round of the contest, which centered around black and gray work:

This one was one of my favorites, especially considering the woman's reflection in the blade of the knife:

And this Star Wars leg was totally cool:

Finally, through social media, my friend Ben in Hawai'i requested a shot of "80s West Coast punk rock logos." I thought I had failed in my quest until, as I was leaving, I captured this tiny Black Flag tattoo on a guy named Crash, who works for Tattoo Artist Magazine:

Mini-Black Flag Bars Tattoo by Oliver Peck

and this incredible Misfits piece to boot:

Tattoo by Frank Lee at Tattoo Blues in Ft. Lauderdale

Yes, we know, Misfits are an East Coast band. But it was too nice a tattoo to not photograph. Can you blame me?

Check out the Tattoo Artist Magazine blog here.

Check back throughout the week to see what four tattoos I found most blogworthy for us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday.

If you are reading this on another web site 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.

Melanie's Marilyn

A trip to the laundromat on Saturday yielded a meeting with a young lady who had a couple visible tattoos on one of her feet and an ankle. Fortunately, my curiosity got the better of me because, when I asked her about them, she revealed much better work, namely this phenomenal Marilyn Monroe portrait on her inner right forearm:

This stunning work was created by the incomparable Virginia Elwood at New York Adorned. I have been fortunate to encounter Ms. Elwood's work previously here and here.

Melanie is a huge fan of Marilyn Monroe and she is proud to wear this icon on her sleeve. Clicking on the tag for Marilyn Monrow below will reveal other Marilyn tattoos that have appeared previously on Tattoosday.

Thanks to Melanie for sharing this phenomenal portrait with us here on Tattoosday!

Marilyn Hangs Ten

I met Jenny last month in Penn Station and was thrilled when she allowed me to photograph her half-sleeve, which is one of her fourteen tattoos:

 

How cool is that? This piece represents about twelve hours of work. Jenny had the basic idea and went to Jonathan Leonhardt at Something Wicked Tattoo in Roseville, California. The rest, as they say, is history.

The concept behind this is simple. Jenny is a surfer and she loves Marilyn Monroe. Why not combine the two to create a unique tattoo to make a statement? This is such a cool piece, I was honored to get tp share it with everyone here at Tattoosday.

Thanks to Jenny for sharing her amazing work with us here on the site!

Three Tattoos from Mary: Marilyn Monroe and Robert Frost, Fire and Ice

What jumped out at me when I saw Mary in front of Penn Station, on a drizzly late afternoon during Rush Hour, was this amazing tattoo on her left bicep:


Marilyn Monroe tattoos are not incredibly unusual (click here to see those that have appeared on this site previously), but this one strays from the glamorous and dabbles in the tragic.

What we see is the back of her head, passed out on a make-up table scattered with toiletries and pills. In the reflection of the dressing room mirror you see the woman's face, serenely unconscious.

And, in an effect that makes it look like it was scrawled in lipstick on the mirror, the quote,

"...if you can't
handle me at my worst
then you sure as hell don't
deserve me at my best.
-marilyn
monroe"

The full quote, as uttered by Ms. Monroe, is "I'm selfish, impatient, & a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control, & at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best."

It's certainly a striking piece, and Mary gladly shared it and elaborated. She feels a bit of a link to Marilyn in that the starlet and Mary's grandmother were born on the same date, June 1, 1926.

Plus, there's the universal tragedy of Monroe's demise that resonates on so many levels with so many people. She's a sex symbol to some, a victim of an abusive male-dominated industry to others. And the quote rings true with self-actualized strength. "I am what I am," she seems to say, "if you can't roll with me through the difficult times, then you haven't earned my company in the good times." Do note, this is my interpretation, not necessarily Mary's.

This tattoo was inked, along with many others, by Jimbo at Lark Tattoo. Work from Lark Tattoo has appeared on Tattoosday previously here.

Mary has thirteen tattoos in all, and shared two others as well.

She graciously lifted her shirt to reveal this poetic snippet, tattooed on her right side, accompanied by a peacock feather quill pen on parchment:



The quote "Some say the world will end in fire, some say ice..." is from the opening lines of a poem by Robert Frost, entitled "Fire and Ice":

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

The tattoo points to another piece, at the base of her neck: two flaming ice cubes:


As I mentioned previously, my encounter with Mary occurred outside of Penn Station during rush hour, so I didn't delve too deeply into the meanings of these tattoos. But I do thank Mary for sharing them with us here on Tattoosday and invite her to elaborate further in the comments below.

Here's to You, Joe DiMaggio...

Living in New York City, a metropolis known for its die-hard sports fans, it is not unusual to see tattoos honoring and celebrating the rich athletic tradition that exists here.

On Friday, during my lunch hour, I spotted a New York City Fire Department truck parked at the corner of 40th Street and 7th Avenue. Standing along side it was Johnny, one of New York's bravest, enjoying the warm weather, in shorts, and baring this incredible leg tattoo:


This is, of course, Marilyn Monroe, but with a twist. She is sporting the New York Yankees jersey of one of the franchise's greatest players, Joe DiMaggio, to whom she was married for less than a year.

Johnny is a huge Yankee fan, and also loves Marilyn Monroe, one of the iconic figures of the 20th century, and among the most popular celebrities tattooed. I have featured Marilyn tattoos previously here and here.

The image is based on a lithograph that Johnny purchased at a FanFest in 1996. After having it tattooed on his right calf, he felt something was missing.

He contacted the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, and purchased an archival photograph of the original Yankee Stadium, circa 1923. This was then used as the source material to create the recognizable backdrop for Marilyn.


Johnny has a ton of tattoos, approximately 15 pieces in all. This one, along with others he has, was created by Cort Bengston at Cort's Royal Ink Tattoo Studio in Patchogue, New York.

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