Black and grey realism roses with thorned stems and swirling shading across the middle and upper back.

Black and grey roses with thorny vines on a back

Realism · Back · Black and grey · Photo

Four roses of varying size climb a diagonal path across the back, linked by thorny stems and leaves. The roses are shaded in black and grey with soft gradients and crisp highlights on the petals, and a few swirling shadows sit behind them. A small blue ornamental piece sits low on the right side, while the main composition stays in greyscale.

Realism Botanical Back Rose Thorn Vine Leaves Swirl

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 Nell, Your grandfather never learned to prune the climber properly, so I've spent the morning on the ladder cutting out the dead canes he left tangled through the trellis on the back wall. The thorns are as wicked as ever. I've a scratch across the back of my hand that's still beading, and the gloves you sent are no use against them.

Keep reading

Under the oldest stem, where the render is green with moss, I found the rose he put in the year we married. It had gone woody and grey, like a bit of driftwood, but there were three buds on the top knot, tight as fists. I sat on the bottom rung with the secateurs in my lap for an hour, trying to work out which cane to take first. In the end I cut only the ones that were choking it.

The vine behind it has gone wild, looping up past the gutter, and the light through the leaves at four o'clock threw shadows on the wall like smoke. Mrs Pryce shouted over the fence that I'd be better off with a plastic one. I told her a plastic rose has never once made me stop what I was doing and look.

So I'm leaving it. The buds should open within a fortnight, and I'll bring you a cutting when you come up at half term. Wear the proper gloves. Love, Gran.