Amy Beckerman's Ink: Laughter and a Peony

It was Amy Beckerman's peony above her right ankle that first caught my attention:


This beautiful floral tattoo, designed by Dan Bythewood at Regeneration Tattoo in Alston, MA, is one of four tattoos she has.

Dan is a friend of Amy's from college who had studied art then went on to become a tattoo artist.

I thought this one was wonderful, as well:


The word "laughter" pefectly suits her, as Amy is a professional comic. This was also inked at Regeneration, but by Cathy Johnson.

You can see a segment of Amy performing below, as one of her characters, "Ida Felter":



Amy performs regularly in a show called "Dykes on Mics," the second and fourth Tuesday of every month at Comix (353 West 14th Street in Manhattan). It's a free show, starting at 9:00 PM. The next performance is Tuesday, September 28.

Amy's website is here.

Thanks to Amy for her enthusiastic participation in Tattoosday!

Joe's Blue Koi (and a Honu, too!)

Joe has this amazing koi on his upper left arm, part of a 3/4 sleeve:


Initially, our discussion was brief. He is a fan of traditional tattoos and loves the Japanese style. He had this inked in 2001 by Civ at Lotus Tattoo in Sayville, New York. Work from Civ appeared previously here on Tattoosday.

I certainly thought it was unusual to see a blue koi. It's certainly not the most traditional color for a koi tattoo. When I asked Joe about it, he replied, "...there is no significance and I believe it was suggested by Civ...I thought it would certainly be unique, since I had yet to see a blue koi. It was strictly an aesthetic decision."

It was only later, when I was looking at the photo at home, that I noticed a fine detail I hadn't picked up before:


Having grown up in Hawai'i, that certainly looked like a honu design, or traditional Hawaiian sea turtle. I had remembered that Joe had a Polynesian-style tribal arm band on his right forearm, so I shot him an e-mail.

He replied:

The story behind the Polynesian sea turtle is ... I was on my honeymoon in Hawaii, 2001. I had wanted to get tattooed while there and found a shop in Waikiki, Skin Deep. Walked in, shot the shit with one of the guys for half an hour, had an idea of what I wanted to do, a Polynesian band around my forearm being that we were in Hawaii. It seemed fitting as far as a "souvenir" tattoo. Since the band I decided on did not work in a perfect circle around my arm, I decided on the turtle to make it work. We did the tattoo in about an hour and I still love it...

Thanks to Joe for sharing his koi tattoo. I am looking forward to featuring more of his work in the future.

Li's Tattoo Recalls Saint Exupéry

A tattoo means the most to the person who has endured the process.

A tattoo often represents more than what meets the eye.

I met Li along the New Jersey Transit corridor of Penn Station.

She has five tattoos, and chose this one to share with us here on Tattoosday:


What I find intriguing about this piece is that it is not abundantly clear to a stranger what it is.

Li had this tattoo based on, she said, a drawing by Jean Piaget, that depicts the author Antoine de Saint Exupéry rolling an orange along the keys of a piano.

Saint Exupéry, most notably the author of The Little Prince, is Li's favorite author.

Li told me that the writer rolled the orange over the keys, which produced a soothing noise which helped his wife sleep at night,

I could not find the drawing to which Li refers, but I did find this reference, in Saint-Exupery: A Biography, by Stacey Schiff:

At Silvia's he devised a game he called "des oranges sur le piano." By rolling one orange up and down the black keys and a second over the white he was able to produce what sounded to most ears like honest Debussy.

This tattoo was inked by Rachel, formerly of No Ka Oi Tiki Tattoo, in Philadelphia.

Thanks to Li for sharing her fascinating tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!