CShaw

So far, the lower back and spine are reliably:

My strategy is to play dead, like I'm being mauled by a tiny bear. So far it's working.

I stumbled across this article this morning, about a photojournalist documenting a dying tattoo tradition in Syria. The photos are beautiful and I love learning about traditional tattoo practices in different cultures (I had no idea that there was a Kurdish tattoo culture!). I thought some of you nerds might find it interesting too!
The Last Tattooed Women of Kobane | PROOF

My strategy is to play dead, like I'm being mauled by a tiny bear. So far it's working.

My strategy is to play dead, like I'm being mauled by a tiny bear. So far it's working.

My strategy is to play dead, like I'm being mauled by a tiny bear. So far it's working.

My strategy is to play dead, like I'm being mauled by a tiny bear. So far it's working.

My strategy is to play dead, like I'm being mauled by a tiny bear. So far it's working.

I think @AverageJer posted a picture of a Sailor Jerry fish he got a couple days ago? I hadn't been on here recently and wound up getting a similar tattoo on Saturday. It's from Rollo flash tweaked by Josh Arment at the Aloha Monkey. You guys, I can't begin to do justice to how cool everyone at this shop is. After some very, very embarrassing last-minute indecision I went back to the first thing that had caught my eye on the wall (and learned a lesson about not overthinking things). Sorry about the picture quality.

My strategy is to play dead, like I'm being mauled by a tiny bear. So far it's working.

Wow, that snake and roses is so cool.
Here's a little one I got yesterday from Kurt Melancon at a fun Sailor Jerry birthday event at Leviticus in Minneapolis. Obviously not on the same scope as some of these but it's a quality tattoo and fun to share.

Cool. Amazing what she did to her own face.
Woman Uses Paramedical Tattooing To Hide Burns And Scars | SF Globe

Got my lemur rose morph yesterday... it's a partial cover up, I'll get another soon with background to cover the rest. Also, the tattooist is going to go over the purple in a darker shade once healing is done in order to fully obscure the design underneath it.

Been loving some of front pieces from Matthew Houston at Salon Serpent. A couple of killer stomach rockers in there, too.

I wanted to see it again too :) I love that tattoo.

Been loving some of front pieces from Matthew Houston at Salon Serpent. A couple of killer stomach rockers in there, too.

Whoa, with all the awesome tattoos posted in the Lowdown thread recently I'm surprised no one's posted here yet. I'll kick it off! Here's my thigh by Seth Wood, started at Temple and finished at Saved.

Got my next appointment all set up for the second week in January. Looking forward to more work being done, not looking forward to *getting* it done :D Got the right side peonies worked on last time, they'll have brown added to the leaves in the future, and some lines on the petals.

@graybones Thank you! They're based partly on Chinese depictions of lucky bats (also why there's five) which are very pretty and playful, for that very reason! I adore bats, and when I see them it makes me happy, but didn't want realism or the more angular, sharp look of a traditional Western depiction. I had also given my artist some Art Nouveau pieces in the giant file of inspiration, and she makes lovely peonies, so this is what happened. :)
@DeathB4Decaf Is that Paul Freaking Bunyan? AMAZING either way.

my back piece by Chris O'Donnell

Finished my back on Friday night (well, Saturday at 5:30 am). It was a hell of a ride - it took almost exactly a year of sessions every 2-3 weeks. We'll do a final session after this heals to tie the bow on it.
This tattoo was made by Sean Zee out of Brick, NJ from pictures I've taken while scuba diving. I gave him 50-some pictures and a wish list, and he selected about 15 shots to create this scene. These pics were taken on 4 continents from 1998 through 2013 using (mostly) a Nikonos V underwater camera with an SB-105 strobe, UW Nikkor 35mm, 28mm, and 15mm f2.8 fisheye lenses, Sea & Sea (no relation) macro kit and Nikonos closeup kit.

