NEW CANVAS'

Tattoos I Know: Beth's Ink Ushers in the New Baseball Season

Well, folks, it's March 31, which means several things, First and foremost, after a long, cold winter, and a rough start to spring, baseball season starts today. And although, the last time I checked, there was a 70% chance of rain for the New York Yankees home opener against the Detroit Tigers today, baseball fans everywhere are just a tad excited that their team's 162 game-long drama is about to begin.

So, it seemed fitting that we share this tattoo, belonging to our cousin Beth:

Photo by Melanie Cohen

Beth is a diehard Yankees fan and she got this inked on September 16, 2005. For the record, the Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays north of the border that day 11-10 thanks, in part, to two Robinson Cano home runs and Mariano Rivera's 40th save of the year.

This is one of Beth's three tattoos, a fact not lost on me, as I have been wanting to post her ink on the site ever since we started back in 2007. However, we just never got around to it and this photo was shot last June in New Jersey by my wife, Melanie, at another cousin's baby shower. I thought, at the time, that we would save this picture for the day the Yankees won the World Series, but last year that ambition fell short in the ALCS. So we saved it for Opening Day, instead.

The tattoo was done by Thomi Hawk at K & B Tattooing & Piercing in Hightstown, New Jersey.

I should also add that, back in August 2007, I was sitting in my seat at PNC Bank Arts Center, between sets, when I noticed a very similar tattoo several rows ahead of me. I thought, "Man, that tattoo looks just like Beth's, and in the same spot [on her upper right back] too!" Of course, it was Beth, and we were both unaware that we were attending the show. And to think I spotted her in all that humanity by noticing her tattoo!

I mentioned at the top of the post that it being March 31, meant several things. Aside from Opening Day, it's also opening day for the inkspotting season, as far as I'm concerned. Posts have been few and far between over the past few months and that's about to change. Tomorrow begins National Poetry Month, and we will be embarking on our third annual Tattooed Poets Project: 30 days of tattoos from poets across the country. And, I will assume, that I'll be having regular Tattoosday encounters, which will reappear in May, throughout the month.

Play ball!

Thanks again to Beth for sharing her cool patriotic Yankees tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

*

This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday.


If you are reading this on another web site other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Shaun Tan you Rock my World!

I just have to acknowledge the stellar and utterly deserved success of a fellow Aussie, a fellow creative and some-time fellow spec fic con panelist, Shaun Tan, who today was announced to have won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Prize!

WOO-HOO!

And this on the back of an Academy Award [TM] in Animated Short for the Lost Thing.

Wonderful, wonderful...

Well done, sir.

Butterfly Arm Tattoos Designs

Butterfly Arm Tattoos Designs

Multicolored butterflies, tiny insects of our planet are one of the most popular images used in the artistic expression field of body art tattoos. The body parts most tattoo owners have their butterfly tattoos include arms, lower back, chest area and shoulders. In most cases, women find it appealing to get inked with a butterfly tattoo, in a way to match the tattoo with their style or attire. Butterfly arm tattoos are available in plenty sizes and forms. Many years ago, ladies have been enjoying the pleasures of body art; since tattoos and butterfly arm tattoos became one of the top alternatives for both large and small areas of the women body. With an almost infinite variety of color combinations and styles, butterfly tattoos keep getting higher ranks in terms of design selection and general tattoo preference.

Star Arm Tattoos Designs

Star Arm Tattoos Designs

Star arm tattoos are considered to be the most common of the tattoos on arm available today. There are many reasons why this is so and this can be defined using its development and different meanings. The most popular interpretation to portray stars is inspiration, human soul, energy, light and hope. Before one can try figuring the meanings of the above, it is essential to get to know the reason why stars capture the hearts of many people worldwide.

The fascination that is associated with stars did not start today; stars have been thought about and filled the imaginations of many people for more than thirty thousand years. The great ancestors were fascinated with the flickering specks that were visible in the sky at night and this fascination could be seen with the amount of dedication, attention and high regard they placed towards experimentation with astronomy, astrology for many centuries and the addition the origin of stars, which was included into their mythologies that were also unique to explain their world.

Michael Jackson Tatoos

Michael Jackson Tatoos

When I read about model Jodie Marsh getting a Michael Jackson tattoo to commemorate his passing, I thought about all of the real fans out there who got Michael Jackson tattoos prior to the King of Pop’s death.

I’ve collected some of the best Michael Jackson tattoos for the gallery above. I wonder if these individuals will adapt their existing ink now that the Gloved One is gone.

