Don't Go Breaking My Hoot

Annie Frenzel

Lorraine's Red Slider

Yes, the Red Slider is a turtle, and the one on Lorraine's left foot is practically crawling off her skin.

She has three of them alive at home, named "Dikiewamish" "Panchito," and "Panchita." She sent me a photo of one of them. I'm not sure whic one of the three he/she is:


She loves turtles and wanted to pay tribute to her amphibious friends.

Her tattoo was inked at Studio Enigma in the Howard Beach section of Queens (not to be confused by Studio Enigma on Avenue U in Brooklyn). Her artist was Freddie.

Thanks to Lorraine for sharing her tat-turtle with us!

Joan of Arc

Artwork by Jacki Randall. I haven't found the perfect picture for me yet but she is one I would love to have represented.

Becky's Nod to Angelique Houtkamp

On Thursday, July 17, I spotted Becky outside of the Penn Plaza Borders talking to her friend Ashley.

Becky's not hard to miss, she's a striking young woman with twenty-seven tattoos. And, whereas generally Tattoosday participants are open and happy to share their ink here, both Becky and Ashley's kindness and friendly dispositions further brightened my day and reminded me why I love working on Tattoosday.

Of all Becky's work to choose from, she presented a piece on the top of her left foot. It's at the top of the post but is worth looking at again:


The tattoo is based on the artwork of Angelique Houtcamp, an artist who is often referred to as "the inspirational Dutch tattoo mademoiselle of the contemporary art world." Her artwork is much admired and both Becky, as well as her tattooist, Mohawk John.

This piece is based on Houtkamp's painting "Mata Hari":


The majority of Becky's work was inked by Mohawk John at B-52 Tattoo in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. As you can see, he did a phenomenal job recreating Houtkamp's work on Becky's skin.

Thanks to Becky and her friend Ashley (whose Tattoosday offering is in the post below) for sharing their tattoos!

More of Angelique Houtkamp's artwork here.

See Becky's friend Ashley's Tattoosday offering here.

Ashley Displays the Mark of Friendship

I met Ashley when I approached Becky (her post here) about her work. Unlike Becky, who is inked 27 times, Ashley has just four pieces, none of which are immediately visible.

However, after talking with her friend Becky, I queried Ashley about any tattoos she might have, she offered up the small piece above.

Ashley's friend Turner Walker is an aspiring tattooist who is learning the art form. Turner, with whom she had gone to school, asked if he could practice on her and, when she assented, he placed two small red hearts on either side of the middle finger on her right hand.

She laughs about it, thinking it's cool that wherever she goes, she'll have a piece of him inked on her body.

Personally, I like the fact that she has a couple of hearts inked on a finger that is often misused by humans to make an unpleasant gesture.

Thanks to Ashley for sharing her small heart with us. True friends let their friends practice tattooing them!

San Diego Tattoos Visit The Big Apple

I spotted Mike and Tracy on 34th Street on Thursday, July 17. They were the third and fourth people I photographed that day.

Mike had the logo from his favorite band, The Misfits, on the back of his left calf. It's one of his three tattoos.

Tracy liked the art for the piece she has, on her upper left arm:

It's one of her four tattoos:


Both Mike and Tracy, visiting New York from San Diego, had their work done at their local shop All-American Tattoo Company. Stevie inked the Misfits piece and "Little C" did the work on Tracy's bicep.

Thanks to both of our visitors for sharing their ink here at Tattoosday!

UPDATE: Mike sent me the link to his band's MySpace page. They have a great name, The Filthy Few. Check them out here.

Tattoosday Record

I don't know what it was about Thursday, July 17, but I set a Tattoosday record. By the end of the day, I had shots of eight different people's ink (my previous best has always capped around 3 subjects in one day). This, after a bit of a drought and some bad luck (a beautiful but unfinished
rooster from New York Adorned, some less-than-interested dudes going to the Bon Jovi show at the Garden, and lots of inked folk walking with their kids -- I generally let them be).

Since 6 of the 8 people were hanging together in pairs, I won't break up the sets, if I don't have to. But I'm going to drop the first pair in a post right below this one.

Enjoy!