Jill's Mermaid (35th Annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade)

This past Saturday, I went out to Coney Island to catch the 35th Annual Mermaid Parade (@medmaidparade). This annual tradition has been ideal for Tattoosday inkspotting and this year was a banner year, having interviewed a dozen or so folks with cool tattoos, which we'll be sharing in the weeks to come.

Our first contributor is Jill. who shared this theme-related piece:

Jill's daughter had a bit to do with this tattoo, especially the top section. "Make me a mermaid," she said, and Jill went to her artist, Timmy Cronin (@TimmyTattooCronin) from Timmy Tattoo in Huntington, New York.

"I like his style," Jill told me, and I have to agree. I actually met Timmy at a supermarket in Brooklyn seven years ago (recounted here) and have featured work from his shop a few times over the years.

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

This entry is �2017 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website 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.

Brandon's Tattoos

Last summer I met a gentleman named Brandon Latham at the New York Empire State Tattoo Expo (@nyempirestatetattooexpo). He had just been tattooed by J.J. Ohlinger (@jjohlinger), who was working the show.

Check it out:

Photo courtesy of Brandon Latham

Brandon, who is an artist in Greenville, South Carolina, explained:

"I wanted to draw a tattoo, so I drew an octopus and shaded it and got the look that I wanted and then I gave it to a professional [Ohlinger] to make it into a stencil, to make it a cohesive piece, we kind of collaborated on it ... the octopus is a creature that adapts to its surroundings it has three hearts, and so I kinda did that to represent my wife, my daughter and myself  ... it's a creative unique character .... as soon as I thought about doing it, I saw them everywhere ... I thought about it for a long time because I'm not a very impulsive person, it took me a long time to even get a tattoo."

Ohlinger did a fine job placing the tattoo and making sure it flowed with the contour of Brandon's body. It's a great piece with solid linework and excellent detail.

Brandon also has this anatomical heart on the back of his calf, which Ohlinger also tattooed, back in 2014:

Brandon explained that "the different figures on the side[s] represent different things about [his] life." For example, the cat wearing the hat is "a Russian symbol that means even if you are born in mediocrity, you san still strive above and be an aristocrat," or, in other words, "just because you're born poor doesn't mean you have to continue to be poor, you can strive above that."

He also described the crow reading the book as a steampunk image, noting that "the crow, which is the only animal that analyzes human behavior ... has decided to take care of the children" after the kids' parents have gone off to work.

Brandon is a runner (10 half marathons and a couple of marathons), which explains the cool image of the hare with a tortoise shell on its back.

And the airplane, he explained "is a piper cub airplane, the plane that my dad used to work on, and my daughter's name is Piper."

The details in and around the heart really make this a cool combination of tattoos.

Thanks to Brandon for sharing his work with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is �2017 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website 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.

Three for Thursday - Kirsten Shares Her Tattoos

I spotted Kirsten last month in lower Manhattan after I saw the tattoo on the back of her calf. I had to ask about it but, it turns out, she had other tattoos, as well. Fortunately for me, she was in a generous sharing mood, and took the time to tell me about all of them.

First up, her feet:

Kirsten, who hails from Australia, explained the origins of these tattoos

"I grew up in Canada, so I kind of just wanted to start getting some mystic animals going on ... it's just like nicknames for my parents; I always called my dad Papa Bear and my mom Momma Wolf, so I got them for my parents.

She credited the work to a Sydney-based artist who works under the moniker Sprinkles (@Sprinkles_).

Sprinkles took her to his friend Scott M. Harrison to get this tattoo, on her thigh:

Here's a clearer shot from right after the tattoo was completed, liberally taken, with attribution from Harrison's Instagram (follow him @scott_m_harrison).

Photo via Instagram - @scott_m_harrison

Harrison noted " Really enjoyed doing the background pattern, would love to incorporate them into more pieces."

Kirsten explained:

"I've got like a theme of threes going on with all my other tattoos, so a three-eyed cat, it's kind of sll-seeing eye ... I got it kind of in honor of my friend that I'm visiting [in New York], she was always a crazy cat lady ... so one eye's for her, one eye's for the cat I grew up with [Betty Lou], and [one for] the cat I have now [Runty]."

And, finally, we have the tattoo I spotted in the first place:

She credited this to an artist named Louise that she met at the Australian Tattoo Expo in Sydney. This was one of the designs she had on display and Kirsten liked it.

Thanks to Kirsten for taking the time to share all of these tattoos with me. We here at Tattoosday our very grateful!

This entry is �2016 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website 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.

Sarah, The Master and Margarita

Yesterday I highlighted Sarah's tattoo inspired by a cover of a Neil Gaiman collection.

Normally, I wouldn't split a post unless it was long, but I felt Sarah's other tattoo that I took pictures of on the Broad Street platform warranted its own post.

First, the tattoo:

Inked on Sarah's inner arm, this is an image of a large black cat, swinging from a chandelier. It appears to be holding a gun. Below is the inscription "manuscripts don't burn."

The explanation is simple, this is another literary tattoo inscribed on Sarah, hearkening this time to Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita. The cat is named Behemoth and the scene depicted is one of the more memorable in the novel. The phrase "manuscripts don't burn" is uttered by a major character and is an integral message, both literally and figuratively, that permeates the text.

Before proceeding, a shout-out to Gerald Feliciano (@geraldfelciano) at East Side Ink (@eastsideink), who captured this scene so wonderfully.

When Sarah told me it was inspired by Bulgakov, I was familiar with the author's name, but had not read anything by him. Sarah emphatically insisted it was one of the great novels of all time. Not a huge fan of Russian literature, I was skeptical, but intrigued. Anyone who shares tattoos with me gives us something, but when that tattoo opens the door to curiosity and a feeding of the mind, it is truly something special.

By the following week, I was into the book, but I read it slowly. It is multi-layered and fantastical, peppered with history and satire. I'd point to one review that helped with perspective (here) and encourage reading the Penguin Classics edition which speaks to the history of the novel, published decades after Bulgakov had died, and includes pages of notes to assist with obscure references, making for a clearer reading experience.

This is one of those novels that changes you. Would I say it is the greatest novel of all time? No, probably not, but it's the first one I've read in a while that has threatened to break into my top twenty. And I think further consideration warrants inclusion.

The character Behemoth is a shining point of dark comic humor in The Master and Margarita. When the chandelier scene finally danced in front of my eyes, I was euphoric. I felt fulfilled. The novel is masterful and carries a wallop.

And quite honestly, with all the amazing books in the world, past and present, I don't know if I ever would have cracked the cover of this one had my path not crossed with Sarah's, had she not been so kind as to share her tattoos, to share them with us here on Tattoosday.

So thank you, Sarah, from the bottom of my book and tattoo-loving heart, for sharing this special tattoo with us here on Tattoosday. I hope that at least one Tattoosday reader will follow my lead and pick up the book and see why Behemoth is so special, why this novel is so important, and how a stranger's tattoo can change lives.

This entry is �2016 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website 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.

Amanda's Gentleman Cat

Earlier this month, I met Amanda, who hails from Texas, near the corner of Broad and Wall Streets in lower Manhattan. I spotted her with numerous tattoos and she kindly offered to share this cool piece:

She credited this work to Jay Joree (@jayjoree) from Last Angels Tattoos (@lastangelstattoos) in Dallas.

She told me, "I'm just a crazy cat lady and I really like cats." She added "I like the idea of having a Gentleman Cat." She plans on getting a complementary Lady Cat on the other side of her forearm.

Thanks, Amanda, for sharing this cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is �2016 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website 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.