SCRIPT FOR HIS LADY

Home is Where the Star Is

Yesterday in Penn Station, I met Jonathan, whose one tattoo caught my eye when I passed him in the Amtrak waiting area.

Except, sometimes, a fragment of a tattoo doesn't necessarily reveal the whole piece. As in Jonathan's case, I saw the back of his arm, and this segment, which resembled (to me, at the time), a crude figure with the beginning of a speech bubble emanating from its mouth:

I felt rather silly, however, when Jonathan agreed to participate and showed me the full tattoo:

The figure I imagined, of course, is really Long Island, and the balloon was the southern tip of the state of New York.

Jonathan explained that he is from Rochester, marked on the tattoo with a star, and that he lived in the same house growing up there for eighteen years. It's a New York state of mind, indeed.

The tattoo was done at Big Joe & Sons Tattooing in White Plains, New York.

Thanks to Jonathan for sharing his stately tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday.


If you are reading this on another web site other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

To Caroline Wojo

Well, I just formulated a reply to a certain lady in the USofA only to have the email bounce. So, I thunk to myself, how can I get the response to her. Well, my thunking proceeded, hows about making it a blog post, that way she just might stumble upon it. So here it is...

(apologies to long time Sundergirdians if I repeat myself)

Dear Caroline,

I have indeed read your email and here I am replying (at last!!!) just cause I can and, well, because more importantly you had the goodness to write so a reply is the least I can do.

As to advice about writing, I always find this a perplexing question - I am not a product of some tribe of formal training, it is an intuitive process for me, learning by doing, rather than the application of set rules. I am sure there are rules rolling about in this great intuitive blob but they are not what I am most aware of (argh! I ended a sentence with a preposition!!!)

Probably the best formal "rule" given by another author is: Plot is Character in Action.

As for the writing of fantasy: Avoid All Cliches like they are Swine Flu... ... that said, you might still perpetrate a few, but if your general intent is to avoid them, then you general will, and just might give to the world something that lightens and improves people's lives, not just numbs them with frothy oft-repeated blah.

The best practice I ever had and will ever have I think is reading, and reading well, by which I mean those books acknowledged as "classics" (though I do not find them all so), written with truth and mindful intent by folks with clear skill, not just to cash in on the latest fad. Having said that, it has not been some deliberate intent on my behalf, just that after reading Lord of the Rings I found that the only texts that really hit the same "button", that approached the same delight were not all the pulpy (in the worst way) fantasy fare, but the likes of Steinbeck, Kafka, Fitzgerald, Hesse, Galico. You see, my conviction is that if you're going to write it ought to be as good as you can make it, not just hammering away on the keyboard to get out a product, but show the contents of you soul to others in a way that is both utterly true of you and considerate of them.

I hope I am making sense.

Perhaps the best thing I can do is tell how it is that I have some thing to even write about, a bit from my own life, maybe that will help...? See, the real moment for me where a light bulb clicked and I really wanted to write was the reading of Lord of the Rings when I was 12-13. I immediately pulled out a large sheet of paper and began drawing my own Middle-earth-esque map, begun to write my own story (all 26 foolscap pages of it! - which I thought a lot at the time). Yet barely begun I quickly realised I was not able to really say what I wanted to say, that I was not quite long-lived enough, that I knew in my soul what I wanted to achieve (something even half as life changing as LOTR) but that I had not been on the earth long enough nor yet possessed quite the capacity to do as my hero, Tolkien, had done.

So, I stopped writing.

(Actually, I did at about 15 or so begin a new tale all my own, with my own ideas that after 60 odd pages devolved into teenage angsty blah, but I WAS writing, so that is something)

Yet in me continued to burn a desire to create a work that shifted me as LOTR shifted me. Finally, in second year uni and with and hour and a half bus ride one way I was reading all manner of goodly books, until finally I hit one - Titus Groan - and then pop! The dual inspirations of LOTR and this combined and I began to invent what eventually became the Half-Continent.

That was 20 years ! ago. It has grown little bit by little bit ever since, drawn from all those things around me that delight me, working them into my own distinct whole.

So my intent in this little tale is to say most of all, be patient with yourself, writing is a skill that will only (Lord willing) improve with age and experience, indeed, it is a journey of a lifetime. So keep writing, that the great ideas you are having now will unfold into even greater ones.

