This summer has been a bit of a whirlwind, and I've gotten behind on my monthly round-ups. So rather than trying to catch up one month at a time, I'm calling this my "Summer Round Up"!

I've made a separate post with all the tattoos I worked on in June and July, which you can read HERE. This post is a little bit of everything else I've been up to over the summer, plus all the tattoos I made in August.

There has been quite a lot going on outside the tattoo studio too. I've been painting, making art, going to weddings, exploring Toronto, drinking an unreasonable amount of matcha, reading, swimming, and generally trying to make the most of summer.

So, here's a little look at what I've been up to 🖤.....

Art Things

Painting course

This summer I did an online painting course!

I had been wanting to do Lena Rivo's gouache painting course, Colour Mastery, for the longest time, but I kept putting it off because it was a little pricey. But honestly, it was soooo worth it.

It was a huge change for me stylistically. I was painting from photographic reference, in a realistic style and in colour, which is very different from the way I usually work (obviously).

I learnt sooooo much, especially about colour theory, and it gave me a huge amount of confidence in my colour mixing abilities.

I don't necessarily want to paint in exactly the same style as the course, but I'm really looking forward to adapting what I've learnt into my own style of painting.

Here are some of the paintings I made during the course...

Rome Cat Sanctuary Painting

In the midst of my painting course, I made this painting for my Mum's birthday. It's a little memory from our time in Rome together in April.

Malone is critiquing it, obviously...

Corktown Common Frog Painting

And since finishing the course, I've painted this piece inspired by Corktown Common and all the frogs I've been spotting this summer.

It's bigger than the paintings I've been doing so far, and I had a lot of fun with it....

Yvonne's Custom Jean Jacket

I also got to do another art project this summer with Yvonne, who I've tattooed a bunch of times over the years.

She asked me to decorate one of her jean jackets with some of my florals, and I loooove how it turned out!

She already had the patch, and I designed the florals to work around it....

Olivia's Custom Artwork

And finally on the art front, I made these pieces for Olivia, who commissioned them for her friend's birthday....

Tattoos I Made in August...

August was a busy month in the studio, with everything from freehand floral tattoos and botanical tattoos to cover-ups, meaningful tattoos and ongoing larger-scale projects.

And, as always, I'm very grateful to everyone who travels to my Toronto studio to get tattooed by me. 🖤

Danielle // Freehand Dahlia Sternum Tattoo

Danielle wanted a freehand floral tattoo centred around a dahlia on her sternum. She wanted the piece to be balanced and not symmetrical, and this is what we came up with together 🙂.

This was such a lovely placement to work with because the design can spread naturally across the shape of the sternum while still keeping the flower as the main focus. I always love designing florals directly onto the body like this.

Ps. Spot the cherry tomatoes, they're so adorable...

Roy // Three Tattoo Sessions

Roy comes up from NYC to get tattooed by me, and likes to make the most of his time in Toronto, so this week he booked three sittings!

We worked more on his leg cover-up tattoos, and also added these clouds around his corvid tattoo, which was done by another artist.

Three sittings in one trip is a lot, but it meant we could make some really good progress on his ongoing pieces. I'll be seeing him again in November!... 

Walker // Work in Progress Magpie Sleeve

Walker and I first outlined her magpie sleeve in September, so I was so happy we finally got to add the details to one of her magpies in August!

It can be quite a shock when you have gotten used to a tattoo being in line work to suddenly have the details added, but it only took a couple days for Walker to stop being surprised by it 😂. We have another session early next month so keep an eye out for a progress photo in next month's newsletter...

Josh // Custom Shoulder Cover-Up Tattoo

This was the final part of Josh's cover-up project!

He was having a rough ride with laser, which doesn't work well for everyone, so we decided to keep a couple of the masks and incorporate them into the cover-up.

It worked really well, and I love that there's a little nod to the original piece, and his first ever tattoo.

I'm really hoping I get some healed photos of this project sometime, as there's so much glare in the fresh photos. But he comes in from Cambridge, so it's not like he can just pop by.

Super fun though. He also gifted me this awesome book of ornamental art! Thanks Josh. 🖤 

Mack // Floral & Snake Hip Tattoo 

I haven't seen Mack in about seven years, but she does live seven hours away, so that might have something to do with it.

I was so happy to fill a space on her hip that's been bothering her for a while. I didn't do the original tattoo, but we were able to create way more flow and make the tattoo fit her body now.

So much better, don't ya think?

I also got to see her sleeve seven years healed!

Turns out we did this freehand in ONE session back then. I no longer do nine-hour tattoo sittings, just in case you're wondering 💀.

See more healed tattoos by Toronto tattoo artist Lu Loram-Martin

Tim // Iris, Amaryllis and Freesia Family Tattoo

I got to add to Tim's amaryllis and freesia tattoo that he had for his wife in May 2025.

Since then, he and his wife have had a daughter, so of course we had to add irises for Iris. Cutest name ever, btw.

We also added some extra freesia so the new piece blends perfectly with the OG.

I absolutely love tattoos that evolve with people's lives, and this one now has a really lovely family story built into it.

Jennifer // Work in Progress Floral Thigh Tattoo

Fun fact: this tattoo isn't actually finished yet!

We were pressed for time, and I wanted Jennifer's tattoo to feel as finished as possible while we wait for her next appointment in October.

I focused on getting the details into the leaves and centre of the flower, but we still have a little more shading to add.

