Sarah Shares Two Beautiful Tattoos

Back in July 2013, I was at the New York City Poetry Festival on Governor's Island, and I met several people with great tattoos.

I saw a woman with some incredible work as she was leaving the event, and managed to speak to her before she had walked away.

Sarah shared two spectacular pieces, both by the talented Nalla Smith at Brooklyn's Goose Tattoo Parlor.

First is this piece on her calf:

Sarah explained this:

"This [Bird Girl] came from a Brazilian artist ... it was done in early 2011 and I was just browsing around on tumblr, a site called Art for Adults. It's mostly kinda like risque and women, but with all drawn and everything and then I just kind of randomly stumbled across this artist, I don’t remember the exact name but she’s Brazilian and then I messaged her asking if it was okay to use the image … she was really sweet and said ya just please send me a picture when you’re done and everything … and then so I just thought it was a really beautiful image … I know everyone has different reasons for getting tattoos, but for me, it was my first one and was super sentimental … after that … I almost felt like I couldn't really top this one, like the sentimentality, so I’d almost rather have something that was really beautiful and had a different purpose other than that..."

Sarah also shared this piece from her thigh:

Sarah elaborated:

"...Her name is Octavia, the artist for the original drawing is Courtney Brims, she’s Australian, not that it has anything to do with it but she’s from the same part of Australia where I used to live … like fast forward 6 years …  I just saw it again, a really beautiful image, and actually [in] the original artwork ... she’s blonde and obviously that doesn't translate all that well to a tattoo 

© Courtney Brims

... Nalla took a lot of ... liberty with the coloring and everything and it was so funny because he was, at the very last second ... going to be about 45 minutes of shading and then ... he said ‘let’s go dark’ and then that turned into about 3 and a half hours and I almost passed out during it … not too much of a story behind that … it’s quite big and the reason for that is because I didn't tell him how big I wanted it, I trusted him to just do his thing … because he knew what the appropriate size was … I just knew that he would do a good job and even the placement is not like straight on and everything … he’s very good at placing tattoos." 

Thanks to Sarah for sharing her beautiful tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

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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.

Erica Wears Her Heart on Her Sleeve

The concept of wearing your heart on your sleeve isn't completely original, but when I met Erica in the grocery store last month, I was impressed with this interpretation:

Erica said she got this, one of twelve tattoos she has, to remind herself "not to toughen up ... you go through some shit and you kinda want to be mean and nasty and callous and it's kind of a reminder to be cool and stay neutral and be nice, no matter what."

She credited John Poverty at Thicker Than Water in the East Villlage with this tattoo. Work form John has previously appeared on Tattoosday here. He now tattoos out of Goose Tattoo in Brooklyn.

Thanks to Erica for sharing her softer side with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2012 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.

Two for Tattoosday: Elise Remembers Paris and Shares a Cardinal

These next tattoos would not be here on Tattoosday were it not for signal problems at the Jay Street subway station in Brooklyn.

For it was an e-mail alert about those problems disrupting train service which sent me away from my normal routine and directed me last week to the Herald Square subway station to catch a D train.

It was there on the southbound platform that I met Elise who displayed some cool ink on her arms. We chatted a bit and, because her top partially obscured sections of her tattoos, she told me she'd email me photos. Not everybody who says that means it, or follows up, but Elise did not disappoint and sent me the following photos later that evening.

First, is this interesting tattoo on her upper right arm:

Elise calls this “Paris in a Woman,” which is inspired by the fact that she was born and raised in France. The idea of including the Parisian cityscape came from Charmaine Olivia, an artist based out of San Francisco. Elise included the Eiffel Tower in it. The tattoo was done by John Poverty, who tattoos out of Goose Tattoo in Brooklyn.

Lower on her right arm is this amazing bird tattoo:

Elise explained:

“The cardinal by Mike Adams [of True Sight Tattoo Company in Detroit] was inspired by family. Once all my siblings and I ‘flew the coop,’ my parents took up bird watching, and are now avid cardinal lovers.  Mike inked this out of Thicker Than Water in Manhattan, [where he] will have a short residency in the beginning of December.”

Work by Mike appeared over the summer on Tattoosday here.

Thanks again to Elise for sharing these wonderful tattoos 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.