Now, as to developing characters: well, I suppose I ask myself how they might react in a given situation, and am a bit tough on myself to make sure that I keep the character true to how they would really be, not just making them go they way I want to plot to go. So we come back to it, Plot is Character in Action. The best advice I can give here is let your characters tell you what they would do next rather than you forcing them against their true selves to go in some predetermined direction. This forcing of a character ALWAYS breaks either them or the integrity of your story. And if you are wondering how they might be, watch people, see how they are for real, and read history and/or biography to see how folks in time have behaved - real life is always odder than pretend. Doing this I reckon will give you a much bigger pallet of reactions and emotions to draw from. Also, I would say the writing of characters is acting on slow motion, that you become that character like an actor might and perform their part (in your head of course, though you might yourself like to be more demonstrative - each to their own).

The writing of detail is a craft my editor will tell you I am still yet to master myself. You must remember in reading my words or those of proper writers is that we have all been edited, all been helped hugely to be the best selves we can be. What I can say is that detail for me is a matter of passion, I really care a whole lot about all the bits and pieces, the lay of a belt, the fold of a cloth, the bend in a road and the lean of a stand of young pines - you know what I mean. Description of details in NOT an Inventory of Stuff - just some long list of objects, it is an expression of my delight in the all the "bits" that make this character, this scene, this (pretend) world tangible, visceral, right here and now. I get the feeling you love details too, so write from that love, that passion, your own delight for all the accoutrement's that matter to you.... And be prepared to edit edit edit it all down to the best of it.

A great adventure (and trials too) stretches out before you... But you don't need me to tell you that, I can tell you already know it.

Phew, and here was me thinking I was just going to give you a quick missive in response to let you know I received you email and was thinking about how to answer... Well I guess I have done that then... :/

DMC

Flower Tattoo Designs from the Popular Hawaiian Islands

While being in Honolulu Hawaii for Christmas vacation I noticed the many different tattoo designs that are prevalent here. Any kind of flower or tribal tattoo can be found on most natives to Hawaii. What is in a tattoo design? Some of the most popular tattoos are the Hibiscus flower, usually a red or yellow flower with a few pedals surrounding the middle seed. This flower is a popular design and coexists with the rose tattoo. If you are looking for a flower tattoo you probably cannot go wrong with a Hibiscus flower, second to the rose. If you don't know what one looks like do a little image search on a popular search engine and you are bound to have many results.

After being in Hawaii for 10 days it has opened my eyes up to the massive amount of tattoo designs there are in the world. I have never seen so many different kinds of tattoos, it almost seems like everyone on the island had a tattoo of some sort. My friend stayed an extra 2 weeks and it so happens that he just got an arm band tattoo. Of course he did not get a flower but went with the tribal design. Flower tattoos are popular with the natives of the island along with women. You would not see too many guys with flower tattoos unless if it was a fashion statement. Usually a guy will get a tribal design of some sort, almost mimicking a razor design or barbed wire fence.

Lotus Flower Tattoo Designs

Trying to come up with a design for your next tattoo? Have you thought about a lotus flower tattoo? If not then you might want to read this article and consider it. These tattoos are very hot and for good reason. They are a very flexible design and full of a rich and deep symbolism behind it. They work equally well for men and women and can be placed just about anywhere on the body you might want a tattoo.

Benefits Of Lotus Flower Tattoos

Lotus flower tattoos work well for a variety of reasons. First they can be sized and placed just about anywhere. Of course they make super sexy lower back tattoo designs but they can also work for a man on his shoulder. They work well on a leg, calf, hip or just about anywhere and on either sex. This makes it a great tattoo design. It is also full of brilliant color making it a wonderful design that really stands out. It can easily be enhanced with vines, water, or even certain gods or other religious symbols. It can also be sized from really large for a full back design to really small for the top of a foot design. No matter where you want your next tattoo or what size you want it you might want to consider a lotus flower tattoo.

COMMITTED

SOME ARE....SOME ARENT

Best Flower Tattoo Designs - The Lily Tattoo

Best Flower Tattoo Designs - The Lily Tattoo

The Lily flower is my girlfriend's favourite one. I think many other women feel the same about it. I must admit it is quite a beautiful flower, but what I appreciate most about it, is that it is a great subject for wonderful tattoo designs.

The lily is native of the Balkan Peninsula in south-eastern Europe, from where it was imported in other European countries, where it became first one of the most admired flowers and then on of the most popular flower tattoos.

Traditionally Lily flowers are white - noble, elegant, white flowers, which have been often associated with ideas of purity and innocence.

Christians made of the lily a symbol of purity to represent the divine virginity. St. Joseph is often depicted with a stick from which sprout white lilies. A legend says that Mary chose Joseph because she saw him among many with a white lily in his hand.