I also got to see her epic leg panel three months fully settled in.

Ignore the red marks! That's just from lying on her side while I tattooed her other leg 😂.

Victoria // Blackwork Leg Sleeve Cover-Up

Victoria's leg sleeve is another ongoing project, we made a start with this blackwork blastover in this session.

I also got to see one of my favourite ever floral tattoos seven years healed, which was pretty exciting! There's nothing better than seeing how a tattoo holds up after that much time in the skin.

Erin // Meaningful Lily and Botanical Tattoo

This was Erin's first tattoo 🥰! This was a super meaningful one for her. After her Grandma passed, she had a lily named after her, the "Dancing Dorelene", so Erin wanted her lily tattooed along with forget-me-nots, a clover and a tiny rosebud, which are all super meaningful for her.

So sweet.

Also she chose a spicy spot and sat like an absolute rock 🖤.

Laura // Peach and Bumble Bee Tattoo

And the last person I tattooed this August was Laura!

She and her husband bonded over their mutual love for Ontario peaches when they first met. How cute is that?

And how cute are these lil' chunky bumble bees we added...

In other news

This Summer  I…

• Lots of walks in Corktown Common (hence the painting) I love this park, I've been diverting through there on my way home from the studio and spotting frogs.
• I saw a beaver in the Harbourfront! I've never seen a wild beaver before. It was right by the Convenience Store installation, which was also pretty cool, but the beaver was better.
• I went to a Toronto Tempo's game!!! Our WNBA team incase you didn't know, it was so much fun! The gave away tampons. It was excellent.
• I saw Alexisonfire play Crisis in full for the 20th Anniversary. I reverted back 20 years when watching them, and then promptly felt my age the day after 💀 and couldn't move from all the dancing.
• I finally made it to the Toronto Flower market at CAMH!!!!! I 've been wanting to go for years, but they are onyl on one Saturday a month each summer, so I always miss them. I got some beautiful bouquets, but it was so busy there.
• I celebrated my friends Dawn & Adam's wedding at Broadview hotel, which was beautiful, and sooo much fun!
• I've developed an addiction to pepsi zero cream soda. It's becoming a problem now that it's popular and supermarkets are selling out.
  
• I've been slowly adding to my book nook. I've made the executive decision to keep this to all my romance (and romance adjacent) books. I'm also still searching for the perfect book nook reading chair if anyone had any suggestions??
• I took a couple of day trips out of the city with Joel and Jesse. We had our annual antique market trip, plus a 'hike' to see the badlands (it's a short walk not a hike tbh), found the cutest little flower shop, and also and went to the sunflower field 

Antique Markets // Badlands // Flower Stands

Malone…

• Had her 4th birthday, how is that possible 😭. She got lots of treats and toys, and even cards sent from England!
• Stacy crocheted he a beautiful collar. Look how magnificent she is in it!
• Has the cutest lil' tongue I ever did see.

I’ve been reading…

Follow me on Goodreads to see everything I've been reading, but these are some highlights....

• The Correspondent // Virginia Evans
• Our Perfect Storm // Carley Fortune
• Yesteryear // Caro Claire Burke
• Is This a Cry for Help // Emily R.Austin
• The Romance Revival // Chrsitina Lauren
• Hunchback // Saou Ichikawa
• Mr Collins in Love // Lee Welch
• Throne of Glass series // Sara J Mass - I'm now tandem reading Tower of Dawn and Empire of storms, I'm trying to finish the series before the new ACOTAR release(s)! 

I’ve been watching…

So Stacy got me hooked on Vanderpump Rules 💀. There's something really fun about watching a reality series from so long ago. It's so stupid and ridiculous, but I can't stop watching. No spoilers please!!! I'm only on S5.

I watched The Odyssey in IMAX. I really enjoyed it, it was obviously an amazing spectacle. But chatting to Roy (who's actually read different translations of the Odyssey) was really interesting to hear some of the parts they left out and softened.

The new Spiderman movie was really fun.

Of course I'm into the Off Campus series, it's fun, low-stakes and very re-watchable. It's one instance of when changing from the source material works well, because the OG books have some 'not great' moments.

And then we have a case of changing from the source material for the worse with Every Summer After. Yes, I hate how they changed the big thing. But changing the location from Toronto and Muskoka to Seattle and BC annoyed me soooooooooooo much more. Fuming. I'm so glad This Summer Will be Different is actually being filmed in Toronto and PEI (and I know this for a fact because they filmed the Toronto parts in my building 😱 I can't wait to watch it).

I’ve been drinking (matcha update)…

Obviously, we need a matcha update.

This summer I've tried:

• Matcha Haus strawberry yuzu
• Coywolf
• Maison 118
• Botanic

And That's All...

Yup, that's all the news I have for now! But don't forget to check out the tattoos I did in June & July of this summer.

If you're interested in getting a tattoo with me in Toronto, you can find booking information and my tattoo portfolio on my website. I'll next be taking bookings on 6-7th November.

I specialise in custom floral, botanical and blackwork tattoos, created in my private Toronto tattoo studio. I work with clients on everything from delicate botanical tattoos to larger floral sleeves, meaningful tattoos and selected cover-ups.

Have a wonderful rest of your September!!!

Lu 🖤

Ps. Read more monthly tattoo recaps:

• May Tattoo Recap
• April Tattoo Recap
• March Tattoo Recap