Avery Taylor

Congrats on the 1st Tattoo and what a kickass one at that.

Thought I would also upload and share this dope action shot. Plus you can catch a peak at my backpiece that's about 5 months settled in as well as Len's great hair lol ;)

Another reminder that it is the tattoo experience as whole - that truly makes the tattoo. that's what matters. Tattooing is a very powerful, deliberate and permanent act and series of events.
Last Wednesday was an incredible day. My work in the morning. Popping into the tattoo shop to just to say what's up and casually flipping through Len's book - I have 3 tattoos from Len now and each one was a spontaneous act with permanent results. Going and getting a dope haircut so I didn't get a cheap $25cent razor fade (found a new barber, an older black gentleman, he shared his cool snake tattoo on his dark skin, he got in 1967!). My tai chi practice in the park. An encouraging doctor's appointment. The boys keeping the shop open into the evening to accommodate me (shout out to Champion Tattoo Edmonton). The stencil and re-stencil to get the placement just right. The first 30 seconds when I thought holy shit man, this is brutal have I gone too far? Bishops Green on the stereo. Tattoo talk with the boys. Sweating through the table. Feeling my nose about to get crushed sideways on the table. the post-tattoo newport smoke, the vulnerability and the satisfaction with the end result. The morning after when the shower water hit the back of my raw tattooed skin. Even today walking down the street, walking proud and tall with this new tattoo. Hearing the lady behind me in the crosswalk whispering out loud 'damn that's a nice tattoo' to herself. Seriously, I am really buzzing off how this one turned out.
The butterfly symbolism is pretty obvious.
But also this:
I dreamed I was a butterfly, fluttering about, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly. Soon I awakened, and there I was, myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man. -Master Zhuang
I became aware of this taoist quote the morning after receiving my tattoo, and I too had the butterfly dream leading up to this spontaneous tattoo. I found it very fitting, not just in the context of the rest of my tattoos, but in terms of some personal growth I have been making over the last few months. And here comes this profound tattoo experience from a simple design that carries some complex symbolism to me, providing enlightenment when I needed it the most.
Thank you LST for providing a medium to share the tattoo experience together !

"Yknow what's awesome about this budd?...you have a whole bodysuit of tattoo and MY tattoo is going to be the one everyone is gonna ask about haha"
Keepin' it real w/ King Len, guest spot at Champion Tattoo in Edmonton, AB

Deadly placement, deadly evening, deadly tattoo. But holy fack did this one sizzle and rattle.

We completed my arm last month (last pics I promise). Added a dark grey wash background and a few more floating petals, coloured in the sun, went over my elbow again and some minor touch ups. The sun needs a couple of touch ups, will do these next year when I am back in with Clare to continue with my other arm.

Hi, just joined LST and thought i'd share my latest tattoo.
Done by Tony Hundahl at the London convention, great guy who does awesome tattoos.

Just got this one done a couple of hours ago. Done by Nik Moore at Scarab Body Arts in Syracuse, NY. You guys might not be a big fan of it but I told him I wanted a unique koi that not many other people have. i think he nailed it and I love it! Gonna go back in a few weeks for him to make a few minor changes if need be.

awesome stuff from Robert Ryan @ Electric in Asbury
good times good times

Finished off my second rib panel today with Dave C. at PSC tattoo. I'll use the royal "we" and say that we knocked this out in three sessions starting in late September, about 8 hours total. I'm super stoked on it, the colour in the tiger really pops!
Dave is a great guy, and his work speaks for itself, seek him out.

Skull "brought to life".... Sooooo happy with this and my Michael. This is on the inside of my forearm. 3rd tattoo over/in the same spot is NOT fun (Esp. with some bad scars)!
From this:

To this:

For me when i was first getting into this industry it was Dave Fox who always made me drool, everything he did just had this perfect layer of TOUGH over it, with just the right amount of exagerration

I can't explain why this one had such an impact, but it really struck me. By Troy Trujillo

I'm a sucker for a well-executed munewari, and no one does them better than Horitoshi:

And my jaw hits the floor pretty much every time Brian Kaneko posts anything. Example:

Same goes for Drew Flores. The head he's working on is also a nice reminder that tattoos can still be shocking:

Most of the outlining done today. Next appt is Christmas Eve, so will outline the underarm and then do all the shading. I don't think there will be time for color so that will be later. There is a mum at the bottom that curves around to the front of my arm, to tie in w/the mum on the opposite side. Then wind/water meet and swirl in the middle.
Sadly, I am not bad assed enough to handle this becoming a full back piece. That very bottom bit of wind/water he added today was the clincher. Yikes.

started today...finish next month...
can't go wrong w/snake and rose right? didn't have either...ScottSylvia's the best :)

Everyone already knows this but Marius Meyer seems to melt brains on the daily ( well, mine at least… ):

This O'Donnell back piece is still mind blowing in my eyes

This is the first tattoo I saw that made me go "Holy hell I need my torso tattooed right now". It blew my fragile little mind.

