Skeletal Gadsden

Gadsden Flag

One of my favorite political symbols is the Gadsden Flag, established in 1775 and bearing the motto "Don't Tread on Me." It was taken up by the Tea Party activists, but I had been putting stickers of it on my vehicles for many years before. In conversations with an excellent patriotic client I came up with the idea of rendering it in a skeletal form, and this tattoo is the result. We chose to encircle it with both the original text and "Nemo me impune lacessit" which is on the royal coat of arms of the Kingdom of Scotland and translates in the Scots language to: "Wha daur meddle wi me?"

Coiled Skeletal Gadsden Snake Tattoo by Pat Fish

Celtic Knotwork Backpiece Tattoo

The ability of Celtic knot work to weave dimensions and space, to confuse, to make a sculptural statement on skin, is endlessly fascinating to me. Today I finished up this back piece on a most ambitious client. The original pattern came from an illustration by the esteemed Welsh artist Jen Delyth whose work inspires me and whose designs I have often re-interpreted as tattoos. With some adaptations and a lot of time, it now becomes bold body armor.

Celtic Knotwork Back Piece by Pat Fish

To clarify today's tattoo just a bit more, this is a split photo that shows both a back view of the client, on the top, but also a front view, below. The project began some years ago with the heads of two Celtic zoomorphic creatures, a dragon and a lion. That gave him balance without symmetry, and after a year or so he began to yearn for a way to tie them together. Filling his back with the tangled bodies of the beasts was considered, and rejected, and we debated many options. Then my injury hiatus gave us a long time to yearn, and finally we settled on this solution and installed in over the last 3 months in 3 sessions. What a pleasure to see it completed today and to send it out into the tattoo appreciators in cyberspace.

Completion of Colin Dale Inspired Dragon

Once again I am stretching to emulate the Nordic style of my esteemed colleague the Lord of Dots Colin Dale. The similarities to Celtic art are obvious, the weaves and knots, but oh those zillions of dots! This client is of Nordic descent, so it was his preference and my challenge to take the archive of work Colin Dale has shared with me and pull favorite examples and bring this dragon to life.

A Nordic Dragon Tattoo in the Style of Colin Dale by Pat Fish

Honor Cross

Today's client was one of the good guys, the kind you want on the police force and in the military, both of which he has done. We worked up a custom cross that represents his strong Irish heritage and symbols representative of his family members and dedication to his profession as a peace officer. It is my privilege to create and install tattoos that serve as a badge of honor, art in service to those who do jobs I could not. 

A cross designed for a police officer and military veteran. The central element is a triskle, the spiral triad, and the knotwork contains 4 hearts and Celtic symbols. A strong tattoo representing both a strong connection to ethnic heritage and dedication to profession. A badge of honor, art in service to those who do jobs I could not.