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Picture stolen from @Stewart Robson and the "On the Shoulders of Giants" blog. Done by Valerie, Stefano, Valerie again, and Stewart at Frith St.

Anyone else see the wonderful irony of this in a tattoo documentary?But seriously, glad to hear it's coming soon!

Anyone else see the wonderful irony of this in a tattoo documentary?But seriously, glad to hear it's coming soon!

Marcus Kuhn is in town guesting and he lat me snap a pic of a back piece that he's starting tomorrow. He granted me permission to post...

Farther away from Montreal, but maybe helpful for you: I believe Thomas Hooper will be tattooing at Rock of Ages in Austin, TX soon...

Picture stolen from @Stewart Robson and the "On the Shoulders of Giants" blog. Done by Valerie, Stefano, Valerie again, and Stewart at Frith St.

I think my ridiculous run of tattooing is at an end. After months and months of getting work done, I am getting very close to my wedding and my attention must surely turn towards this most important day. My love would like very much if I wasn't taped up, or wounded, or healing as we head into the home stretch. I am certain she is right. So, I had a couple of little filler tattoos done to largely finish up my right arm sleeve. Look for the dice and the flower above them. It has been a great experience, made all the better by being able to share my tattooing with the great folks here at LST. But, come August, work begins on my collar.

R.I.P. my libido.

Picture stolen from @Stewart Robson and the "On the Shoulders of Giants" blog. Done by Valerie, Stefano, Valerie again, and Stewart at Frith St.

Picture stolen from @Stewart Robson and the "On the Shoulders of Giants" blog. Done by Valerie, Stefano, Valerie again, and Stewart at Frith St.

Trust me, after the day we've had, nobody is getting any tonight.

Haha I was kidding about the bleeding together thing although I admit it is kind of awesome going through all this together.
And surprising @Graeme with his Ron bear was the most fun thing ever. When he realized what was happening he smiled wider than I think he did on our wedding day.
Omg Graeme just aquaphored my back. I take back anything nice I've ever said about him. Fuck that guy.

Never posted this here, Kevin Leary Family Tattoo, Chicago.

No, but I've been enjoying Victor Farinelli's reviews of it on Tattoo Artist Magazine's blog! That show looks real bad.

My back. Finished with Chris O'Donnell. Couldn't be more stoked on it.

The waiting in line experience:
Only the first person in line "camped out", I was told he got there at 2am and the shop manager (Jen) hinted that his request was for something you wouldn't expect someone to go to Mike for. A few people arrived around 6-7am and then the majority of the line showed up between 8am and 11am. I got there a little after 11am and there was about 25 people ahead of me. I finally got to the front of the line at 4pm.
Waiting in line was actually a good time. More than half the people already had work by Mike and were looking to extend half sleeves, start sleeves on the other arm, backpieces, etc. It was cool seeing Mike's work in person and talking with other people who are passionate about tattoos.
I'm excited about getting my backpiece started and wish the first appointment was sooner, but the 21 month wait will allow to me research what I want more thoroughly (although in the end I will probably just throw a few general ideas at Mike and let him take control). Also the wait time gives me plenty of time to save the money for this huge investment. I also think I should use the long wait to adopt a healthier lifestyle so I can survive the 6-8 hour sessions I have scheduled. It will be worth the wait!

I got to do my first dragon yesterday!!! So much fun, I really can't wait to do the color. I'm pretty sure we're gonna turn it into a half sleeve, so that's exciting as well. There are no words to quantify how difficult traditional Japanese tattoos are, hahaha.

Heavy hitters already this month...
Done by Stefan Johnsson @ California Electric

Snuck down to see Stefan Johnsson yesterday, guys a certified genius, robbed this from his Instagram, cannot recommend him highly enough.
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Yep, I completely agree. Reference material for this type of stuff is always cool to see. There's often even more hidden in those images that could otherwise go unnoticed. I feel like the best of these occult image tattoos also stand alone and are powerful without knowing where it came from.

Another day, another trip to The Pearl. I'm working on filling in my right arm at the moment. Today Tim Pausinger added a couple of smaller tattoos. First, a very traditional "lucky" with four aces above it, and second, a sailor girl head that I've wanted for a long time now. I also had a couple of touch ups done, so I'm sitting here with both arms taped up tightly wondering how I am going to get a fork up to my mouth. /searches for a feed-bag

Yep, I completely agree. Reference material for this type of stuff is always cool to see. There's often even more hidden in those images that could otherwise go unnoticed. I feel like the best of these occult image tattoos also stand alone and are powerful without knowing where it came from.

Chris Garver Invisible NYC

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not sure how to add a lager pic..

Oh, surely! Basically what I was saying was that I really enjoy when the imagery is crafted with specific intent. I guess a most obvious example would be Robert Ryan's work. Just as in the alchemical illustrations, every image that is depicted was chosen deliberately for a specific intent of illustration or invocation, and I think it's very powerful stuff.
My intention wasn't to discredit tattoos that are chosen specifically for their artistic merit, as I don't think that tattoos need to have meaning whatsoever. I also have tattoos that were chosen purely for the imagery and it's just as you said, they're more of a reminder of what was going on in that time of my life. I don't think there's any real debate as far as which is more valid, it really doesn't matter beyond what it means to the person wearing the tattoo. Pretty much what I was getting at is that I find talisman tattoos to be really exciting and interesting, and I would like to do more work in that vein.