Sharon's Bird on a Saturday

At the end of September, I spotted this bird on the left side of Sharon's upper back:

 

Sharon drew this herself and had it tattooed at Fat Cat Tattoo in Sacramento, California.

I'd love to tell you more about this tattoo, but Sharon never e-mailed me to give me more details. Nonetheless, it's some nice work.

Thanks to Sharon for sharing her bird with us here on Tattoosday!

Mrs. Dirtbird's Wedding Tattoo

Yesterday we enjoyed seeing the neck tattoo of a Missouri-based artist nicknamed "Dirtbird," as well as a piece he had inked on his friend Shawn.

In addition to meeting both Shawn and Dirtbird across the street from where I work, I also met Katie, who half-jokingly referred to herself as "Mrs. Dirtbird". She shared this tattoo with us:

Katie explained that this is a wedding tattoo. The piece depicts a heart, comprised of a male and female bird, sewn together. Since she married Dirtbird, this seems like and appropriate expression of their matrimony.

The tattoo was inked by Becky "Pink Eye" Ashcraft, who works with Dirtbird at Punkteur Tattoo in Joplin, Missouri.

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

Introducing...Dirtbird!

Occasionally in my wanderings, I will meet not just tattooed people, but tattoo practitioners, and often those visiting from outside of New York City.

So it was no surprise, when I approached a gentleman across the street from where I work, at 31st and 7th, to learn that I was talking to an artist.

Working out of Punkteur Tattoos & Piercing in Joplin, Missouri, Derek "Dirtbird" Wieberg estimates he has 130-150 hours of work inked on his personal canvas.

With so much to choose from, he offered up this piece, on the right side of his neck:

It seemed fitting, considering his name.

Dirtbird praised the artist, Rick Pierceall at Karma Tattoo in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who has done all of his throat work.

Considering it is Two-for-Tattoosday, I'll share this photo as well:

That's not Dirtbird, but it's his handiwork! The owner of this tattoo is Shawn, who had the good fortune to be inked by Dirtbird. They collaborated on the design together.

Thanks to Dirt Bird and Shawn for sharing their tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Tune in tomorrow to see a tattoo from Katie, aka Mrs. Dirtbird!

Rachel's Bird Helped Her Let Go

The same night I met Brian, I met Rachel, who has eight tattoos.

She shared this one with me:

This piece on her left biceps is based on the work of artist Kurt Halsey. This little bird appears in multiple works by the artist, but Rachel imagined it for her own personal situation. She got it after a break-up a couple of years ago, and the tattoo gave her the strength to "let the bird go". In this case, the bird represents the ended relationship and the tattoo is a transitional piece that helped her recover from the difficulty of moving past it.

From Memphis, Tennessee, Rachel had this inked at Underground Art Tattoos and Body Piercing by Chris Fitzgerald. Chris had been a piercer at the shop and then moved into tattooing. He has since left tattooing and moved to photography. His new business is Cult Noir Photography, and his work can be seen here.

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

Two Rocking Tattoos from Joe

I met Joe last month outside of Penn Station and he shared two tattoos with us.

First is this hellcat:

Why this cat? It's a design, Joe says, inspired by the band Rancid, whose music appears on Hellcat Records.

Not to mention, he likes cats. Need he have more reasons? That's on his upper left arm.

I'm more excited to share this photo, which actually is a rare Tattoosday shot in which one can see the contributor's face. I could have cropped it out, but I think it's a cool shot.

This tattoo arose out of Joe's desire to have some body art made with red ink. The design is based on the album art for a disbanded musical act out of Washington called Isa.

The two tattoos are among five Joe has in total and were done by Milton Sillas at Tattoo Royale in the Pacific Beach section of  San Diego, California.

Thanks to Joe for sharing his ink with us here on Tattoosday and for waiting so patiently for me to get to his tattoos. The summer backlog is both a bane and a blessing.

As a postscript, readers familiar with the site will notice that I've watermarked these photos. I've grown tired of seeing Tattoosday content appropriated elsewhere on the web, without attribution. This is an attempt to maintain credit of our content here at Tattoosday.

Lindsay's Ink for Peace

When I recently upgraded my camera, the first new photo I took, of Lindsay's tattoo, convinced me I had selected well:

This lovely tattoo, on Lindsay's upper left arm, is punctuated by this part of the tattoo on her biceps:



The picture tells the story and the words, all meaning a form of "peace" in Hebrew, Arabic, Sanskrit, and English, punctuate the images just inches away.

Lindsay took a class on world religions at the University of Rhode Island and this influenced her greatly. She wanted the tattoo to focus on the beauty at the heart of religion, and to disregard the conflict that so often plagues religious dogma.

Lindsay feels that the tenet of peace is often lost and this is her way of expressing how it means so much, but is forgotten in relations with people of different backgrounds.

She brought a picture that somewhat embodied how she wanted the tattoo to look in to Artfreek Tattoo in Providence, Rhode Island. She and the artist Brian Mullen collaborated on interpreting what she wanted the piece to embody and she was very happy with the end result.

The tattoo was completed in two short sittings that spanned four hours.

Work from Artfreek has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

Thanks to Lindsay for sharing this fabulous tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Mor's Key is Found and Kept Forever

On the last Monday evening in June, I met Mor at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square. Her website identifies Mor as a "character animator and 'moving collage' artist".

However, we didn't talk about Mor's work.That never came up.Rather,we discussed the Tattoo on Mor's forearm:

Mor's mother had given her a little golden key as a gift that she wore on her earlobe. At some point in the middle of the night, this began to bother Mor, who would pluck the key off and throw it across the room. In the morning, Mor would find the key. This unusual pattern became a ritual of sorts until one morning, the key was nowhere to be found. Lost forever over the years, this tattoo reclaimed the key, and now Mor has it tattooed forever.

The bird represents a friend of Mor who is an "adopted mother" and someone very close to Mor.

The tattoo was done by Shiloah Rusciolelli, who currently lives in Seattle.

Thanks to Mor for sharing this unusual tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Here is Mor's "Bimboim's Trip to the Western Wall":



Mornography's YouTube channel is here.

Jenn's Ink Celebrates a Seventies Vibe

On a day that found me unsuccessful with inkspotting the 5th Avenue Festival in Bay Ridge, Fate walked me past Jenn, sitting outside a laundromat a block away from my home.

She happily shared the work on her upper left arm:

These stunning colors encircled her biceps.

She said this piece, inked by Jared Stomber at Kustom Kulture Ink in Baldwin, New York, is an "ode to 1970's fashion". This is one area of interest to her that moves her artistically and she wanted to express it through body art.

Fictional character Rhoda Morgenstern (from The Mary Tyler Moore Show and spin off Rhoda) was among the cultural icons that inspired the design.

The inner part of Jenn's arm also features artwork that recalls the animated birds from the opening sequence of The Partridge Family.

Although her birds are much more elaborate.

Thanks to Jenn for sharing this amazing tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!