Sean is a great guy, dedicated and amazingly creative. It boggles my mind how artists just "see" stuff like this and make it happen. He put up with a lot of questions and "what ifs" and "why nots" from this nearly virgin canvas (as he likes to say, "this woman only had lil kitty paw prints on her shoulder before this"), explaining to me all the ways this tattoo would NOT work, and ended up just putting it on the table that it really needed to be a full back if I wanted so many references. And to prove it, he designed the whole thing superimposed on a picture of my bare back and emailed it to me. I remember the moment I saw it for the first time and it shorted out my brain. I committed to the full back about 20 minutes after I got the email. (And I admit at the time I did not understand in the least what I was in for...)
Kinda funny, thinking back on it, how all the chatter and uncertainty and 14 years of wanting some sort of tattoo with my eagle rays were completely silenced and resolved in a heart beat. Anyway...
So, the critters making appearances, starting at the top right and going clockwise are: two moon jellyfish, two Moorish idols, two clownfish and anemone, a batwing coral crab and mustard tube sponges just behind him, a leopard moray eel, two squirrelfish hiding in red sea fans that cross my lower back, a sea snake in lettuce coral (very poisonous, which I didn't realize until after I'd crawled up in his face to take the picture and then been admonished by the divemaster after the picture was developed), a queen angelfish and a hammerhead shark. In the center are two spotted eagle rays and the broken mast of the Nippo Maru, a Japanese supply ship sunk during WWII by US forces in Truk Lagoon, Micronesia.
When I look at this, I don't just see a tattoo of fish. It's a diary of my favorite diving experiences. Each part has such different memories of the location, the people I was with, and the experience on that dive. (Yeah, poisonous sea snake. Whoopsie on that one. And the clownfish was actually guarding a little ring of day-old eggs. And trying to photograph moon jellies in a surge without being hit is like playing a 3D video game. And that I really really wanted my spotted moray eels but Sean said the pattern wouldn't age well, so with resigned sadness, my handsome spotted moray had to morph into a leopard moray. Sniff Sniff.) All of this flooding my brain at the same time.
And then I get this goofy grin on my face thinking about walking around with this huge awesome back piece that anyone I know would be shocked to learn I have.
He put up a little video where you can see the ribs, too: Video of SeeSea's Back. Healed pics coming to an LST contest near you. I want a T-shirt, dammit :D

Above is a picture of me laying like a passed out pale seal on Iain Mullens table. Today was the second to last session on my back. Can't wait to see it finished. We're doing the last bit and touch ups with Rudy Fritsch at the Scottish Convention in the end of March. Going to be fun/hell. Todays session was nice except for a few bits. I can't believe how quick this piece has been. I got the idea to start my back in April last year, asked Iain about it and then we started in mid June. It really helps that both him and Rudy work super quick and make for good company + conversations during the sessions.
Secret bit of knowledge exclusively for LST (I know people love that exclusiveness, I sure do): that ain't a dark red, but actually a light gray wash looking bloodied and irritated. Haven't got a piece of color on me, except for a few patches of gray and white.

It's done. It's actually done. The last session was the worst one I've had to endure. Major touch ups to the wind bars/clouds, double lining, basically every soft spot got hit in one day. By the end I was definitely spent, but so stoked. Dana was very pleased with how this came out, and that makes me happy too. He wants me to show up to the Baltimore or Philly conventions and do the back piece contest.
This took a year and a half, and it was an amazing experience.

I posted this over in "http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/general-tattoo-discussion/5952-thread-posting-while-getting-tattooed-page9.html#post107507" mid grind last night, but here's an update. Right ribs to arm pit and detailing out the right side. I'm still limited to what he puts on Instagram, so it's not close up and the lighting isn't great. But man this is getting me crazy happy!
Although, of course, next session was supposed to be my last one ... but now it's not again... ;) But he can detail it out all he wants - I'm just in love.

Ahhh, he just put up a detail shot. The right is finished - second pass on the blue and rays are next, and finishing the left ribs, then a final pass for whites and blacks. Stolen from Sean Zee's Instagram

@ironchef
I. Can't. Even. It hurts my feelings its so good.