New York Adorned's artist Chad Koeplinger

See more from New York Adorned HERE

Tattoos by Dana Helmuth at New York Adorned

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Megan's Numeric Neck tattoo

On a day when my wife was tattooed with a lucky "13," it seemed fortuitous when our waitress at dinner unveiled her numeric tattoo:


Born on April 7, Megan had these hash marks inked onto the back left side of her neck.

Because of the numbers 4 and 7 being significant in her life (aside from their analagousness to the seventh of April), she chose a rather unorthodox forty-seven lines, inked up like a scorecard.

This was tattooed at New York Adorned.

Thanks to Megan for baring her neck in the line of duty and sharing with us here on Tattoosday!

Chris Shares Memorial Peonies for His Grandmother, Aileen

Here at Tattoosday, we're all about finding great ink on the streets of the greatest metropolis in the world, New York City.

But we also occasionally get mail from the tattooed who I have not met, but who want to share. I had a little bit of backlog from earlier this Fall and am finally getting to some of the generous contributions.

Chris sent me a photo of his tattoo in early October, along with a thoughtful and well-written history behind the piece. His story is fascinating, and his insight into the tattoo process is meticulous and, I believe, illustrative of how best to go about creating a design that imports significant meaning into the tattoo in question. I'll let Chris' words tell the story...

Hello,

My name's Chris. I'm a freelance graphic artist who lives in the East Village. I stumbled across your blog when I was trying to track down an artist from New York Adorned - the one who did the tattoo I'd like to share with you. I hope you don't mind me just writing you like this, but I liked what I saw on your blog and I felt it would be a good place to share this piece.

I am originally from Australia SC, but I came up here two months later to visit my brother for a week or so. The first thing I did on the Sunday afternoon when I got here was head to New York, but I have lived in the US since 1990. I have not gotten to visit home the whole time I've been in the states, which means I've missed all my cousin's weddings, as well as my best friend's and I've missed being there when they had their first children. Not having been home in all this time also means I never got to see my grandmother again before she passed away in June of 2007, which was just the most horrible feeling. At the time of her passing I was still living in Adorned. I'd already set up an appointment before I came up and I'd set aside funds just for the visit, so I went over there and Damion Ross got started on my memorial piece. The piece was originally a painting that I did and Damion did some redesigning to make it truer to the style of tattoo that I wanted, so the end result is really the perfect tribute to my grandmother who loved her garden and flowers. The tattoo required two sessions and it cost more than any of my other work, but you really can't put a price on a piece that commemorates the life of someone so dear.


Just for frame of reference, I have been recovering from severe facial injuries for almost four years. At the time I made the trip up here to get the tattoo I was out of work and had no income, other than a measly settlement that a judge had begrudgingly awarded me for Social Security. I spent a sizable chunk of that settlement to memorialize my grandmother, even though I had no idea when I'd have income again. My point is that people should not be stingy when memorializing a loved one, because you're going to be carrying that reminder with you for the rest of your life. Do you really want to be reminded of how cheap you are? Give them prime real estate and wear it proudly.

Thanks for letting me share with you.

Chris.

Damion Ross' work has appeared on Tattoosday previously here. And New York Adorned has been featured many times, as evidenced here.

Chris wrote me back and expounded further on the importance of really putting thought and effort into getting the perfect design and not settling for anything less:

Hey Bill,

I'm glad to be able to share my ink and story. I am working on getting some good coverage, but that's kind of hard to do when your income is extremely limited. I've collected images and put together designs for a number of years, but this was one that I wasn't prepared for at the time, nor did I have any idea that my next tattoo would be a memorial piece. So I set about searching images for my design - looking through numerous illustrations of Japanese floral paintings, as well as photographs of flowers and different types of traditional tattoo banners. I also made sure I did my research on the symbolism of flowers in Japanese art - both for flower type and colour, as these details are of great importance. When I'd found some good, solid reference material, I was then able to start on the design work.

I did a strong pencil sketch from a photo of peonies, the two most opulent blooms and capturing as much detail as I could. I spent a good number of hours sketching to make sure I had a good solid foundation. When I'd completed the sketch I scanned it and started to colourize it in Photoshop to make sure I'd have just the right colour scheme. Once I had that down I started painting what would be my first floral painting ever! I have to honestly say I amazed myself, as I wasn't even sure I could paint flowers, but my eye didn't betray me and the results were fantastic. That said, it was the digital version that I took to New York Adorned and it ended up being simplified considerably, but the image became more bold in its simplification.

