For 32 years this policeman has been wearing that skull in the upper left hand corner that some people guessed was a pile of laundry. Finally he commissioned me to place the badge of the Clan Donald over the top of it. What a challenge!
Clan McDonald badge covering old tattoo
A fractal explosion forms a corona of spikes around a traditional labyrinth design, a meditation device centuries old.
The Icelandic charm of protection, a magical symbol that confers invincibility upon the wearer.
Helm of Awe
In the Nordic pantheon the supreme God is Odin, always identifiable by his one eye, having traded the other to be allowed to drink from Mimir's Well, the source of wisdom. This is a representation of a historic mask portraying him.
Odin mask
Poor Karen, her name has become a shorthand for a type of woman she most decidedly is not! But one thing she CAN rely on is the love of her husband of 17 years, who came today to get her name on his forearm in a Celtic font.
Upon completion of the seven years apprenticeship, the sacred symbol of the Spiral of Life was applied to the new initiate, now marked as ready to take their place at the nature worshiping ceremonies in the ancient Oak Groves.
Spiral of Life
Mighty hunters of the sea, also known as Killer Whales, the Orcas travel in family groups and hunt in packs like wolves.
Orca Tattoo
"Live so that you wouldn't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip." - Will Rogers
Amazon Parrot tattoo
When this man’s beloved grandmother “D” was in hospice, one of the last things she said to him was that when she went home she was going to get a cat. In her memory he asked me to create a tiny 2” monogram memorial for his wrist, a Celtic cat inside a Medieval letter D for her initial.
Today this man added a blackbird tattoo to his back, alongside a Celtic cross I previously did, as a dedication for his mother whose memorial service he attended yesterday. She suffered a long time after a brain injury, and at the end he sat by her side in hospice playing the music of the Beatles that she loved, especially the song "Blackbird." Now she has wings to fly again in heaven.
Blackbird Tattoo
The Carrick bend is known as the "Sailors' Breastplate", and as the "Wake knot" when it is used as a heraldic badge. This knot's name dates back to at least 1783, when it was included in a nautical dictionary. A man soon to tie the knot with his fiancée of 6 years decided to get this permanent knot on his arm. It is used to join two ropes together, and is preferred for hawsers and cables because it draws up tight under load.
A classic high cross with a shamrock center, in which to place a significant initial. On his 20th birthday this man chose to get a Celtic cross very similar to the ones I put on his father and uncle in 2003. A family tradition!
Deep within the innermost chamber of the Newgrange passage tomb in Ireland's Boyne valley, 6,000 years old, older than the Egyptian pyramids, this evocative spiral stands eternal watch over the burial place of the high kings.
Newgrange Triple Spiral Celtic Tattoo Design
The St. Andrew's cross flag of the Kingdom of Scotland, known as the Saltire, is here represented in a clever Celtic knotwork pattern. Bringing together both the nationalistic pride of this ancient race and the intricacy of an unmistakably Celtic piece of art.
The mighty Midgard serpent, the Jormungandr, rendered in the Urnes style to wrap the forearm or leg. A symbol of Nordic Viking power.
Today a musician building a Nordic sleeve asked for Jörmungandr, the Midgard Serpent, on his forearm, that I drew in the Urnes style. After we finished and he prepared to leave... as he grasped the studio door knob a HUGE boom of thunder shook the building. "What was THAT?" he gasped.... "The blessing of Thor" I replied!
The most charming of all the Pictish animals is the Pictish Beast, also known as the Pictish Dragon, or Swimming Elephant. Some people even say that it might be the Loch Ness Monster!
This version is from the Strathmartine Castle stone, now on display in Dundee, Scotland. I chose to render him in pointillist dots, to mimic the hand-pecking tapping technique that would have been used to create his image in sandstone so many centuries ago.
The Pictish Beast
A MOST unusual tiny detail, found on the Book of Kells Folio 8R page, that caught the eye of this man who requested it as a band on his thigh above the knee. From the scribe monks of 8th century Ireland to the 21st century as a tattoo, Celtic art LIVES !
Book of Kells Folio 8R
The Speyside region of Scotland is known for production of superb whiskeys, and the graveyards are filled with noble high crosses that mark family graves and are silent sentinels to faith.
Amazing as it may seem, this totally pagan image of a fertility goddess spreading her labia was frequently found in the stone entrances of Irish Medieval churches. Hundreds of them lie hidden in the National Museum of Ireland, victims of puritanical present attitudes. But this one lives again, encircled by the Newgrange triple spirals.
The blazon of the Clan Fraser, the cinquefoil or strawberry flower, is bracketed by a crescent of Celtic knot work to make a stalwart statement of ethnic pride.