Throughout the centuries the lily has been associated with several Saints and the Archangel Gabriel.

But a lily has not always symbolized purity and chastity: Lilies' typical phallic pistil and their erotic fragrance made quite the opposite impression on ancient Greeks, who linked these flowers with concepts like fertility and procreation.

Flower Tattoo Designs - Discover the Beauty and Diversity of Flower Tattoo Designs

Flower Tattoo Designs - Discover the Beauty and Diversity of Flower Tattoo Designs

Flower tattoo designs are very popular among females. A lot of women who want to have a tattoo will most likely choose flower designs. Flower tattoo designs are feminine, and they remain as one of the most common options among women who embrace the art of skin tattooing.

There are several reasons why flower tattoo designs offer a good choice for permanent body tattoo. Flowers are not only beautiful, they are also timeless. They signify a woman's femininity and diversity. More often than not, flower tattoo designs are colorful, bright and very attractive. They make a good impression on a woman's skin. The choice of colors is essential in coming up with a great looking tattoo.

Flower tattoo designs are sizable. Depending on your preference, you can choose to cover one entire area of your body with the design you want or you can choose one cute, small flower for one area of your skin. You can also opt for sprawling flower tattoo design to be positioned on your lower back. This is both sexy and feminine. If you want a smaller design or just a single flower for a tattoo, you can have it placed on one side of your upper back or on your upper arm - a common spot for tattoos.

Cool And Popular Tattoo Designs Of Year 2011

Cool And Popular Tattoo Designs Of Year 2011

If you're considering a tattoo, you will most likely fall into one of two categories. One is those that know exactly what they are after and already know what design they would like, whilst the other category simply have no idea where to start. Fortunately, we're at hand to help those meandering tattoo fans.

Animal Tattoos - Meanings of Popular Tattoo Designs of Animals

Animal Tattoos - Meanings of Popular Tattoo Designs of Animals

Animals possess physical and behavioral qualities that people can relate to ideas such as beauty, power, strength and temperament. Its no wonder that tattoos of animals are very common as its a way tat enthusiasts to express their emotions, instincts and even experiences. Whether the animal tattoo designs speak of ferocity, swiftness, purity and grace, here are some common animal tattoos and what they symbolize.

Bear - strong, aggressive and fearless animal that is a sign of fierceness and strength

Birds - symbolize freedom, flight, link between heaven and earth or represent spiritual and emotional states. Some of the most common ones are swallow, dove and stork.

Survey of the Most Popular Tattoo Design Categories

That's right, before getting tattooed for the first time, you need to be a little versed into the tattoo categories. Here are listed below the five most fashioned tattoo categories. Tattoo artists are passionate people, it's not the kind of place where you want to go and act like a nerd, especially if bikers are getting tattooed while you're there.

In North America, the Native tattoos are extremely popular due to the American history. Lots of people are choosing a Native American tattoo designs only because it's good-looking, without knowing the deep meaning behind the design. Before opting for this kind of tattoo, and this is also good for every other type of tattoo design, it is recommended to do some research about it to find out what the tattoo is all about. Native American use of symbols vary depending which nations they are and which regions they are coming from. You can find easily some info in Google searching for Native American Tattoo Designs. Most of the Native America tattoo designs are related with Mother Earth and her creatures.

Oriental designs are also very popular. Normally people use oriental design for zodiacal sign and Chinese zodiac signs like; rats, pig, etc. They can be used alone or to embellish a tattoo design, like a tribal tattoo. People like to use those symbols for love, prosperity or whatever message they want to ink into their body. Lots of fighter or martial arts practitioner use Chinese symbols to write their martial art styles or war symbols or aggressive line. You have to be extremely careful when you choose that king of symbols. Just a little error might means something completely different to what you wanted to say.

Egyptian Eye Tattoo - Finding Awesome Designs

The difference between finding those great, original designs that you are looking for and all of the other junk on the internet lies in the way that you search for it. Using the word search implies that you should begin by using a search engine such as Yahoo or Google, but you shouldn't.

If you do this you will be doing exactly the same thing as millions of other people have done before you. And guess what, you're going to see the exact same designs that they saw and if you end up getting a tattoo with one of these designs you will be sitting at a party somewhere and bump into someone, or some people with the exact same tattoo. Not cool.

So where can you go to find those awesome Egyptian Eye tattoos that are out there and haven't already been seen and used by every man and his dog?

