Flowers and Bees

Here's some more work from long time submitter Daniel: "This is two Dog-rose blossoms. Their meaning in the French language of flowers is pleasure and pain. There is a blossom for each of my children, the pleasure and joy of sharing their lives entwined with the pain and loss in the relationship with my estranged wife. Accompanying the blooms are the bees, messengers of the Gods...they were believed to carry news to the Gods of a death, and in this case carrying the news of the death of the relationship. One bee carries a faerie, hopefully a harbinger of joyous news to come. The Bee and Rider is Froudian, the flowers from life,the artist as always, the amazing Lisa Schmoldt, Otherside Ink, now Punta Gordo Florida."  Thanks for sharing Daniel!

Angelic Devil and Fairy

More Great Froud Ink!

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The above image features some more amazing artwork from tattoo artist Lisa Schmoldt of Otherside Ink from our good friend Daniel who has contributed more to NeoPagan Ink that any other reader. Yay Daniel! Here's what he had to say:

The tiniest of Faerie offering up a berry as some times a little bit of magic in your life is enough to see you through.

These tattoos feature art by Brian Froud and Amy Brown. To see more of Daniel's great tattoos go here, here, and here.

And a great big "Thank you" to Daniel for sharing so much amazing tattoo art with us here at NeoPagan Ink.

Froud Pixie

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Here's another very nice tattoo from reader, and multiple submitter, Daniel based on original art by Brian Froud. Like his other awesome tattoos this was also inked by Lisa Schmoldt of Otherside Ink. Daniel shared the following poem to go along with his pixie tattoo.

From the 19'th Century

Nora Cheeson

The Pixies

Have e’er you seen the Pixies, the fold not blest or banned?

They walk upon the waters; they sail upon the land,

They make the green grass greener where’er their footsteps fall,

The wildest hind in the forest comes at their call.

They steal from bolted linneys, they milk the key at grass,

The maids are kissed a-milking, and no one hears them pass.

They flit from byre to stable and ride unbroken foals,

They seek out human lovers to win them souls.

The Pixies know no sorrow, the Pixies feel no fear,

They take no care for harvest or seedtime of the year;

Age lays no finger on them, the reaper time goes by

The Pixies, they who change not, grow old or die.

The Pixies though they love us, behold us pass away,

And are not sad for flowers they gathered yesterday,

To-day has crimson foxglove.

If purple hose-in-hose withered last night

To-morrow will have its rose.

You can see more of Daniels' amazing tattoos here and here.

And I'm sending a big "Thank You" out to Daniel for sharing so much of his amazing tattoo work!

More Froud Ink: Crumb

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This amazing tattoo, a take on Brian Froud's Crumb, comes from reader Daniel who says:

Watching over me...still to be joined to some dog roses and vines.

Thanks to Daniel for sharing this tremendous tattoo!

P.S. Be sure to check out the comments on this post! Daniel chimes in with some more background about this tattoo. The artist who inked this tattoo is Lisa Schmoldt of Otherside Ink out of Florida.

Spider Fairy

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This ooky fairy comes from the Flickrstream of Opacity and is licensed under Creative Commons.

Just another dark goddess type to mark the season! I'm kinda thinkin' this might be based an original painting so if someone knows anything about it be sure to speak up.

Big Devon Ink

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These fabulous images come from reader Daniel and were inked by Lisa Schmoldt of Otherside Ink out of Port Charlotte, Florida.

Here's what Daniel had to say about his tattoos:

Green man, Faerie mask of truth and Fae. Markers of the end of my long residence in the UK and a sort of tarot reading of my life at the moment. (What a long story that is that weaves round and round Devon ./ Devan. below is the tale I told the artist....Here's a picture (again) of my last and my first home. It was originally several miners cottages, the earliest dating from the late 1600's. The miners, a mixture of Norse, Yorkshire and Cornish folk were all very superstitious, believed in a host of other-world residents, including fairies, pixies, underground goblins and the Norse beargaust or mountain spirit. I pretty much re-did the house room by room out to the bare stone over the course of 20 years feeling and discovering the work of hands long gone from this earth. Both the children were brought home to that house from the hospital, and was their home for almost their entire life.A village full of friends, job and home. It was an amazing wrench to tear me free from there, driven by my wife of 25 years need to be back in the states, and by her decision that soon she needs to leave me..one of the main reasons for the fairy tattoo...Change, ties to the old country (and a late 1600's garden where the fae could dance on any given night), my reminder to myself to seek beauty and magic in a time where I saw so little of either in my life. The cottage was named Kipling's Cottage, after Rudyard Kipling's grandfather who was a lay preacher in the village. Kipling visited his grandfather there and one of his poems is titled "On Greenhow Hill" (the name of the village) and is about a soldier, telling of the village life to a comrade as they await the appearance of a sniper that has been harassing their company. Kipling's last book was a children's story collection titled "Rewards and Fairies" (I only found the last out after you linked the fae and I for life....) Kipling was English, lived a long time in America, and eventually returned to England to live in Devon...After my long stay in England (in Kipling's Cottage), I've returned to America and you tied me forever to Devan! (the name Lisa gave the Fae as she inked her into me) Since then, the fairy has been joined to the Green Man. He's one with the earth and seasons. He's the male element of nature. Between them lie the mask of truth, chosen by you on a moments whim or inspiration. In that aspect I see myself as the Green man, of the earth, tied to the cycles of work and the world, wandering the earth, I often need to touch stones, old buildings, trees. I put my feet in the oceans wherever I go to feel them on me. When I went to Alice Springs, I risked all manner of parasites and god knows what to drink from the original Alice Spring rising from the sands. Yesterday before coming to see you I went and stood in the Gulf (my first time there) to feel it and take it into me. With the addition of the green man and mask, I'm seeing my wife as the Fae, in her own world, separate from my world, yet she's been my magic, beauty and joy past, and between us the mask of truth that we are now both holding up, trying on and showing each other our masked truths. I don't know what changes these truths will bring, but you placing the mask between us at that time was prophetic, a turn of the tarot cards. Lastly the mask and the green man are both Brian Froud pieces. Brian's home is in ....wait for it..lol Devon. Lastly both my children went to school for their early years at a small Montessori School in an old foresters cottage on the Duke of Devonshires estate in Yorkshire. So many turns and twists that come back to the same things...

