Little Dead Riding Hood

I met Amy in Penn Station earlier this month and she agreed to share this, one of her eight tattoos:Actually, she has since e-mailed me about her ninth, and I am waiting for a photo.This tattoo represents an undead version of Little Red Riding Hood, which is Amy's favorite fairy tale.She also likes...

Zack's Spectacular Foot Tattoos

I met Zack earlier this month as he was walking north on Broadway. But, like many Tattoosday encounters, the ink I spotted (on his leg) was not what ended up here on the blog.Behold, Zack's feet:These incredible foot tattoos were created by Beef Stu at Bleed Blue Tattoo in Lexington, Kentucky. Zack...

Stephanie's ???

It was a string of elephants marching above Stephanie's right ankle that first made me stop and talk to her, but she offered up this, her first tattoo, as well:She started with the Chai at the top of her left breast. At the time, Stephanie was dating a guy who was covered in tattoos., She was 35,...

J.R.'s Five Elements

At the end of August, I spent a couple of minutes on the R train with J.R., who has quite a few tattoos. I didn't have time to take notes, just photos, and I hoped that she would e-mail me with all the details of her work. Fortunately, she did. So, what follows is her explanation of the tattoos, with...

Cogito Chuck Robbins (Literary Ink)

Sometimes I abbreviate post titles and they seem nonsensical, like one of those captcha messages, or a subject line in a morsel of spam.So I'm sticking with this title "Cogito Chuck Robbins" because I like the way it sounds. So there. It will all make sense eventually.I met Chris outside of Penn Station...

Colin's Left Leg is Traditionally Flash-y

I spotted Colin one afternoon while I was waiting for another tattooed individual to get off of her cell phone.(Not only have I come up with individual terms for things that are associated with inkblogging, but I follow a code, as well. One of its tenets is to never bother someone talking on a cell...

Sweet Pea Shares More Classic Brooklyn-Style Ink

My last tattoo (here) was inked by Pete who uses the moniker "Sweet Pea".I stopped by to say hi a few weeks back and I got a glimpse of him tattooing a koi on a client's leg.Sweet Pea invited me to snap a shot of his own leg, recently inked by legendary tattoo artist Tony Polito:This piece of classicly-inspired...

Claire's Tree of Memory and Strength

On a drizzly day in late August, I ran into Claire, a woman on my block in Bay Ridge, with this tattoo on her upper right arm:When I asked Claire about the tattoo, she explained that her mother is mentally ill and that, despite being present, she really has not been there as a parent to her, due to...

Tessa's Tattoo Illustrates the Battle of Head Versus Heart

Yesterday, I wrote about two of Lindsay's tattoos. After talking to her, I spoke to her friend Tessa, who had this amazing piece on her left shin:First, I need to commend Tessa on the quality of this tattoo, which looks crisp and fresh, as if it had just been inked a few weeks ago. She actually had...

A Ship and An Owl Sail in from California

I ran into Lindsay and her friend Tessa as they were coming out of Penn Station last month.Between them they have seventeen tattoos, many of which are fairly amazing. Lindsay shared two of her pieces with us here at Tattoosday.First up is a traditional ship tattoo on the front of her upper left arm:Aside...

Christina's Flawed Tattoo is Just Right

I spotted this interesting tattoo while in Penn Station last month:Christina, to whom this piece belongs, called this a "reverse tattoo," in that the main focal point of the piece is the word "Flawed".The word is empty of ink and is created by the artist using negative space.But why "flawed?" Christina...

Nine Little Foot Tattoos and a Prayer for Peace

It is embarrassing to admit, I don't remember the name of today's contributor.Normally, regular readers may know, I'm a bit more diligent about contributors to the site, but in this case, Z, as I will refer to her, gave me her card, which included her email address and website (she's an artist that...

Cenk's Skeleton Tattoo Pays Homage to Yukio Mishima and St. Sebastian

I met Cenk where I meet so many Tattoosday volunteers, outside of Penn Station on the plaza adjacent to Madison Square Garden.He shared this, one of his four tattoos:This is an interpretation of the depiction of St. Sebastian, as seen by the Japanese author Yukio Mishima, one of Cenk's favorite writers....

Alexandra's Tattoo Asks "Whoooo ... Are ... You?"

I was walking through Penn Statiom in late August, when I stopped dead in my tracks after spotting this tattoo on the upper right section of Alexandra's back:Tattoos are interesting to me, to begin with, but when they illustrate a work of literature, I am pleased to no end, even if the work in question...