tatoo

Phil Shares a Portrait of His Kids

One of my daughters' teammates on her lacrosse club was immortalized, along with her big brother, on her father's arm:

At the end of the season, I got a chance to chat with Phil, the father of these two kids, about his work. The son was three in the portrait and the daughter was one. Now, they're both teenagers.

He told me that he got this piece almost twelve years ago from a European artist named Zsolt. The artist in question, Zsolt Sárközi, hails from Budapest, Hungary, and works at a shop he founded called Dark Art Tattoo. The tattoo was done here in New York City, at Sacred Tattoo in Manhattan.

Thanks to Phil for sharing this wonderful portrait of his children with us here on Tattoosday!

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Katrina Shares a Pair of Audrey Kawasaki Designs in One Tattoo!

Earlier this month, I rode my bike in the Tour de Queens. At one point in the ride, all the riders had stopped in the hot sun as we waited for traffic. I looked at the person next to me and noticed she had an amazing tattoo on her right thigh. I introduced myself and she told me her name was Katrina. She told me a little about the tattoo and allowed me to take a picture of it:

I know, I know, the photo seems a little washed out. I shot it in bright sunlight and that was the best I could do. However, Katrina gave me her artist's info and I was able, with permission, to post the tattooist's photo from his online portfolio:

Photo Courtesy of Andy Pho

So, you can see, it's a pretty amazing tattoo.

Katrina later e-mailed me with her explanation of the piece:

"The whole piece on my thigh just basically gives me a representation of who I am and who I can be.

It took me 3 years to finally go with it. The artist who did it is Andy Pho (www.andypho.com) who at the time tattooed at Omni Ink in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. I've always admired geishas for their perseverance and aiming to be better performers. The whole presentation of them is just beautiful and broken at the same time. Their make-up covers their whole face so you can't really tell what they're thinking or how they feel. Just a piece of mystery.

I found the geisha from one of my favorite painters, Audrey Kawasaki. I absolutely love her work. I basically combined two paintings into one. The geisha (Yuuwaka) and the anatomical heart (My Dishonest Heart) are probably my two favorite ones from her. I'm very keen on detail and Andy just did a phenomenal job for someone who had only been tattooing for a year and a half at the time."

Here are the two Kawasaki paintings in question:

"Yuuwaku" 誘惑 allure

oil and graphite on wood 20"x 26"

"Hajimari"@Jonathan Levine Gallery in NY 2009

© Audrey Kawasaki 2004 - 2013

and

My Dishonest Heart

mixed media on wood 10"x12"

'The Drawing Show' @ Thinkspace 2008

© Audrey Kawasaki 2004 - 2013

Andy Pho, the tattoo artist responsible for this great tattoo, has since left Brooklyn and Omni Ink for his own shop in Las Vegas, called Skin Design Tattoo.

Andy adds, by way of a bio:

"We are currently undergoing a major relocation to a larger studio set to open in late August. Please follow the artists there as well (the artist roster and work will be updated for the grand opening).

I am a Brooklyn native (born in Coney Island, lived in Midwood, Flatbush, Boro Park, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, and Gravesend, before relocating to Vegas)."

For the latest on Andy and Skin Design's progress, you can follow him on Facebook here.

Thanks to Katrina for sharing her awesome Audrey Kawasaki two-in-one tattoo, and to Andy Pho, for helping us really appreciate his fine work!

Vicki's Words of Inspiration Get Her Where She Needs to Go

I'm always interested on what people choose to permanently inscribe on themselves, especially when the tattoo is textual.

Earlier this week, I met Vicki in my local grocery store and she had this inked on her inner wrist:

Her tattoo reads "Motivation Dedication Hard Work."

Vicki explained,

"I'm a marathon runner. So, when you get to, like, mile 20 and have six to go, you need a little motivation, dedication and hard work ... I started living by that about ten years ago, and it gets me where I need to go."

