Black and grey botanical tattoo of three roses, a rosebud and leaves on a lower leg, drawn with fine linework and light shading.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Black and grey roses on a lower leg

Botanical · Calf · Black and grey · Photo

The tattoo shows three roses in different stages of bloom, with a closed rosebud at the top and several leaves trailing down the leg. The outlines are fine and dark, and the petals are shaded with soft grey tones and stippled detail. The design is in black ink only, set against pale skin in a plain light background, with the ankle visible at the bottom of the frame.

Botanical Realism Calf Rose Rosebud Leaves Flower

Find an artist for this

Take it to an artist as a reference. A good artist will make it yours rather than copy someone else's tattoo.

A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tom,

Keep reading

The roses on the wall behind Mrs Pelling's net shed have come out all at once, three of them, each one further along than the last. The first is open wide enough to show its yellow heart, the second has its petals folded like a good linen sheet, and the third is still shut tight at the top of the stem, as hard as a fist. Dad would say it's the wind off the North Sea that does it, pushing everything to flower before it's ready. I cut the shut one for the kitchen table anyway, so you'll know which one is you.

The Margaret Rule came in on Tuesday with her hold half full of cod and two of the Gillespie boys with their hands in bandages. Nobody says much at the quay. Mr Gillespie stood by the ice house with his cap in both hands and didn't go home for an hour. I took the long way past the harbour wall so I didn't have to pass him, and the gulls were working the bait boxes like they owned the place.

The leaves have started coming down the fence posts already, two or three a day, and the bindweed is winning the bottom row. I've been pressing the petals from the open rose between the pages of your almanac, the one with the tide tables. When you're back we can count how many tides it took to dry them.

Come home on the tide, Tom. Keep your hands out of the winch. I'll have the kettle on, and the shut one will be open by then, I promise you that much.

Love, Ruth.