So I would recommend putting a lot of thought and work into your memorial piece, but then let the tattooist do his (do I need to say or her in this day and age) job, as they generally know what they're doing. I'm attaching a (terrible) photo of the painting,


as well as the digitized version that the tattoo artist referred to. There's a drastic difference between the scan and the photo already, as I'd only sketched the flowers when I scanned the board. I took the painting in the direction I did to offer further interpretation and ramifications to the piece. I ended up selling the painting, though not for nearly as much as I'd have liked, consider the tremendous amount of work that went into it. Before it sold I had a tattooist contact me asking if I'd sell him a digitized version to use on t-shirts. I replied with very precise terms, saying that I'd already considered making t-shirts and prints of the design so maybe we could work something out, but then I never heard back from the guy. So if you see this design around - the one with the hand and scissors - it has been stolen and I'd be most interested to hear about, as I have not had the opportunity (read: the funds) to have anything printed.....

It isn't often that I receive such an in depth analysis of a tattoo from someone. It's clear that Chris being an artist has magnified his passion about this art form. I appreciated the opportunity to share his thoughts here with everyone on Tattoosday. Once again, much thanks to Chris for illuminating his beautiful memorial tattoo for us!

Mara Shares a Decorative Tattoo

I met Mara this afternoon in the plaza at the corner of 39th Street and Broadway. She was kind enough to share the above tattoo, inked on her left forearm.

She talked to me as she finished her soup, and I'm appreciative of that, as I felt a little guilty intruding on her lunch break.

Mara notes that this piece is "purely decorative". It was tattooed by Stephanie Tamez at New York Adorned, based on a design created by her friend Katherine Irwin.


The tattoo is inspired by the work of Aubrey Beardsley (who provided inspiration for a previous Tattoosday entry here). The lines and design, especially the peacock feathers, have a Beardsley-esque feel to them.


Thanks to Mara for sharing this beautiful tattoo with us!

A Butterfly Koi Rising on the Arm of Belquis

Had I not forgotten to get my daughter Shayna her copy of Judy Blume's Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, I wouldn't have wandered into the Court Street Barnes & Noble in Brooklyn on Labor Day and spotted this awesome butterfly koi above.

Belquis, who has five tattoos, explained that this tattoo represents an interpretation of the koi fish mythology, where the koi is rising out of the water, about to turn into a dragon.

The piece was designed by her friend Karleen Ang, and inked by Kazuhisa (Kaz) Matsumoto at New York Adorned. Belquis has been loyal to Kaz since he was an artist working out of his home. When he moved to Adorned, she followed.

Belquis added, "All five of my tattoos were done by Kaz...I have an ohm (neck), the ambigram (neck), dark fairy (left back shoulder), my first and middle name in Arabic under the symbol for Zahir (right back shoulder). All black." Who knows? Maybe we'll see more of Bel's ink in the future here on the blog.

Work from NY Adorned has appeared on Tattoosday previously here.

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

Burn My Body: Carson Honors a Difficult Decision

Needless to say, I was amazed.

Our paths intersected at 23rd and 7th around Noon. He had neck work and a sleeve, and an incredible lighthouse tattooed on the back of his left leg (for his fiancée, he later explained), but I didn't think I'd catch him. He was walking faster than me, and had earbuds in. I generally don't like to a) interrupt people listening to music and, b) chase them.

But I happened to be walking the same direction and, when I noticed he had stopped to look into the windows of Dan's Chelsea Guitars, condition "b" was no longer a factor.

I approached him, distracted him from his ear buds, and introduced myself. I forgave myself the interruption because his work was so well done.

As I always do, when speaking with folks with multiple tattoos, I asked him which meant the most, which piece I could feature here on Tattoosday. He acknowledged that he had a chest piece which was "in progress". Did he mind showing me on the street? As the photo above indicates, not at all.

Excuse my manners. I didn't introduce our host properly. The guy on the sidewalk displaying has tattoos just downstairs from the Hotel Chelsea was Carson James.

Carson is a Brooklynite that plays bass in a band called Tombs (click to hear some of their stuff on their MySpace page).

