Ink and Iron Nashville/ 10th Tattoo of the Year

This past weekend I got my first tattoo at a tattoo convention. Most of my work is done by the same two guys but when I saw that one of my favorite artists on instagram was coming to Nashville as part of the Ink and Iron Convention I jumped at the chance to get a piece from him. And I love it! Look at this guy!

I got tattoed by Phil DeAngulo, his instagram is longstreetphil. I've been following him for a while and I love his style and color pallet. Having never gotten tattooed at a convention before I was a little nervous about it but I ended up having a great time. Phil was really nice and the other guys around him were fun too. I hope I'll be able to get tattooed by him again. He is based in Columbus, Ohio which isn't that far away from Nashville.

Travis wasn't planning on getting anything but he ended up with two! The toe was done by Holly Clouse. Her banner has a drawing of Lebowski on it and I suggested that he get a severed toe with green nail polish. It is so gross and so perfect. Travis has been talking about getting a pigeon tattoo and Nate Wilson had one drawn up and sitting out on his table. It was meant to be! Isn't it cute?
When I was talking to Phil I realized I have been tattooed TEN times this year! I think part of it is following so many tattoo artists on instagram. I see so much cool stuff it makes me want to get tattooed all the time!

I've gotten four Friday the 13th tattoos this year, including this precious tiny rabbit's foot and cute Totoro, which is my first below the elbow tattoo. I also got a kewpie face and a monkey paw. If you don't know about Friday the 13th tattoos, some shops offer small tattoos of sheets of flash for $13 dollars. There is one more Friday the 13th this year and I'll probably get at least one more. If you are in Nashville, Monolith on Nolensville usually does it, that is where I have gotten all of mine.

I got this Beyonce inspired piece from Eli Draughn after one of his clients didn't show up for the drawing. We changed the words in it and I LOVE it. One of my favorites.

I finished my kitsune tattoo in the spring with Jason St. Clair. A kitsune is a fox from Japanese folklore, isn't her skull bonnet cute? I still have to get the underside of this arm done. Travis and I have been going to Jason for a long time and he has done most of our tattoos. He did the octopus at the top of my arm about six years ago. I'm going to get him to do a tanuki on my right foot this fall as long as I can get my nerve up. The top of the foot hurts so bad!

A local artist posted a sheet of Valentine's flash and I had to get this little Dirty Dancing tattoo! Almost no one gets it, but I love it. On the right is the TCB tattoo I got, the same as Travis and two of our friends. Jason did all four for us.

And last but certainly not least, Eli started on these Watership Down tattoos for me. I'll be back in the fall to get them colored. I got Hazel on the right and Fiver on the left. The plants around them are from the books. Primrose (mentioned in the first line) then strawberry, blackberry and buckthorn, which are names of rabbits in the book. Watership Down is my favorite book and I've read it more than 20 times. I can't wait to finish these!

One last shot of this beautiful gator! I love tattoos (obviously) and am happy I've been able to get so much work done this year. I've got lots of plans for the future!