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Sorry to those that have already seen it on Instagram, but I'm so stoked that I have to post it here also.
Paul Dobleman is one of my favorite tattooers and I wanted to plan a trip out to SF to get tattooed by him; I've even been saving this spot on my arm for him. Saw that he was doing a guest spot here in NYC at Kings Ave, but he got booked up very fast. Luckily, I was able to grab one of his cancellations (thanks to @CABS for the heads up!).
So I got my bike running over the weekend and took a rainy ride out to Kings Ave in Long Island on Monday.

Rode home with this pretty lady from Paul.

A very cool experience; couldn't be happier with this one!

I want to get tattooed by Jeff Rassier ASAP.
When I got tattooed by Robert Ryan, all I asked for was a skull with a hand coming out of it. He pretty much took care of the rest.

"How'd you get a pizza face tattoo?" Because the artist drew a pizza monster. It mostly comes down to an artist and their style. Others are just up to asking. I told Jesse Gordon I wanted a dagger through something weird. Lets get weird was my motto. I came out with an eyeball being daggered. I think getting weird tattoos are some of the finest. Sometimes you just gotta get weird

I really dig what Ron Henry Wells has been doing with roses. He explains what he's doing with them on his blog here:

Everything is expensive in Norway! I spent a week there over the summer - a cheeseburger ran at least $20, plus another $11 for a beer.

This today. Tattooed by Jimmie Skuse, Les Skuses' grandson. Amazing shop. So much history there. Had a great time chewing the fat with Jimmie. He showed me a load of flash thats been submitted for a book he's working on.
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That is truly beautiful.

I've talked about this some before...
A few years ago I found out that I have a neurodegenerative disease that will eventually land me in a wheelchair. I really don't know how fast or slow it will go. There's not any treatment for it, nothing to do for it but treat symptoms and wait for the inevitable.
I got super depressed about it for a long time. I absolutely HATED my legs. Despised them for having this disease, for failing me, for "dooming" me to be disabled someday.
Sometime last summer I started to have persistent dreams that I was getting my legs tattooed. I ignored them as well as I could for awhile, and then started putting some serious thought into going for it. I started looking around the interwebs to see what was out there...
And then I came here :)
Since I started getting my legs tattooed my feelings about them have changed completely. I don't hate them at all anymore. In fact, I might even love them!!! I definitely love the tattoos, and to a great degree all those positive feelings have bled over onto the legs themselves.
And... I'm finding that my perspective about the disease as a whole is beginning to shift some too...
I'm coming around to the idea that I need to view it less as a curse, not "being doomed", and more of just "a change"...
I'm definitely not all the way there yet, but it's something that never would have been possible in the state of mind I was in when I hated my legs guts for having this thing in the first place.
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And I have to add...
I want to thank all y'all here at LST for being here, for giving such great input and advice, for showing off such great work all the time!!
God forbid, what if I'd gotten crappy leg tattoos?!?!
I doubt it would have had the same positive impact that it's had...

I can only agree... i'm not a confident person at all and i guess you could say i have low self esteem. I used to look in the mirror and really dislike what i saw but now i look in the mirror and see so many things that make me smile. i feel far more comfortable in this beautiful colourful interesting skin. I've also realised that it's ok to not be like everyone else.
So yes, tattoos have changed my life for the better :)

Summer clothes = cut off pant legs and shirt sleeves, right? I don't see the problem...

@Delicious I was just kidding, sounds like you've got a pretty good plan there.

4th session with Filip :cool:

Summer clothes = cut off pant legs and shirt sleeves, right? I don't see the problem...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhw_zbvxvb4

@Delicious I would add that just because people love you and our on your side, doesn't mean they know what is right for you. At some point I think we just have to gain the confidence enough to disagree with our family and understand that their preconceived notions of what society deems appropriate is not going to determine your happiness, only you can do that. And disgreeing with them doesn't mean you love them any less, just that you have become your own person.
Their is that old saying, you live under my house, you follow my rules. Well I have my own house and I say fuck rules.

I believe that was me @Dan S
@Delicious To the extent of my knowledge i am the only woman in my whole extended family apart from one cousin (who has a tiny trible symbol on her chest) that is tattooed... That includes men.
I started to get the usual grief when i began getting tattooed.. a few colour realism butterflies, a little script that was all seen as acceptable however when i began getting larger tattoos people began to pipe up with their opinions.
are you joining the circus?
are you going to be a pirate?
you are going to look so butch?
what are you going to do when this early midlife crisis is over?
you look like a lesbian!
you WERE such a girly girl and now...
etc etc.
There comes a point in life when you have to make the choice between expressing yourself how YOU choose to because frankly other people might not be around for nearly as long as your tattoos will be. I've always had hella low self confidence but now when i look in the mirror and catch a glimpse of my tattoos i smile. They make ME happy on MY body. Other people will get over it.
Sorry for digressing from the point of the thread.
I have had a length discussion about native american indian tattoos at my local shop today and i've realised i am 'supersticious' enough to feel the need to have my indian girlhead and cheif wearing the correct headdress... that's as far as it goes for me though. Tattoos are things i perceive to be beautiful that i want to wear on my body.. n thats about the size of it :)

Delicious, I can only say the same to you as I said to someone else.
Get what you want. If someon else doesn't like it, tell them to sod off.
If your family has superstitions based on the belief of the cult they beling to, THEY are the ones that need to deal, not you.
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Got my first skull from Rempe while he was in NYC.

Highlight last year was meeting Thom Devita.

@motsimus it rules!!

@CABS - Yeah man, definitely worth the trip. The shop is cool as hell, and I showed up early expecting a line but ended up being the only client there for the first hour+ of the sitting. Jeff is a solid dude, I highly recommend him. Jeff and a couple other guys from the shop (including Jason) will be at the Bay Area Convention this year, too...
Here's a slightly better picture from Instagram:

@CABS - Yeah man, definitely worth the trip. The shop is cool as hell, and I showed up early expecting a line but ended up being the only client there for the first hour+ of the sitting. Jeff is a solid dude, I highly recommend him. Jeff and a couple other guys from the shop (including Jason) will be at the Bay Area Convention this year, too...
Here's a slightly better picture from Instagram:

@CABS - Yeah man, definitely worth the trip. The shop is cool as hell, and I showed up early expecting a line but ended up being the only client there for the first hour+ of the sitting. Jeff is a solid dude, I highly recommend him. Jeff and a couple other guys from the shop (including Jason) will be at the Bay Area Convention this year, too...
Here's a slightly better picture from Instagram:

That's sick man. I want a rose and dagger on the back of my leg too, how fitting. I like visiting conventions, but I'd much rather visit tattooers at their home base. Jeff P and Ross Carlson do killer tattoos. Maybe I'll make a trip to Portland this summer. Flights are cheap from the Bay Area.

@CABS - Yeah man, definitely worth the trip. The shop is cool as hell, and I showed up early expecting a line but ended up being the only client there for the first hour+ of the sitting. Jeff is a solid dude, I highly recommend him. Jeff and a couple other guys from the shop (including Jason) will be at the Bay Area Convention this year, too...
Here's a slightly better picture from Instagram:

Got this earlier today from Jeff P. at Art Work Rebels here in Portland, Ore. Every 23rd they do a half-off flash special, so I picked this one off the wall. Sorry for the shitty cell phone picture, it's the best I could do.