It is quite simple really, you just have to look in places that other people aren't looking. This means completely avoiding the search engines. After months of searching online for great tattoo designs I came across a great little idea that has since helped me to find hundreds of great tattoo designs on the internet.

The secret is to get involved in some of the big tattoo forums that have sprung up all over the internet. These places are the stomping ground for many great tattoo artists and they often like to upload their latest designs and get other users feedback. What this means for us is that we can get access to tons of great Egyptian Eye Tattoo designs before anyone else even knows about them!

Beautiful Tattoo Designs for Women

Beautiful Tattoo Designs for Women

The most beautiful creature on the earth is none other than a woman, if something can add more to her beauty means it's priceless. Tattoos are the best way to turn a woman so lovely, elegant, and sexy than ever before. One has to be cautious to choose a tattoo that resembles a feminine attraction; otherwise you may land on something that is inappropriate to your look and character. Tattoos are inked by many women at the lower back, since it makes her look sexy as she bends over. Apart from the lower back, the hips, arms and side of the neck are preferred by women when considering a tattoo.

Few of the best tattoo designs for women are detailed out here to have an idea before choosing your own.

Flower tattoo designs - Woman's love towards flowers are often linked with its softness and femininity. Each flower has some specific meaning and depends on one's interest it can be tattooed either in small or in large size. Famous flower designs are such as lotus, lily, roses, daisy and hibiscus.

The Coolest Forearm Tattoo Designs For Men

The Coolest Forearm Tattoo Designs For Men

The forearm in the past was typically not the first place a person would get a tattoo design. However, one of the hottest and rapidly growing trends right now are literary or word tattoo designs and these work so well as great looking forearm tattoo designs that they have really become big recently.

Choosing the Best Arm Tattoo Designs

Choosing the Best Arm Tattoo Designs

Having a tattoo isn't as easy at it seems. First of all, there are plenty of things to consider. The designs should look good and at the same time reflect one's personality. More importantly, the size also plays a role in affecting the beauty of a tattoo design. Other considerations include one's skin tone, occupation, among other things.

Arm tattoos have the big advantage of being highly visible and at the same time being totally concealable. It can be hard for tattooed individuals to get a job, since tattoos are generally not allowed in a work setting. Strict work environments such as in the military or law enforcement totally prohibits any visible tattoos. However, you can opt to get your tattoo on the upper arm. You can conceal it easily when wearing a sleeved shirt.

The upper arms are a great place to get an arm tattoo. They provide large space to work on. The best arm tattoo designs are large pieces, maybe a portrait or a large artwork. You can have plenty of designs, texts and graphics to ink on since it provides abundant work area. Men generally go for symbols or images that signify strength and power. These symbols include: skulls, swords and dragons. Women likewise prefer stars, hearts, flowers and sayings.

When getting a tattoo on the upper arm, be careful in protecting the area from the sun. The upper arms are very much prone to sun burn. If you constantly expose the tattoo from the sun, it will not only cause the colors to fade, but heighten your risk of more dangerous sun burns.

Arm Tattoo Ideas Exposed

Arm Tattoo Ideas Exposed

With the rapid expansion of the tattoo industry we get the obvious questions. I want the best tattoo designs for me, what are they? Where on my body can I have a tattoo? The exposed arm is the trendiest spot on your body for a tattoo. Arm tattoo designs vary greatly with your interest. The arm would be the first choice if you want people to notice your tattoo since the arm is the most exposed part of the body.

Arm tattoo designs can be large or small, worn on women or men. Large arm tattoo designs are fun to wear and a great example of one that covers most of your arm would be a tattoo sleeve. The tattoo sleeve will take up most of your arm, front and back and usually up by your biceps. For women, smaller arm tattoo designs are more ideal. Smaller arms like most women have would be a reason to look at smaller and more delicate designs. The area you want to cover will probably be smaller than that of a man, and without adjusting the pattern you could be very disappointed in the final design. An expert artist will be able to change the pattern and size for you as you ask if changes are needed to fit your body size.

It can be difficult to find arm designs that have great detail and are unique. One could search trendy magazines or in stores plus your local parlor. Another highly recommended source is the tattoo artist membership sites on the internet. Many are worth their small membership fee since you would be saving at your local parlor. Also the thousands of designs you will mull over will help you design your own special piece of art. The biggest suggestion I can give you is to go for the most original design possible, and it will be one that comes from you. It's a tattoo design that comes from you after considering a wide array of creative ideas. What you ultimately end up with for a design is exclusive to you and one of a kind which makes this the fun part of designing.