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Polls are closed, and the winner of Tattoo of the month December is @SStu with this incredible skull tattoo by Thomas Hooper. Congrats!! Sorry for closing the poll a couple days late folks. Anyway, the next contest will be announced on the 1st of January, so keep your eyes peeled for that :) Big thanks to everyone who contributed this month!!

By Marie Sena.

you'd be surprised... although some artists only post the big pieces they're working on, they still do smaller one-shot pieces. as far as selecting an artist, it's really up to your preference. do some research and find someone who does some peonies you like, then don't be afraid to give the shop a call and see when they're available. if i was gonna get a peony in NYC... i'd go to Garver. if you want to explore more options, you could also wait for the NYC convention to come around!

I got this at the beginning of September . I did post it,but only in the images section.

This was done last night by Gina at Studio 69 tattoo... on my ribs. Came close to tapping out. The mark on the upper left is a drain from my heart surgery.

Just got an impromptu sparrow from Ashley at Bulletproof Tiger Tattoo here in Manchester http://bulletprooftigertattoo.com/artists/ashley/

Hi, I currently have a rose on my left upper arm, and I am interested in getting a peony tattooed on the other arm (upper right). Below, is the Instagram picture of the rose: I was wondering if anyone knew of good artists who specialized in peonies; I envision the peony to be approximately the same size as the rose. Any tips or advice is appreciated! Thank you!

Thanks everybody - and Happy New Year! Here's looking forward to 2017.

What?

David Bowie blackstar

Welcome to the forum!!

Welcome to LST. there are tons of great artists in New York who are more than capable of putting on a beautiful peony. The first few shops that come to mind are Invisible, Adorned, Three Kings, Kings Ave, and Saved. Good luck! Let us know how it goes.

Thank you for your replies! I have decided to go for skulls and roses, phoned the tattoo studio and they were pretty fine about me changing it. I'll attach a picture of what I'm thinking (it's based on the three wise monkeys I am no artist so excuse the bad art!) and I'm thinking of getting grey and black roses in the background to link it all together as one piece (like the other attachment) I already have roses up one side of me and they are only pink and green so this would also tie in better. If anyone has any ideas on any improvements I'm all ears! thank you all again

I don't really have any suggestions to help with the pain apart from to remember and breathe! Sounds like an amazing tattoo though!!

Tribal is coming back so you're ahead of the trend. I predict chrome panthers will be big in 2017 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well, I've never gotten a tattoo in the area you described BUT I can relate in that of my 10 tattoos, 9 of them were on my arms/shoulders so I thought that all tattoo pain was created equal. Getting a large moth tattooed on my chest/sternum proved that wrong. As soon as the needle touched my skin I knew I'd underestimated the pain and, like you, I twitched a little involuntary which caused a bit of shaky linework. But then I thought to myself "The pain'll only last a couple of hours, the tattoo on the other hand is forever" I still have to go back in a few days to color it in, but I know that in the end a few hours of pain is worth it for a kick-ass piece of art that'll be with me forever. Best advice I can give you is grit your teeth, tough it out and don't forget to breathe. As for the numbing cream, I've never used it but I've heard good things. Besides, you don't wanna walk around with half a tattoo forever do you?

My girlfriend bought me this book along with the finger wave book vol.1 & 2. Now I'm left waiting for mysterium to ship. Good think I have two books to melt my brain until then.

That's awesome. I especially love the skeletons.

I got this from my childhood friend Siggy (@siggystarfishtattoo) today. I saw the flash year and a half ago but having been on the opposite side of the world it didn't happen until now. So stoked!

New addition to my "bird collection". Done by Pavla (Poppy Tattoo) during her guest spot in Prague. The photo is hers. Concerning the watercolor tattoos and their ability to hold, I can now compare the 2 year old tattoo with this new one because they are placed right next to each other. The older one still looks great and vivid. But I have very pale skin, and I almost never sunbathe.

Lets go with a few more what the heck: Becca Gene Bacon at The End is Near in Brooklyn with the fish rose morph. Becca is really nice and hit homeruns daily. Rob Ryan with the Hand of Glory and Mandala Big Cat at Electric in Asbury NJ. Rob is a super fast and as nice as they come. Steve Boltz with a flying fish at Smith St. in Brooklyn. What a great shop and Steve was filled with great conversation. I thought it was the coolest thing sitting down and having lunch with Steve after the tattoo. Gotta get back to Smith. Sheila Marcello with this flying lady head on my collarbone. Sheila rocks. Electric in Asbury. Rob Ryan again at Electric with some fish mandala knee magic. Lastly I traveled to Maryland to the Wheaton Tattoo Paradise shop to get this fiery eyed lady from Chad Koeplinger on his 50 state tour. Got to meet a lovely LST member as well. A blast of a day (though way too much of it was spent in a car lol). Anyway - love these picture heavy threads with cool tattoos so...lets keep going.

Percy Waters crane/lady by Tony Nilsson at Blue Arms Tattoo

I haven't been getting tattooed much lately because I've been focused on one big piece for the past several months. I expect more traditional one shots in my near future! But here's what I've got so far when it comes to traditional style tattoos, and a little background on each: Eagle and rose by Brian Via at Golden Ages in Lancaster, PA. I wanted something to represent my parents (still alive, not a memorial!). Brian is super laid back and the whole shop is really talented. Also done by Brian, picked off his wall of things he wanted to tattoo. My first skull and not the last. Butterfly done by Antonio Roque in Frederick, MD. Really cool guy especially considering he's kind of "Instagram famous" with over 50k followers...easy to book with, charged me actually way less than he should have (and got a big tip as a result), and no ego at all. Panther and rose by Chad Koeplinger when he came through DC. He's one of my artistic idols and I was kind of star struck to meet him. Fun guy to talk to and I was amazed at his speed (this took less than 2 hours, including all the time we spent talking about movies). But wow does he hurt like no one's business! I wanted him to do this spot (inner bicep) to get it over with as quick as possible, but he's pretty brutal! Anyway, I asked him for a panther and rose and said he could do whatever he wanted with those subjects, so I got my whole inner arm blasted with this.