In October, Vicki will be running her 5th marathon.

This script and tattoo was done by Mr. Kaves at Brooklyn Made Tattoo in Bay Ridge.

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

Ink Master, Season 3: Who the Hell Are These Guys?

Say what you want about "reality" tattoo competition shows, but they are relevant to tattoo blogs, regardless of how you feel. Personally, I find them fascinating on so many different levels.

The third season of Ink Master premiered this week and, while I won't run down the entire roster of this season's contestants, I do want to note that a couple of them have had their work showcased on Tattoosday previously.

The first person who jumped out at me was Craig Foster, from Skinwerks Tattoo & Design in Carrollton, Georgia.

Craig had two pieces appear on Tattoosday in 2008. This one:

Read about this tattoo here.

and this one:

Read about this tattoo here.

Many of the names are familiar, and we all remember Tatu Baby from season 2.

I featured one of her more recognizable pieces back in 2011:

Read about it here.

Something about one of the other contestants rang familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it. The artist with the moniker Made Rich had my ink-sense tingling and then, I realized, I interviewed one of his clients just a few weeks ago at the NYC Urban Tattoo Convention.

Based out of the Queens shop Think Before You Ink, one of my favorite pieces of the night was this thigh tattoo on a woman named Taylor:

I haven't published this one yet, but I'll retroactively link it once it's done.

So I'll be tuning in this season just to see how these three artists fare, along with the others. The judges, Dave Navarro, Oliver Peck, and Chris Nunez, are hyper-critical in their assessments, which lends a certain degree of authenticity to the show's claim to find the best tattooer among the bunch to crown Ink Master.

Keep an eye on the three artists above, because I think they have a good chance of going deep into the competition.

Brandenbrass, or: there was a time once when I blogged often...

Still here, still battling on: if there was an award for World's Suckiest At Self-Discipline (and blogging), I would surely be a contender.

Where I am at creatively, atm? What does a soul do with creativity and inspiration? With the flow and the necessary ebb of productive humours? Do you put them in a box, a routine that allows them daily expression? Do you wait until they burst in fiery generating glory then suffer the long slow down-swing before the next up-swing? Is it something in-between? Is this in-between even possible? As an author of three books, should I have not already figured this out?

While you chew on that cud, please be entertained by a glimpse of a current WIP: a map of Brandenbrass.

Brandenbrass: Work-in-progress.

Brandenbrass: a detail.

Of course, is doing a map of Brandenbrass useful? Perhaps leaving it uncharted and open to interpretation would serve better?* I do love a good map tho, and figuring out how in Photoshop I can achieve an antiquated look has been a grand adventure.

Also, for those not connected to the Book-of-Face, I have an anthology of two stories (if a pair of tales can be called an anthology) before my publisher atm: the first being The Corsers' Hinge, the second a story of a country girl come to the city to make coin for her family back in the parish of Broad Trim with a working title I will not divulge because i think it gives away what happens. These are awaiting acceptance, and if by God and my publisher's grace they go ahead, it will clock in at about 50,000 words - so not as long as Foundling, but still with some substance. Here's to praying/hoping this might be available next year.

As to your observation about far-seeing Idaho, Mr Alyosha, this is indeed an insight for Idaho was indeed extraordinary woman carrying much of the vigour and clarity and inspiration of the mighty, self-destroyed Phelgms. She alone of all the survivors of her original nation's fall managed to establish a new empire, and only the hard hearts and selfish ambition of her ministers finally brought that empire low by the betrayal of her equally dynamic grand-daughter, Dido, the reputed founder of the Sceptic/Haacobin dynasty. Thus, this is why the aristocracy are so keen to align themselves with such a vaunted bloodline.

How do I speak about the Derelands, Simon? I want to spout on and on, but also want to save it all for actual stories. Can I ask you what ideas you might have about it?

Time to log, cheers to you all.

*My word, I am full of questions today...