Dave's Portrait of His Great-Grandfather

I spotted Dave at the end of July while picking something up at the 34th Street K-Mart.

He kindly shared this wonderful portrait of his Great-Grandfather, tattooed on his forearm:

His grandfather was originally from Cuba, immigrating to the United States in the 1930s.

And although he passed in 1994, Dave recalls something his grandfather always said: "it's never too late, until you're dead".

Tattooed by Lalo Yunda at Sacred Tattoo NYC, Dave has the pleasure of carrying his very important ancestor with him, wherever he goes.

Thanks to Dave for sharing his inked family heritage with us here on Tattoosday!

Raul Honors His Father with a Portrait

I spotted Raul outside of F.I.T. and stopped to ask him about this portrait on his inner left forearm.

The gentleman pictured is Raul's father, based on a photograph of him taken when he was serving as a paratrooper in the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic.

Raul told me he always had a special relationship with his father, who had always wanted his son to follow in his footsteps in the military. Raul explained that his father, however, changed his tune about this late in his career.

Raul did not indicate whether this was due to his father's feeling about life in the military, or a result of his seeing that his son was not meant for a life as a paratrooper.

Regardless, the portrait is a touching example of a son's affection for his father.

Raul credits this piece to Triple X Tattoo in Manhattan, and remembered the artist being from Australia and named Mike. A call to Triple X did not clarify this, as I could not connect the three elements to positively identify the artist.

Nonetheless, thanks go to Raul for sharing his inked portrait of his father with us here on Tattoosday!

A Portrait of Marilyn

Tom Doherty gave me the best answer I have heard to the question "How many tattoos do you have?"

He looked me in the eye and said, matter-of-factly, "Not enough."

Tom has a ton of ink, and is one of the artists in residence at Another Tattoo Shop in Bound Brook, New Jersey.


It's always like winning the lottery when I chance upon a tattoo artist, because they seem to have a greater appreciation for the idea of Tattoosday and, more importantly, they have siginifantly better work, and more of it to choose from.

So Tom was not only kind enough to agree to participate, but he didn't offer up any of his visible tattoos, but instead lifted his shirt to reveal Marilyn Monroe, smiling from the left side of his torso.

Why does he choose to have Ms. Monroe inked there? He wanted a famous face, a "show-off piece," as he called it. The tattoo was done by his boss at the shop, Matt Pope.

Thanks to Tom for sharing this awesome portrait with us here at Tattoosday!

Kelly Remembers her Grandmother

This awesome portrait was jumping off of Kelly's right shoulder in Penn Plaza last Wednesday.

Kelly has ten tattoos in all, but she chose this portrait for Tattoosday, inked six years ago by Joey Ortega at Kingpin Tattoos in Harker Heights, Texas.

This was, according to Kelly, Ortega's first portrait, and he created for her a lasting memorial to her grandmother, who had meant the world to her.

The portrait is accompanied by the phrase "may angels lead you in," a lyric from the song "Hear You Me" by the band Jimmy Eat World:

May angels lead you in
Hear you me my friends
On sleepless roads, the sleepless go
May angels lead you in

Kelly was in town visiting with her friend Amber. They have matching tattoos. See them below here.

Thanks to Kelly for sharing such a meaningful tattoo here with us on Tattoosday!

Bonus footage- the video from "Hear You Me":

Tattoosday at the Mall, Part 1 - Kevin Wears His Son on his Sleeve

This portrait of Kevin's son, Kevin Jr. graces his inner left forearm.

I had the chance to chat with Kevin (and Kevin Jr.) as we all waited for the women in our lives do some serious shopping damage at the Limited Too store at the Roosevelt Field Mall on Long Island.

Kevin has about 10 tattoos in all and he had this piece inked about two years ago. Kevin Jr. acknowledged he liked that his portrait was on his dad's arm. Kevin Sr. added, laughing, "Let's see how he feels when he's older!"

Kevin and I talked tattoos for ten or fifteen minutes while we waited for the shopping to end.

This portrait was inked by Tim at The Red Parlour in Woodside, Queens. Kevin has known Tim for many years and he has had all of his work done by him.

Thanks to Kevin for sharing his son's portrait here on Tattoosday!