Tattoosday in Kentucky: Taylor's Owls

I don't travel too often, but last week, I had an overnight business trip to Covington, Kentucky. I was excited to do some inkspotting outside of New York, but the bustle of the airports and the late arrival on a rainy evening didn't bode well for early success.

However, after my co-worker dropped me at the front of the hotel in Hebron, Kentucky, so I could get an early start on check in, he was a bit surprised to come in after parking the rental car to see me chatting with Taylor, the front desk representative, as she was unbuttoning her top shirt to share these tattoos with me:

While checking in, I had noticed a flaming diamond tattoo on Taylor's wrist and, after explaining a little about Tattoosday, she happily agreed to participate, showing me these two owls which she liked a lot more than her wrist tattoo.

She explained that she got these after going through a rough time, and that she appreciated the symbolism of owls, and the wisdom they represent. The owl is often associated with the Greek goddess Athena, who is often depicted with an owl perched on her shoulder.

Taylor had these tattooed at Arts Ink in Covington, Kentucky, by Boddhi.

Thanks to Taylor for sharing her owls and welcoming me to Kentucky with some cool ink!

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.

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.

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:

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.

Thanks to Siobhan for sharing her beautiful tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Anita's Gorey Tattoo

 

When I spotted Anita's tattoo, at the corner of 7th Avenue and 34th Street, I knew it was based on the artwork of Edward Gorey. In fact, this link, will display all the ink tagged "Gorey" on Tattoosday.

Despite their popularity, I never tire of tattoos based on Gorey's work. This particular piece is from a series of illustrations from Gorey's The Gashleycrumb Tinies.

Anita got this piece at Crazy Monkey Tattoo in Brooklyn.

Thanks to Anita for sharing her 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.

James and His Colorful Sleeve

Last month, I had the pleasure of running into James, in Penn Station. He has an incredible sleeve, which he gladly took some time to share with us:

James is very interested in Japanese traditions, and this piece, by Christian Masot at Silk City Tattoo in Hawthorne, New Jersey, is a stunning colorful tribute. I mean, check out this detail:

Work from Silk City has appeared before on Tattoosday, check out these examples.

On the bottom of James' right arm is this incredible collage:

This burst of color includes a poison dart frog, a Jackson chameleon, a lotus, a mum, and a tulip.

Thanks to James for sharing his amazing work 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.

Danielle's Beautiful Gypsy Tattoo

Well, we're back after a month-long hiatus of regular inkspotting while we celebrated National Poetry Month with the Tattooed Poets Project. It was actually on my way back from interviewing one of our poets, Alicia Adams, in Union Square, when I ran into a woman on the uptown subway platform who had some incredible tattoos.

We discussed her ink for a couple of stops and, when we got off the train, I snapped this phenomenal tattoo:

Oh, and let me tell you, dear readers, how tough it was to hold on to this picture through the entire month of April. But, as they say, good things come to those who wait.

This incredible piece was inked by Regino Gonzales at Invisible NYC. Danielle recalls, "I wish I had some amazing story about  the tattoo we picked. When I was at InvisibleNYC to talk with another artist, I fell in love with the gypsy woman that Regino designed. Then I made my appointment with him!"

I have been fortunate to come across Regino's work in the streets, by chance, three times before. You can read about those encounters, and see the tattoos, here.

Thanks to Danielle for sharing her awesome 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.

The 2011 Tattooed Poets Project Recap

When I first started The Tattooed Poets Project in 2009, I was flying blind. Now, three years and 96 posts from 90 poets later, I feel truly blessed. To say it is a labor of love is an understatement. The Tattooed Poets Project may run for only one month, but I start working on it three months earlier, and getting thirty poets to participate is a challenge. E-mails back and forth, Facebook messages, and the sublimation of my worry that I will seem stalker-esque and creepy.

I simply could not do this without the people I call my champions: Stacey Harwood and David Lehman with the Best American Poetry blog, the incomparable Dorianne Laux who is an uninked poet, but seems to have an endless list of poets she does know with tattoos, and Adam Deutsch, my West Coast connection. This year, Patricia Carragon, who curates the Brownstone Poets reading group in New York became the latest in a growing list of talented individuals who sounded the clarion call for submissions.

To these folks, as well as all the participants who contributed this year, I raise my arms in a gesture of praise and thanksgiving. Without all of you, this little venture, which next year will eclipse the century mark in both submissions and contributors, would be fruitless.

Remember, you can see who has participated this year, as well as in years past, here, in the Tattooed Poets Project Index.

Again, thanks to all who have sent me their work, both written and inked, and to all of you who have been checking in daily. And for all of you Tattoosday fans who have been waiting patiently for our "regular" programming to resume, tomorrow we will start posting regularly again, and, boy, do we have some great stuff to showcase in May.

With gratitude and humility, I thank you all.

Bill Cohen