Thanks so much to Daniel for sharing his amazing tattoos and great background information with us here at NeoPagan Ink! And here's the aforementioned Kipling's Cottage to finish off this great post. Thanks again Daniel!


P.S. You can see more Brian Froud art in tattoo form here and here.

P.P.S. The fairy is from an Amy Brown piece.

Watercolor Faery

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It's that time again folks: time for a fairy tattoo! This beautiful faery comes from the Flickrstream of Castorgirl and is licensed under Creative Commons.

This tattoo was inked at Famous Dave's Tattoo Studio in Hamilton, New Zealand by Famous Dave himself.

This tattoo is based on an original work by artist Amy Brown.

Brian Froud Fairy

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This tattoo comes from the Flickrstream of Fairyfroggie and is licensed under Creative Commons.

This is one of the Pressed Faeries of the incomparable Brian Froud -- which are just what they say they are.

You can see another Brian Froud tattoo here.

Peri

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This tattoo comes from the Flickrstream of Kawaface and is licensed by Creative Commons.

This tattoo features the Persian Peris, descendants of fallen angels who must serve penance before being readmitted to heaven.

Hecate and Fae Ink

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These very cool tattoos come from Aelwyn and were created by artist Robin Farnham.

Aelwyn had this to say about her ink:

The first is a Wheel of Hekate. This is on my left inner wrist. Hekate is my Matron, and I honour Her with Her own shrine daily.

The second is the Elven (or Faery) Star on my inner right wrist. I work with the Fae (and Otherkin of other sorts), and felt this was a nice balance to the Wheel.

Thanks so much to Aelwyn for sharing her tattoos! She's the first submitter since the first birthday of NeoPagan Ink!

Gorgeous Wings

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These stunning wings comes from the Flickrstream of Spaceninja and are listed under a Creative Commons license. I'm usually pretty bored with wings as back piece tattoos, as they are beginning to become cliche, but these are unlike any I've seen.

(I'm not sure whether to tag this as insects or fairies, so I'll do both!)

Purple Pagan Fairy

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This gorgeous fairy, inspired by the fantasy art of Amy Brown is from Rate My Ink and was created by Mike at Blue Horseshoe Tattoo of Hampton, Virginia.

I really like this tattoo. The work is well done and incorporates several different symbols and ideas without being cluttered. There's the triple goddess (maiden, mother, crone) moons hanging from her leg. The caduceus, which has taken on a medical meaning today, has a long, rich pagan history. It was first held by Iris, the messenger of Hera, the topmost goddess of the Greek pantheon. Later it was shone in the hand of Hermes, Greek messenger to all of the pantheon, psychopompos and protector of many people including shepherds, merchants as well as thieves. As Hermes was the rough equivalent of the Roman Mercury the caduceus also became astrologically linked with the planet of the same name. (It should be noted that the caduceus is not the same as the rod of Asclepius, another common medicine-related symbol, which has only one snake and no wings.) And the tattoos on her legs are the icing on the double chocolate pagan cake.

Cobweb Fairy

This also comes from Rate My Ink. No information about who inked this though.

This is probably the best fairy tattoo, or fairy of any kind, I've ever come across.

Citrine Fairy

This lovely tattooed and pierced fairy was created by avi-of-scott. Be sure to check out her gallery, she's got a lot of really neat fairies!

Blue Moon Fairy

This pretty fairy comes from Fairy Tattoos a blog with, unfortunately, not much to show for itself in the way of posts. But still, great tattoo, ain't it?

Fairy Back Piece

Well, you knew it had to happen sooner or later. So I'm finally posting a fairy tattoo. This gorgeous fairy comes from TattooArtists.com