Floral ornamental backpiece tattoo by Toronto tattoo artist Lu Loram-Martin featured in an April tattoo studio recap blog post.

All the tattoos I did in March!

A Tattoo Artist’s Monthly Recap: Studio Life & Tattoos in Toronto

Hi everyone!

For anyone new here, I’m Lu, a floral tattoo artist based in Toronto, and this is my monthly recap sharing recent tattoos, studio life, and the projects I’ve been working on.

This newsletter is coming to you suuuper late. It's so far into April I debated just waiting and doing a double one next month, but it would be so long I decided against it.

I hope you've all be enjoying your March and April so far. I find this season the hardest to get through in Toronto. We keep getting glimpses of spring and then getting slapped in the face with winter immediately after. This isn't unusual, and after 9 years here I should be used to it at this point, but still, urgh.

I do feel like I’m waking up from my hibernation though… slowly. I painted a lot last month. I find making art outside of tattooing difficult to keep up with consistently but right now I’m a little obsessed with cozy gouache paintings, so that’s been really fun…

April is a more exciting month for me, I’m going home to the UK, guesting at Tommy Gun Tattoos, and taking my Mum to Rome!!!

And then on 8th -10th May my books open for summer tattoos in Toronto, and just after that I'm heading to Ottawa for the tulip festival and a guest spot at Hungry x Hound!

And that's enough about me for now, let's get into all the wonderful people I've tattooed this month in my Toronto tattoo studio!

Tattoo Time: Tattoos I Created in March...

Jenny

Jenny jumped in on a last minute cancellation to work a little more on her sleeve! I am so so excited about this project, and I love how much meaning this piece has for her. The line work is healed, and the mandala and the peony shading is fresh. I don't even remember how many times we placed the mandala stencil, before getting the perfect spot, but we got there in the end!

Floral sleeve tattoo in progress with mandala and peony shading by Toronto tattoo artist Lu Loram-Martin.

Progress on Jenny’s floral sleeve tattoo featuring mandala details and peony shading.

Troy

Troy wanted to keep things simple and add this elk skull tattoo to his bicep. This area is usually pretty tricky for symmetrical tattoo designs, as it twists so much, but every anatomy is slightly different and it worked perfectly on him.

We kept this slightly more ‘fine line’ to work with the scale of the piece and make sure this smaller details have space to breathe.

Elk skull fine line tattoo on bicep by Toronto tattoo artist Lu Loram-Martin

Fine line elk skull tattoo designed to fit the natural shape of the bicep

Katie

Katie came back for her second and final session on her backpiece, which incorporates two tattoos not by me. She didn't love these individual pieces, and felt like everything was too separate. So she wanted to add an intricate design between the pieces to bring them together and I love how we edged the piece with my classic peonies too. I can't wait to see this one when it's settled in, it's a little angry in this photo.

Floral backpiece tattoo connecting existing tattoos with peonies by Toronto tattoo artist.

A floral backpiece bringing together older tattoos with peonies and ornamental design.

Crystal

Crystal also had her final backpiece session this month! This piece took 3.5 sessions in total and I couldn't be happier with how it truned out. I love the way that it flows with her body. I'm hoping I get to see it healed and settled in a few months time 🤞.

Ps. You can just see part of the sleeve I did for her on the left side 🙂

Pps. There are two coverups in this piece! Can you guess what they were? You can find out in this IG post.

Large scale floral backpiece tattoo completed by Toronto tattoo artist Lu Loram-Martin.

Finished floral backpiece designed to flow naturally with the body.

Ninat

Ninat had a space between some existing tattoos that she wanted to fill 🙂. So we freehanded a sweet magnolia, dandelion and violet combo, and then also added some cherry blossoms and falling leaves and a bee on her shoulder (that you can ony just see the end of in this photo). So pretty 🥰.

Magnolia dandelion and violet floral tattoo with bee by Toronto tattoo artist

Freehand floral tattoo combining magnolia, dandelion and violet with soft botanical details.

Maria

I got to tattoo Maria for the second time this March! She chose this practice piece from my newsletter 🙂, and I love the placement we came up with, and can't wait to see how all the grey washes I used settle in 🥰.

You can see a teeny bit of the last piece we tattooed, on the right side of this photo, and the whole piece 7 months healed in this post (it was also a practice piece with more greywash).

Black and grey floral tattoo with grey wash shading by Toronto tattoo artist.

A soft black and grey floral tattoo using layered grey wash for depth.

You can see a teeny bit of the last piece we tattooed, on the right side of this photo, and the whole piece 7 months healed below.

Plus a side-by side fresh to healed comparison in this post (it was also a practice piece with more greywash).

Healed Black and grey floral tattoo with grey wash shading by Toronto tattoo artist

Colby

Colby came back up from Detroit for me to finish the details on his rib piece.

You might remember that this mirrors a piece we did on his other side. Check it out healed here, so we also added some more leaves either side to fill in the space on his stomach, fun day for me, not so much fun for Colby 😂. His whole torso looks epic now though so it's gotta have been worth it, right?

Rib tattoo with botanical elements and leaves by Toronto tattoo artist Lu Loram-Martin.

Rib tattoo detailing to complete a mirrored botanical torso project.

Amanda

Ya'll know I don't really do teeny tattoos right? Well I do make the exception for special meaningful family tattoos for friends like Amanda....

Small meaningful floral tattoo by Toronto tattoo artist Lu Loram-Martin.

A small, meaningful tattoo created as a special piece for a friend.

She baked me this amazing loaf of bread 🥰....