And when he pulled his shirt off, I was expecting a great chest piece, but nothing like what scrolled across his body.

Carson confirmed, the words were the complete lyrics to a song, "Burn My Body" by William Eliot Whitmore.


"What," I asked, "is the significance of this song that made you want to preserve it forever on you like this?"

He told me how, about two years ago, his younger brother, Trevor Lorne James, was killed in a motorcycle accident in New Jersey. His parents were understanably distraught over such a devastating event, and the decision fell to Carson - his brother's body was cremated.

Here are the lyrics to "Burn My Body":

Burn My Body

Burn my body in the northern field
and let the wind blow the ashes around
Then you will know that my wounds have been healed
'cause Lord I'll be homeward bound

Let the flames warm your hands
let the glow light your way
These gifts to you I bestow
No one's listening don't bother to pray
if you do I'll never know
Up and up the smoke will roll
like a cloud of frightened crows
carry my not so immortal soul
up between the rows

Some words that are said can cut like a saw
and my ears nearly bled at the sound
I can't help prepare for the springtime thaw
'cause Lord I'll be homeward bound
When frost turns to flowers and they all start to bloom
and there's nothing left to hold
tip one back and sing me a tune
and never let the fire grow cold

You can see a video of Whitmore performing the song here.

We talked about cremation and I asked if he had ever heard the poem "Cremation" by Robinson Jeffers (read it here). I promised to e-mail it to him later.

This piece, and most of Carson's work was inked by Thomas Hooper, an incredible tattooer who worked out of Frith Street Tattoo and Piercing in London, and now works out of New York Adorned's Brooklyn shop. You can see more of Hooper's amazing work on his web site here. The quality of Hooper's tattooing is truly awesome.


Carson also gave me some more background on his other work (which I did not photograph). His right arm is sleeved with a depiction of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and, as mentioned earlier, the lighthouse is for his fiancée.

It should also be noted that this is another first for Tattoosday, as Carson is the host here whose face is visible in a tattoo shot. Understandable (and appreciated) due to the size of the featured work.

Thanks so much to Carson for sharing his ink with us here at Tattoosday!

Two Stars Shining on Nicole

A common Tattoosday ritual for me is to go to the bank at lunch and, time permitting, head over to the Manhattan Mall and make a circuit through the food court, before heading back to the office.

Needless to say, as any regular Tattoosday reader could tell you, pickings have been slim since the mercury dropped below 50 for the season.

Yet I am an optimist, and forever on the lookout for ink, as evidenced by last week's "Queen of Hearts" post.

However, my hopes were slim as I headed out at lunch and encountered a drizzle that the meteorologists hadn't forecasted until the evening. Nonetheless, I went to the bank on 6th Avenue and then visited the mall.

The location introduced me to Alex (here) and has had promising ink displays, discovered only when the weather drove me indoors. I passed out a flier or two in the food court earlier this winter, but to no avail. The one problem with the food court is inherent in its very nature. Most
denizens are eating, and I am reluctant to disrupt the meals of people, tattooed or otherwise.

On Tat-Tuesday, I made the food court pass, seeing nothing, and was on my way out when two
tattooed stars behind a young woman's ear caught my eye:


To be honest, I've never been bowled over by stars, but these were colorful, and it is January, and even the simplest tats can be fraught with meaning.

Nicole was sitting alone (another plus, on the approachability scale, as I tend to shy away from groups) and she had a coffee and Cinnabon on the table, as she played with her cell phone.

I approached and asked if I could talk to her about her stars and she gladly obliged.

Nicole and I discussed the two stars behind her right ear.

They have no significance, they are just decoration, "for the hell of it," done partially out of boredom.

So the next question is generally the "how many do you have" inquiry. Nicole reacted to the question like most people who have a ton of ink: uncertainty. My limited experience leads me to believe that, somewhere between twelve and eighteen, one loses count.

At that point the ink has taken on a life of its own, and the clusters, sometimes themed, sometimes not, become sleeves.

Such was Nicole's situation: under the winter coat and long pants blossomed an explosion of colorful ink. I did not see them, nor did I ask, but she catalogued a host of designs, "mostly girlie stuff," like stars, flowers, and hearts.

"About six years worth..." of accumulated ink.

Like most people, Nicole is loyal to one shop, New York Adorned (featured previously here and here on Tattoosday). The artist who inked the "baby pink" and "baby blue" stars was Bryan Randolph.

