When Paul was in high school he spent 3 months in Pushkino, Russia, (studying microbiology of all things!),  and brought back an impressive collection of some really beautiful Russian folk art, including a set of the most beautiful matryoshka dolls i have ever seen.

They sit proudly on our mantle, and have given Mike Donahue’s youngest son hours of fun. Whenever they come over, the first thing he does is pull down the dolls and take them to the couch so he can open each one and put them back together again.

When it came time to decide what the next element in Paul’s sleeve would be, he thought about his fondest memories and remembered Russia. Then he thought about the dolls and how they represent a complex nature, not only because each doll contains another doll, but also because each one is a beautiful floral artwork within a simple depiction of a person. It may be that it represents his complexities, as well as his awareness of the complexity of others. We are not what we may appear to be.

I ordered special ink for this tattoo because he wanted the colors to be as bright as possible. I found a set of 3 fluorescent colors that happened to be the colors in the doll, (a pink, an orange, and a red.) However, when i started to apply the red, i quickly realized that it just did not want to stick in the skin. The pink was even worse. Plus, i couldn’t see the pink for the redness of the skin beneath. Since this is only my second color tattoo, it’s possible i just don’t know how to work with such an ink.

I quickly made the decision to lightly color the whole tattoo rather than make more of a bloody mess trying to get these stubborn colors in. In 2 weeks, after it fully heals, i will re-color the whole tattoo again to evenly deepen all the tones and bring out the super bright colors. And then, if necessary, i’ll do it again 2 weeks later. (Which will be so much fun for Paul, since the red part close to his elbow was almost unbearably painful!) =( Sorry babe!

On my leg, I added a lot of darker shading to add more contrast to the design. On Ruben’s Calendario Azteca back piece, we added another ring of the design as well as 4 more points. For now, we left the outer boxes empty in case he decides to put in words, such as “Oaxaca” or “VW” or “4:20″ maybe.

After seeing Milk at the Castro Theater in San Francisco, i wanted a Harvey Milk t-shirt. I figured other people who appreciate what he did might want one, too. I could not find one i liked, so i designed one exactly the way i pictured it in my head. I really like how it turned out. I hope it will be a hit at next summer’s gay pride festivals around the world. I decided that a portion of every one sold should go to charity to honor the father of the gay pride parade. Right now, i’m thinking it will be the Gay American Heroes Foundation, honoring Americans who have been murdered for being gay or transgendered. Another possibility is the Harvey Milk school in NY. Any suggestions?

For any fan of tattoos, this is a stunning book, filled with mind blowing portraits of tattoo artists and their ink.

nude portrait of Kat Von D by Shawn Barber

portrait of LA Ink's Corey Miller

LA Ink's Kim Saigh by Shawn Barber

The title of his book, Forever And Ever, evokes the permanence of tattoos, and the idea that when you get a tattoo, for the rest of your life, when you look at it, it will bring back the memory of whatever inspired the tattoo, what it represents, who was with you, and what was going on in your life when you got it. It is a time capsule on your skin.

His work is not limited to images of tattoos. He also has a series with dolls, as well as many other subjects. His website is full of enthralling images to get lost in, and his blog, which talks a lot about Kim Saigh and the ink they put on eachother with tons of rich photos, inspired the look of my blog.

Shawn inking Kim

Kim inking Shawn on TLC's L.A. Ink