Alice and the Cheshire Cat in Manhattan

At one of the busiest intersections in Manhattan (34th and 7th), I recently met Kelsey, who offered up this still-fresh tattoo:


This is a scene from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, when Alice meets the Cheshire Cat for the second time.

The tattoo is based on this illustration:


This is her most recently tattooed piece. The inspiration behind it is that this was one of her favorite stories, ever since she was six years old.

This was done by Mark Roberts at Fine Line Tattoo Parlour in Deep River, Connecticut.

As a postscript, I noticed in the original photo I took, down on her ankle, was another tattoo, an apparent equation:


I e-mailed Kelsey asking her what the significance of "<3.14". I initially thought that it had something to do with being less than the value of Pi. (π).

Her response surprised me with its cleverness:

"Well, it's <3.14 because <3 is a heart and 3.14 is Pi, an irrational number ... I got it at a tattoo parlor in Augusta, Maine. Four of my friends also have that tattooed in the same spot."

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

Hootel California

Another raft of reader submissions for you today...

Danyele sent the cute fella above in, done by Josh Lindley.


Not bad for a first ever tattoo! Submitted by Rachel, done by Donnie at Metamorphosis in Indianapolis, IN (above)


Great owl-tline submitted by Lauren. This should look ace when finished!


And finally, solid blackwork owl submitted by Rachael.

Michaela's Tattoo Illuminates a Life

Yesterday at a street fair in my neighborhood (always prime ink-spotting locals), I saw this beautiful tattoo on the upper right section of Michaela's back:


When I asked her what the meaning of the tattoo was, she asked me "The real story?"

"Absolutely," I replied.

So she told me that years ago, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and she had this tattooed to remind her that there are two sides to everything. The moon and the sun serve as a solar/lunar yin-yang. I especially love how the moon wraps its limbs around the parts of the sun.

Often, whatever a diagnosis may be, finding out what is wrong (as opposed to not knowing) can illuminate a life. She gains strength from this tattoo as it marks a point when her disorder was defined, when a light clarified her situation in life.

This tattoo was done by Noel Wilkinson at The Tatt Shop in Perth, Australia. I believe this is Tattoosday's first sample of work from Autsralia.

Thanks so much to Michaela for sharing this lovely tattoo with us here on Tattoosday! I appreciate her courage in sharing the deeply personal meaning behind her tattoo, as well.

Tikipedia

Another superbly detailed Gil Elvgren peice from Cecil Porter

Tikipedia

Another superbly detailed Gil Elvgren peice from Cecil Porter

Samantha Hoot

Archimedes from the Sword In The Stone! Artist unknown.

The Tattooed Poet's Project, Jillian Brall's Love of Trees Manifests Itself in a Back Piece

In April, we featured 31 tattooed poets in honor of National Poetry Month. But we had some late entries who missed the cut-off and, well, we just plum ran out of days. Nonetheless, we have decided to continue the feature as an occasional treat for those lovers of tattoos and poetry who frequent Tattoosday.

First, the tattoo:


The owner of this piece elaborates:

My name is Jillian Brall. I am receiving my MFA in Poetry from The New School this May. I am also a collage artist and saxophonist. I live and work in Brooklyn (Bushwick)...On my back is a bare black and grey tone tree that I drew. I have been drawing trees like this one since I was a little girl. Drawing them makes me feel calm and focused. I love seeing the skeleton of the tree, not veiled by leaves. I love that every time I draw one it is completely unique from all the others I have or ever will draw...different numbers of branches, different sizes, different positions, different light sources guiding the shading of the trees.

Jillian had this tattooed in February 2007 at R&D Tattooing in Queens, Rich Fie is the tattoo artist. She adds, "the tree was definitely not his typical street style tattoo, but I drew the sketch and he traced it and did a really beautiful job with it!"

When I asked Jillian for a poem, she not only offered up a poem, but she presented a photo of one of the collages she created:


And, a short poem from Jillian, as well:

To Lose Myself

At night in bed, I hear my neighbor's heaving music

through the concrete wall. In this pale red light

the music is supposed to inspire me to lose myself.

It is supposed to aid me in losing myself.

But I turn my head and there is a bookshelf, with my books in it.

I turn my head and there is the off-white circular rug.

I'm not lost.

Someone threw it out in the hallway, and after scrutinizing and cleaning it,

I brought it into my room.

I turn my head and there is a pen I took from the bank.

And there is a bottle of diet coke,

not an angel, an object without angles.

I turn my head and there is my laundry bag,

not the underworld.

Thanks to Jillian for sharing her tattoo, her collage and her poem! The Tattooed Poets project can be seen its entirety if you click on the tag at the bottom of the post.