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Done @ Sacred Tattoo by Andy Moreno. St. Francis and shit. Its for my dog who got put down a year ago. Sorry about the shitty cell phone shot.

That kid probably never even touched a cassette tape.

Ask and ye shall receive my friend ;) in all its glory - The "Vans Warped Tour Body Suit"

God that pisses me off.

it's not the cassettes, it's whats on them that sounds horrible.

Finished the main belly piece today. I will say that around the belly button is one of the weirdest/painful feelings of all time.

I know I SAID I wasn't going to get my hands tattooed any time soon (and technically these are FINGER tattoos) but last night I had my co-worker, the lovely miss Ashley Love throw these on my digits.

Once I was out to dinner, actually sitting at the counter in Chow where we had the last LST get together. I was with a girlfriend who was maybe 22, very cute, with huge iris' on her chest. An older man came up and said, "Can I ask you a question?" He never even said the word "tattoo," she yelled at him with great disgust, "no, go away, I'm trying to enjoy my dinner." At the time, I thought she was over re-acting, now I don't. She was young and hot, and this dirty old man wanted an excuse to talk to her and stare at her boobs. Tattoos are not invitations. On the other hand, on the last long flight I was on, I ended up talking to two people who will never, ever get tattooed, but they were so nice and so respectful that I even let one take pictures on her iphone for her son. Seriously. (And I'm sure he was horrified to learn that his mom was taking pictures of someone's tattoos on a plane for him.) I think it really depends on the person's motivation and their approach, and how burnt out the person is who's being asked. When I lived in SF, I was so tired of people asking me for spare change that I started telling every one of them that "change comes from within." As far as asking about cost, that super annoying. The last time I got tattoo questions was about 2 weeks ago at 7:30 am when I was pumping gas. He said something like "Blah, blah, blah, tattoo, blah, colorful, blah, nice, blah, how much did it cost?" I just want to stress that this was at 7:30 in the morning. I might often be more polite or helpful with my response, but I just said, "It was free." This was the wrong thing to say, because he then offered "My girlfriend's cousin's friend" (yes I'm serious) "is going to give me a whole half sleeve for only $200." "Oh yeah, where?" "At his house." "Dude, don't do that, go to a real shop." "No, he used to own his own shop, just doesn't want to deal with paying rent and all that anymore." And then I realized, it's 7 fucking thirty in the morning, why am I having this fucking conversation? "Okay, dude, good luck." What I'm saying, is that for me, I really try to take into consideration the sincerity of the person asking. I've also been on the snub end of the question side. At the beginning of a workshop with a visiting yoga superstar, I noticed tattoos on a guy in front of me for a couple of reasons. One being that he only had three, they were all the same bird in different flight positions, and the placement on his body was cool. The other reason was that they looked familiar, and I had a vague recollection of Scott drawing a similar bird, and I thought perhaps my husband had done them. I asked something like "Can I ask who did your tattoos?" He curtly and dismissively replied "We'll chat after class." Okay, nevermind, you don't seem like the kind of person I'd enjoy chatting with. I wish I had thrown in "Peace out, homo," but I had not yet heard the wise words of Sir Blaze A Lot.

Its something Scott Harrison would rather be doing to stretch marks.

hahahahaha. Dude... every one in the shop would walk by and say "Dude... why does he have a trach?" I just tell people that he has chronic respiratory failure.

This thread has great potential.

Best fucking thread idea ever.

That was in August. Since then I've had my thumbs tattooed. Jade1955 = fickle and fat.

May I?

I've known Matt for a good few years now and as much as I like him, I think it's a shame that he's becoming the 'spokesperson' for tattooed people. Part of me is pleased for him that he's found a way to make a living as a mostly respected academic/writer, even with visible tattoos. But I don't want a spokesperson, especially one who solely views the world from the halls of academe or maybe the fetish club. While I enjoy and agree with most of his writing, I can't help feeling I read it all somewhere before... maybe 15-20 years ago in TattooTime or International Tattoo Art when Shaw was editing. Ed Hardy already proved to the art world that tattooing wasn't just for sailors and whores. In an age of high-rating reality shows about tattooing with celebrity tattooers I don't think we need to justify tattooing to the 'mainstream' anymore. No matter how well written or researched it may be. Some of us want to take tattooing back underground, some of us want to take the high-profile ball and run with it. Whatever people do, it's gotta be more interesting than regurgitating the same tired articles. What's next? "Women can be tattooers too?" Yawn. As a side note, Mario Desa said (via twitter) recently "Those who call tattooing 'fine art' know nothing abut either."

Yesterday I drove up to see Erik Von Bartholomaus. I cannot recommend getting tattooed by him enough, I had an awesome time, some adventure, and a ton of great stories (esp about the tarot deck and Dan H.) and amazing art all over the place- it was a great way to spend the day

Just popping in to say that @Duffa escaped the ban hammer by introducing the term "Gathering of the Sparrows."

Nice one..I wan't a St.Francis tattoo too.You should put a bird head coming out of that hole.

Definitely good client behavior.

