Tattoosday Goes to Hawai'i - All in the Family, Part 1 (A Preface)

Although my recent trip to Hawai'i at the end of April was a bit of a whirlwind, one of the best things about it was reconnecting with a side of the family with whom I hadn't had contact in a long time.

Living in New York and raising a family is expensive enough, but making regular trips back home to Hawai'i has become a scarce occurrence and, as a result, my two sisters, and all my nieces and nephews, have grown apart over the years. Our interaction was limited to updates communicated through our parents.

But Fate has other plans, and family ties, although they may fray and weaken with age, still remain intact awaiting the opportunity to reconnect and strengthen in the memory of a loved one.

So, on the last Monday in April, I was at my niece's house, surrounded by family, most of whom I hadn't seen in almost two decades. And we were drinking and toasting "Poppa John"  Ferreira who, in passing, had reunited us here on Oahu. It was surreal to be doing shots with "kids" whose own kids were the same age as they had been when I saw them all last.

And of course, dear readers, I wouldn't be telling you any of this if it were not for their tattoos.

For although that was not why I was in Mililani at my niece Ulu's house that Monday evening, the subject came up, and my family, my distant `ohana, yet `ohana nonetheless, were happy to share their tattoos with me and, by extension, the Tattoosday audience, for your enjoyment.

I should mention that I knew my nieces and nephews had ink. I had even seen a picture of Ulu's amazing cover-up (just wait and see), but this was the first time I got a chance to talk with them about their work.

This first post started as a nod to my nephew Keali'i but, since I've rambled on and on, we'll just make this a preface, and direct you below (or here) to see his tattoos.

Thanks in advance to Keali'i, Lehua, Ikaika, Ulu and her husband Travis for sharing their ink with us here on Tattoosday!

Devin(e)

I wrote down the artists name as 'Devin' - can I find a link now? Can i buggery.

Juli's Right Calf: A Sugar Skull and More!

Back in April, I met Juli, who hosts a dozen tattoos, and counting.

She offered up two pieces, both on her right calf.

First was this sugar skull, inked by Chris Strangebreu, who currently is working out of Studio 33 Tattoo on St. Mark's Place in Manhattan:

Always a fan of sugar skulls here on Tattoosday, I was glad that Juli was more than happy to share this tattoo. She pointed out that the flowers are Gerbera daisies ("my ultimate favorite flower ever") and that the eyes and the tips of the daisies have unusual accents. Chris used an ink known as "Japanese pink,"  which makes the specific areas of the piece glow in the dark.
 
The other tattoo Juli shared is part of what she envisions to be a larger piece that will wrap around her calf and thematically connect with the sugar skull:

This was done by Geoff Horn at the Philadelphia Tattoo Arts Convention.

I'm hoping that this won't be the last we see from Juli, and I thank her for sharing these great tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Dispatch from the NYC Tattoo Convention - Greg's Amazing Back Piece

My wife Melanie and I were standing at the balcony, looking down at the floor of the Roseland Ballroom this past weekend at the New York City Tattoo Convention. This offered us a great vantage point of the stage and the mass of inked humanity in attendance.

Just to our left down below was one shop booth where a guy was standing with blue tattoos on his arms and you could tell he had color on his back, as well. Occasionally, he would turn toward our position and pull up his shirt to reveal his back to people in the booth. Camera clashes blinked and faces lit up with surprise, shock, and sheer admiration.

The first time I saw this, it piqued my curiosity, but so did a lot of things at the show. Then , we saw why he was eliciting such reactions. He turned away from us to reveal one of the more amazing back pieces I have seen. I decided that I'd love to have this as my obligatory post from the convention.

Behold, his work, up close:

Greg, the host of this astonishing tattoo, spent one and a half years having this worked on by Ian Shafer at Screamin' Ink Tattoo & Body Piercing in Fair Lawn, New Jersey.

Greg also has this pretty cool Jaws tattoo on his upper left arm:

and this amazing Great White shark on the inside of his biceps:

Greg explained to me that, aside from the obvious love of sharks that he has, the original film was the first movie he remembers seeing with his father. It doesn't hurt that he's a Pisces, either, one of the water-based astrological signs.

And, in case you were wondering, Greg told several of us who were admiring the work that the most painful part of this tattoo was the work on the buttocks. Ouch.

I took photos of several other tattoos that Greg had but decided they would just detract from this phenomenal tattoo.

A hearty thanks to Greg who was very cool in showing off his work on a day where I'm sure he had to remove his shirt more than a few times.

Caroline Rocks an Awesome R.Crumb Tattoo

I'm rationing all the tattoos I spotted in Hawai'i, which allows me to share the amazing ones I've seen since returning to New York. A huge backlog of ink photos means I can be pickier and share the very best.

My first day back in the Big Apple I met Caroline, at the corner of 23rd and 6th, a stone's throw from the Hotel Chelsea.

When I asked her to share one of her many tattoos (she has around 30), she bared her upper arm to reveal this great piece:

I recognized it immediately as the popular "underground" comic artist R. Crumb. Not that he wasn't already popular, but he illustrated a couple of Charles Bukowski stories in the late '80s, and this image was one used in the Black Sparrow Press issue of his short story "Bring Me Your Love".

Caroline explained to me why this tattoo was essential to her tapestry. She would often, when angry or frustrated, say she was so mad she could punch herself in the face. When she saw the drawing, she knew it would be a perfect tattoo for her.

Joe at Saints & Sinners in Baltimore was the artist who transferred R. Crumb's genius onto Caroline's flesh.


Thanks again to Caroline for sharing this great tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Jeni's Cinematic Ankle

I spotted Jeni's ankle back in April in a store on 24th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues.

One of five tattoos, I thought this one was pretty cool:

Jeni had been working in film part-time but she had finally decided that movies were what she would devote her life to. That is why the camera points forward.

Jeni, a documentarian, who has worked as a unit production manager and on continuity, sees this tattoo as a symbol of her decision to make movie making her life.

The tattoo was done at an unremembered shop name in Denver.

Thanks to Jeni for sharing her tatto with us here on Tattoosday!

An Update from Victor

I don't often run into Tattoosday subjects more than once, but when one works in the same neighborhood, it's often tough NOT to run into them.

Case in point is my friend Victor, who I first met here in an example of what I call a tat-alog, when multiple tattoos are photographed and discussed.

We did a second post on some new cinematic signature ink he had obtained here, and that had been it for a while.

Then, last month, I spotted him again in Penn Plaza, and thought that this tattoo was new:

There's been a lot of hoopla this week as Jimmy Fallon did a whole Rolling Stones tribute over five days in honor of the reissue of Exile on Main Street.

I'll let Victor explain the history of this particular tattoo:

...[This was] done by my cousin Eddie Bonacore in his apartment...then he did it for me again when he got officially hired as a tattoo artist @ Funhouse Tattooing in the Poconos.  I love the Stones, and credit my mom for that one...she got me into them.  The Stones ooze rock n' roll and always will...even watching Shine a Light, the documentary [Martin] Scorsese recently did on them...it just further shows there commitment to rock n' roll...the least I could do was add some tongue to my wrist!

Thanks again to Victor for keeping us entertained with his rockin' tattoos here on Tattoosday!