The first tattoo I ever saw that had that effect on me was this incredible hannya by Mike Rubendall. It still amazes me. It's probably the first tattoo that made me realize the possibilities within tattooing.
Also that Viking head is incredible. I saw it on instagram the other day and it definitely made me stop and put my eyes back in my head.

Session two with Dave C. Got a lot done in about 2 1/2 hours. I was nervous going into this sitting as we had just done the outline last week. I was a little worried my psych wouldn't be there, but in the end it went pretty well. Glad not to have more ribs after this though.

Finally got some half-way decent healed photos of my Hooper musician leg.
On the other hand, trying to paste together such a single photo is near impossible, at least for an old geezer like me.

I'll reactivate the squidpants thread by putting this there, too . . .

Awesome weekend at the London Convention. There were some awesome tattoos walking around and being created, not least on some LSTers. Congratulations to everyone that got some work. Everything I have seen so far looks great. I didn't get anything big or dramatic this weekend. Just this little guy by Len Leye at Clan of Tusk in Belgium. Really nice guy and fun time getting tattooed. It you don't know his work then check out his instagram.

Here's mine from Friday at the London convention, done by Tony Hundahl. So unbelievably happy with this one!

Nicked the picture from Tony's instagram as my camera is broken

Got this Shishi Lion from Alix Ge at the London convention yesterday (pic nicked from her instagram):

When I arrived, Alix was still drawing. She told me we couldn't put the tattoo on the side of my thigh like I had asked for because for that I would have to lie down and she only had a chair. Well, alright then. When I came back from a short tour around the convention she had obviously done another drawing which was much bigger than the first. She thought the animal had to be rather large to be nice, good with me. But she didn't think we could fit peonies as well, would I be happy with cherry blossoms instead...? Bummer...what? Noooo...! Oh well, so we agreed to put on the lion stencil and see then. Stencil went on, peonies were added freehand. No problem, all fitted on there nicely....but...that was gonna be a looong session. If I was a strong woman, she asked. Ermmmmm, well, I bl**dy hoped so...what else could I say? She looked at me particularly sceptical after she found out it was only my second tattoo....
Obviously, we made it, yippie!!!
Six hours on a folding chair with two breaks. Even though I got some odd looks and remarks for running around with a pillow under my arm, I was well glad I had brought it because it made the chair way more comfortable! Apart from that, getting tattooed at the convention was actually surprisingly good as there was so much to watch and get distracted by. I could openly stare at all the tattoos walking by and quite a few people gave me encouraging smiles and words. That was really cool.
Alix is super lovely and I kinda felt a little bad for her having to sit on her small suitcase for hours. Towards the end she told me that she wouldn't be able to do what I did and that she'd never get a tattoo that takes more than one hour herself. I doubt that's actually true, but it was a sweet thing to say anyway.
Suffice to say I'm super chuffed but also glad it's over!
And this morning my 3 1/2 year old greeted me excitedly with "Mummy, I have a tattoo, too!". Turns out the entire family has tattoos now, some of them of the temporary type, some rather not ;-)

well, got some bug tattoos and made the paper:
photo by Shaughn Butts, Edmonton Journal

Finally got to visit State of Grace and get my Molly Monmon Cat from Horitomo!
He did an amazing job. Just spectacular. I sent several pictures of her and some descriptions of her favorite things, her personality and her character. She *loved* shrimp sushi and got an entire order for her 16th birthday, right before we lost her to cancer. Horitomo created a picture of her in heaven with a halo and surrounded by her favorite things - including that she is surrounded by catnip! The face is perfect. I gave him a decent size square footage and told him he could expand beyond the cat and add other elements. Her face is perfect. When he showed me the sketch, my eyes just teared up.
It was neat to be tattooed on the platform in the shop. It is a little sanctuary with neat drawings, books and items on shelves. He is a quiet gentle soul.
I tried tebori for the whites and I probably would not do it again. For many areas, I didn't even feel the first 4-5 pokes. It just felt like a shoving pressure but there was *no* pain. Then the last several shoves were painful. But around my hip was bad all around. I'm glad I did it, though.
Crashing out now holed up in the hotel with mom. <3 <3 <3