Thanks to Nicole and her two shining stars! Here's hoping she'll make a return to Tattoosday in the future!

You Must Believe in Spring

I think that what makes Tattoosday successful are all the interesting, unusual, pieces that most people walk by, see, and wonder, "What the heck is that tattoo all about?"

I'm going a little bit out of sequence here, as I still have two sets of tattoos from last week (from Mike and Jörgen) that I am still writing up. This one, however, is a little less work so I am getting it out of the way first. I spotted this on the inner arm of a guy waiting outside of Starbucks at the corner of 92nd and 3rd in Bay Ridge:

It seemed pretty unusual so I stopped and asked him about it. He told me that it was an album cover. "Which one?" I asked. This one:

Clarence, the possessor of the tattoo, had this representational tattoo inked in honor of Bill Evans' 1980 album You Must Believe in Spring.

The piece was tattooed at New York Adorned.

I would have delved further into why this album was so important to him that he had it tattooed onto his arm, but the person he was waiting for came out with his coffee, and his dog started barking at other dogs, so I figured I wouldn't bother him anymore.

Clarence, thank you for your contribution to Tattoosday and, if you'd like, feel free to e-mail me
as to the significance of this record.

Welcome to His Nightmare

I was walking up Seventh Avenue, headed back to work, and contemplating the left ankle of a young woman. She had a tattoo of the Black Flag logo (just the bars):

but she was traveling with two friends. I have a harder time approaching people in pairs or groups, for some reason, perhaps because I fear not the rejection of one person but of two or more. Imagine: I approach a person and ask them about their tattoo. Their friend shoots them a "Who is this dork?" look and the tattooed is less likely to be forthcoming about their art. I also don't like to intrude on conversations and/or stop people who are moving. It's a courtesy thing, I guess. Although, if someone is sporting an incredible tattoo, I may suspend these "rules" for a shot of an amazing piece of body art.

So there I was, walking uptown, thinking it will likely not be the day for the Black Flag ankle tattoo, when I spotted a guy leaning up under a scaffolding. He had ear buds in and was reading, but his tattoo was interesting enough that it was worth disregarding those two deterrents.

This is the piece that was on his upper right arm:


Now, wouldn't you say that's fairly unusual? I just had to get to the bottom of this one. Before you continue, click the photo to see it in greater detail. It blurs a little, but you get a better idea of the full piece.

This tattoo resides on a guy named Losie, a resident of New Jersey. I introduced myself and he was very receptive, removing his ear buds and speaking very openly about his tattoo. This was his second tattoo (more on #1 later). It originated from his finding the art of Greg Simkins online at his website IMSCARED.com. The tattoo was then inked by Damion Ross at New York Adorned in the East Village.

So why did he choose this artwork for himself? "It reminded me of having nightmares when I was a kid," Losie related, "The kid is me."
Greg Simkins seems like a perfect match, then, for Losie's nightmare motif. If you look at his site, you can peruse dozens of his paintings, sketches, and drawings and they all resonate with a sense of the macabre, depicting spectacular, colorful visions of an imaginary world in which rabbits are terrifying and inanimate objects come to life.

Losie definitely has a fascination along the same lines, and indicated that he would eventually like to have an entire sleeve dedicated to the horror genre.

The kid in the tattoo is having a nightmare, he is on his bed. The headboard appears as rows of teeth, things are crawling in through the window and from under the bed. Even his pillow is terrifying:


I asked him about the tattoo on his other arm, he indicated it was done at a shop in Burbank, California, where he had lived for a couple of years.

The tattoo is the logo for the band Coheed and Cambria.


Interesting, I was following a Black Flag tattoo and found a Coheed & Cambria one instead. Losie explained the bats around the logo as a reference to an ex-girlfriend. He elaborated, "Her name was Jamie, so I added five bats, because Jamie has five letters in her name."

He then directed me back to the first tattoo:


"See the purple skull coming out from under the bed?"


"That's for my ex-girlfriend Violet."

Do note, all quotes are approximate and may not be 100% accurate. I took notes but did not write down exact statements. The messages, however, are accurate.

Losie did allude to a third tattoo, on his stomach, but we didn't discuss the exact location, or what the piece consisted of.

Thanks again to Losie for his participation!