'Dia de los Gigantes' Tattoo

Today a returning client whose love for his home city San Francisco is only surpassed by his loyalty to the baseball team The Giants came with a request for this unique tattoo.

'Dia de los Gigantes' Tattoo by Pat Fish

The tattoo was inspired by a T-shirt the client had purchased featuring a similar design that he has been happily wearing for years.  It turns out that the original image was designed by digital artist John Hersey.  "Dia de los Gigantes is not necessarily about baseball," Hersey said, "It's an image that says 'I'm a San Franciscan . . . '"

Celtic Family Roots Tree of Life Tattoo

Today a man requested a new version of the popular Tree of Life design, integrating the roots into a torc below with finial ends of a wolf and wolfhound. The unity of the elements weaving together, and the balanced duality of the two canines, join together to make a very personal statement.

Celtic Family Roots Tree of Life Tattoo by Pat Fish

Pictish 'Duality Double Disc' Tattoo

Today a client with both Hawaiian and Celtic heritage returned for a second piece. His first, done a decade ago, has seen much surf and sun. The new addition melds a Celtic spiral whirl  taken from an ancient Irish metal brooch with a 4-spiral from a Viking sun stone, connected with a pattern from the Shandwick stone from Scotland. Like the wearer, it unites many cultures into one double-disc, a shape found on many of the ancient Pictish standing stones.

Pictish 'Duality Double Disc' Tattoo by Pat Fish

"The double disc is a Pictish symbol of unknown meaning, that is frequently found on Class I and Class II Pictish stones, as well as on Pictish metalwork. The symbol can be found with and without an overlaid Z-rod (also of unknown meaning), and in combinations of both.  -  Wikipedia

Celtic 'Manhood Knot' Tattoo

Today a teacher who guides his students to discover history and learn from it came in for a Manhood Knot. He helps to sculpt the thought processes and perspectives of children, and is one of those noble servants of the educational system  to whom we intrust the future of our next generation. True manhood expressed through kindness to the young.

Celtic 'Manhood Knot' Tattoo by Pat Fish

A warrior's shield pattern, this knot represents the three phases of a man's life: the youth, the warrior, and the sage. Each is balancing the rest, and they intersect in the middle and make up the flow of all life. A tattoo design for a man whose link to his Celtic heritage calls up visions of a stronger, bolder past.