@dari you have to combined Sir Blaze A Lots quote into one word or else it doesn't count and shows disrespect to his character. For the subject though... I can easily tell if/when people are being sincere about asking to see my tattoos. If its in a grocery store or anywhere really public, I have no issue telling the person where I got them done and that you should go check out the shop. Its when people start asking me about what they mean and why I got them. I, like most of us LST-ers think tattoos are very personal even though they are often there for the world to see. My favorite though is if its a nice day and Im running shirtless (Yep, im that dude). All the old people around my running trail stare at me like im the fucking devil. All you can do is laugh at silly people like that.

So for this to work you have to keep the beardo in tow for the rest of your life?

I offered to tip my artist when he finished my latest tattoo on Friday and he did not accept my tip. I think it definitely is a bit different in Australia, tipping often becomes awkward except when paying for a meal. I think I tipped about $100 for my first tattoo, not really knowing what was an appropriate amount. My theory is offer a tip or a gift and if they don't accept it no problem at all, and if they do, that's fine as well.

this thread just makes me angry

Dude. Yes. I felt like such a dirty old man in Japan. They always rolled their skirts up on the trains and buses going and coming back from school. God they have great legs. Hope megans law doesnt find this thread.

no. your on target. IMO, you can add anything overly whipshaded, anything bike related, owls, umbrellas, and the like.

@Duffa That's the strange thing about Japan, they don't think of the naked body how we do in the west. Yeah, it could be a bit strange from time to time but over all I don't think they think much of it. Seen tons of photos of people getting tattooed on their upper backs, but still completely naked. Example: Talking to one of my female friends about Japanese High School (separate boys and girls schools) and she was saying on very hot days they just take their skirts and shirts off and walk around in their underwear. I was like holy shit I wanna go to that school. Another one is my tattooer came to the bar I work at, met a girl and she said she works in porn. When I went to his studio later that week we started talking about her and it ended up searching in google. Now Im sitting there in my underwear (squid slacks) looking at porn. Didn't pay to much attention to it cause I didn't want it to get any weirder then it was two grown men, one in underwear, watching porn. It's just a culture thing.

What the fuck is wrong with people?!!?!??! I bet if some famous painter has done those they'd be considered masterpieces to be cherished for generations. The main thing I hate about being an artist, is the fucking art scene. Seriously seeing things like this makes me so angry I can't express it. How can this guy get sent to jail and someone like R.Crumb isn't? On the same note y'all should watch the movies "Who The Fuck Is Jackson Pollack" and "My Kid Could Draw That", that is if you want to spend the rest of the day full of hate for art snobs like the people who put this guy down. I like the paintings posted and I'd have no problem hanging them in my house.

It's one of my favorite things to do in San Francisco. I took our two-year-old to Fisherman's Wharf for half a day on Wednesday--we had a blast!

Wow, thanks everyone! We're in the middle of major home construction, my house actually got lifted up 15 or so feet off the ground for my birthday. Right this minute, there's a mini excavator digging down even further for the fittings for the new foundation. We were out for a few nights, including my birthday when we went to Gather, but we're now back and everything's re-hooked up. Cable/Internet guy just left 30 minutes ago. Having no internet or tv for 10 days was interesting, but I'm hoping not to do it again anytime soon. Love you all!

I know this is the back piece thread ,but seeing Josh Arment's back in person and seeing Cory Lenherrs clients front demonstrates to me the power of this look .American badass with a Japanese vibe.

here's my newest one from yesterday done by Zane Donnellan

to me, there is no difference between a hipster and people that must attain every douche tattoo that's hip this week by a tattooer who's the same. hipster track bike guy vs hipster steam punk guy vs hipster tattoo guy.........its all the same to me.

@dcostello So killer! I love how Franny seems to be saying, "It was a trout, about yea big."

i knew about this thread before it was cool guys.....

More like... THATS WHAT HE SAID. Get what I did there... I made it gay.

Seriously... I typed "combined" in that sentence. Grammar at 5am is no bueno.

Thats what she said. (I'm sorry, couldnt help that one..)

We talked about this at the LST gathering (Kinda like the Gathering of the Juggalos)... @hogg is going to ban you.

And really, what else is there? :)

Spent the day at the Nature Center in Austin-last time I went was on a field trip w/ my son years ago. They had completely re-worked it and it had tons of new exhibits for kids (we had my two younger daughters with us). My favorite part is the raptor rescue area with owls, falcons, and hawks-birds of prey fascinate me.

Poor guy , Kinda similar to the geiger / dead kennedys thing in the 80's but at least Jello won !!

I find myself staring at my blank forearms more and more every day. I already have plans for my upper legs, back, and ribs, but once those are filled, those forearms are going to stick out to me even more. Hopefully by then, I'll be self-sufficient/employed; my skin has become a calendar marking down my days to freedom = )

Richard: "Chris was given that name out in Japan but it has a double meaning... It's one who flies close to the sun... or something, like you can fly near the stars but never truly be... I dunno, I have heard that from a few people, but I think Chris is one of the hardest working, internally driven artists to hail from Texas. . . Or even this hemisphere... so **** those *******." I would like to Quote Bob Roberts... "I'd rather be a first rate Bob Roberts, then a second rate Nakano." Either way I give it up to anyone whom displaces themselves in order to undertake the traditions, and learn the protocol for anything they love or are interested in. It's good to see, and it's inspiring.

How the hell do you not notice that before it's too late? Seriously, sounds like he deserved it.