Proud father Wayne Rooney gets a new tattoo in tribute

New ink: Wayne Rooney showed off his the body art dedicated to his son Kai after the England match against Mexico
He’s obviously full of pride for his son and Wayne Rooney now has a permanent tribute to six-month-old Kai.
The 24-year-old Manchester United and England striker showed off a tattoo dedicated to baby Kai after the match against Mexico earlier this week.
The new inking, which depicts a pair of hands praying with angel wings and Kai’s name in scroll-type font underneath, is on his back, in between the shoulder blades.

 

New ink: Wayne Rooney showed off his the body art dedicated to his son Kai after the England match against Mexico

 

Prayer: Wayne apparently got the tattoo because he will be away from his son during the forthcoming World Cup

They Call Him Mr. Spades

I met Matt in Penn Station last month and he was happy to share a couple of his eight tattoos. The coolest one was this heart on his left arm:

A closer look shows just how intricate this design is:

Matt explained that the idea behind this tattoo is simply that there are two sides to everything. He collaborated on the design with the tattoo artist Sean Malone, who works out of Rose City Tattoos in Rahway, New Jersey.

Readers may notice that, in the top photo, there is a distinct outline of another tattoo on Matt's arm in the shape of a playing card spade. What started out as a random tattoo of another spade ended up giving Matt the nickname "Mr. Spades" and it stuck. Here's a shot of the coolest Spades tattoo, straddling both of Matt's inner forearms:

Thanks to Matt for sharing these great tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Melissa's Feather of Memory

Back in October, I reviewed Kat Von D's The Tattoo Chronicles (here).



I also went to a book-signing and met Ms. Von D.



As you would expect, there was a long line to see the author, who is indisputably the most famous tattoo artist in the world.



Despite the long line, I did have a chance to chat at length with several other people at the event. We talked tattoo as we queued along 46th Street, around the corner onto 5th Avenue, up an escalator, and through a maze of book stacks.



One such fan was Melissa, a student, who was accompanied by several friends. Talking with Melissa and her friends made the two-hour wait much more bearable, indeed.



Melissa offered to share this tattoo with us here on Tattoosday:

This white feather on the inside of her right wrist is tied to the memory of her mother who passed away a couple of years ago.

Melissa's aunt often said that a floating white feather represents the soul of someone who's died. That said, whenever Melissa sees one, she thinks of her mother. By tattooing it on her wrist, she is assured that the memory of her mom will always be close at hand.



The tattoo was inked by Kerry O'Neill at Shotsie's Tattoo in Wayne, New Jersey. Work from Shotsie's has appeared previously here on the site.



Thanks to Melissa (and her friends) for keeping me company on that long day in October, and a special thanks to Melissa for sharing this poignant tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

A Quartet of Art-Inspired Tattoos

When I asked Brian how many tattoos he had, back in October when I met him at Borders in Penn Plaza, he kind of shrugged and said "I don't even know". A great answer, in my opinion.



Brian is an interior designer and many of his tattoos are inspired by the art he admires.



Three of the tattoos I photographed are on his right arm. First is this red tattoo:

This, Brian explained, is a piece that pays homage to Dada, or Dadaism, a cultural movement from the early 20th Century that included one segment of the arts. Brian is inspired by this movement from an artistic perspective.

On his upper arm, Brian has this Buddha image, which he says has an Andy Warhol-inspired perspective:

That is on the outer part of the upper arm, on the inner side is this item:

This is a take on the "Egg Chair," a piece of furniture whose style became popular in the forward-looking 1960's. The form above is more like the Scandinavian Ovalia style of egg chair.

And finally, Brian showed me one of his favorite tattoos, just above his waistline:

As mentioned above, Brian is inspired by Dadaism, and one of the figures that became most associated with the movement was the artist Marcel Duchamp. This tattoo is based on his work Fountain, which caused quite a stir in 1917.