Emily

March really was the month of finsihing up winter back piece projects! Emily's skin does get very angry with me when I tattoo her so I can't wait to see this all settled in eventually. But I am so, so happy with how it turned out, it was so much fun to create for her.

Floral backpiece tattoo completed with detailed shading by Toronto tattoo artist.

I know I'm supposed to keep my newsletters to one photo per tattoo, but I love how this window healed (and you can't see it in the other photo)…

Healed floral backpiece tattoo completed with detailed shading by Toronto tattoo artist.

Robyn

I tattooed Robyn for the first time 2.5 years ago, with the flowers you can see healed in this photo, and this month we freehanded an extension of that tattoo 🥰.

She knew she didn't want a full sleeve just yet, so we created this beautiful flow that works great for now, and can easily be added to if she ever decides she wants more 🌿. Check this IG post to see the whole piece and the ‘before’ drawing!

Healed floral tattoo with new extension by Toronto tattoo artist Lu Loram-Martin.

A healed floral tattoo extended with new freehand botanical elements.

Yawen

We made a good start on Yawen's water lily and koi fish lower leg peice in March. This goes all the way around her leg and she sat like a rock for this session!

Fun fact: we've actually finished this piece now, but you'll have to wait for my newsletter, or keep an eye on my IG to see it 🙂.

Water lily and koi fish leg tattoo in progress by Toronto tattoo artist

Lower leg tattoo featuring water lilies and koi fish wrapping around the leg.

Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn is building up a sleeve of the cutest animals! In this session we added the otter you can see below, a hummingbird and a sleepy dormouse. She was such a champ, we hit a lot of tough areas on this day, and she sat long enough for me to finish these three pieces! Hero 🖤

Animal tattoos including otter hummingbird and dormouse by Toronto tattoo artist.

A playful otter tattoos with flowers.

Roy

Roy came up from NYC with two lower leg pieces that he didn't love anymore. He had some laser removal sessions, but his skin didn't react very well to them. Luckily they had lightened parts of the work enough for me to do something transformative with them. So he sat for two separate days (one on each leg) and we made an amazing start to these projects. I'm so excited to continue them in the summer.

Tattoo cover up project on lower leg by Toronto tattoo artist Lu Loram-Martin.

Roy II

Jennifer

OMG am I excited about this one..... Also I'm really not sure how Jennifer and I managed to outline this much in one session 🤯.

This was one of my 'wanna do' pieces I sent out when my books last opened, and I swear it was meant to be for Jennifer. We barely had to adjust anything for it to fit her perfectly.

This is going to be such an epic statement piece, we have two sessions booked in May, and I cannot wait!

Large scale floral outline tattoo in progress by Toronto tattoo artist.

Outline session for a large scale floral tattoo that will become a statement piece.

Abby

I love tattooing Abby. Especially when we spend the session rewatching Heated Rivalry 😂. Abby actually speaks Russian so she told me all the things the subtitles didn't catch!

But besides that, this tattoo was so much fun to do. It's actually a broken vase, and the bottom part is on the back of her lower arm, with a rose, carnation and lilac, which are important flowers for her.

Broken vase floral tattoo with rose carnation and lilac by Toronto tattoo artist.

A meaningful broken vase tattoo featuring rose, carnation and lilac.

In other news

I’ve been…

Making a 'book nook' in my apartment. I don't have much space in my little apartment, but decided to change this one corner into a reading space. I still need to find the perfect reading chair so if anyone has ant suggestions please let me know!!!
Walking in the park again! Well once....on one of those ‘false spring’ days. But I'm looking forward to lots more when in back from my break.
Making new stickers and bookmarks for my clients (finally!).

Malone…

Is still the most perfect creature in existence.
Got a hungry caterpillar toy 🥹, yes she ate his antenna immediately.
Approves of her new fountain spot in my book nook (luckily!).

I've Been Reading:

Puck and Prejudice // Lia Riley
- Yes, this was as ridiculous as the title suggests. But I read every Pride and Prejudice adaption I come across 😂.
Two Women Living Together // Kim Hana & Hwang Sunwoo
- I didn't realize this was non-fiction before I started it but I really enjoyed this quick read about two friends who decide to buy a home together in Korea.
When the Moon Hatched // Sarah A Parker
- I had put off reading this one because it was so long (and also because of Tiktok hype), but I smashed the audiobook super quickly. It enjoyed it! I'll read the next one.
Time to Shine // Rachel Reid
- Turns out there was one Rachel Reid book I hadn’t read yet! Super cute. Loved it.

I've Been Watching:

Pillion
- Wow, I don’t even know what to say about this one.
Wuthering heights
- Loved this!!!! The set design, the opulence, the toxicity, the soundtrack.

I've being drinking (matcha update):

Zagmachi // Strawberry Matcha - Katie brought me her favourite matcha when I tattooed her this month, and wow this was good!!! Very decadent. She also brought me some cookies from here and they were sooo good too.
Dark horse Espresso - they have their ‘matcha madness’ on. So far I’ve tried the apricot matcha (iced) and pistachio saffron (hot) and enjoyed them both!
Starbucks // With Cherry Cold Foam - The cherry flavour is really overpowering, so I wouldn't order again, but was a good experiment.

And that's all I've got for now!

Don't forget my books open on 8-10th May for summer tattoos in Toronto! If you're thinking about getting a tattoo with me, you can find information about booking a tattoo appointment here.

You can also explore more of my floral and botanical tattoo work in my portfolio here.

Thanks for reading,

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