Colour tattoos of two blue butterflies on the upper back, a pink butterfly on a shoulder and a red rose with black dotted petals.

Blue and pink butterflies with a rose on a shoulder

Neo-trad · Shoulder · Colour · Photo

This collage shows two blue butterflies on the upper back, a single pink butterfly on a shoulder, and a close-up of a red rose with black, dotted petals. The butterflies have black wings with dotted detail and solid colour fills, while the rose has softer shading in pinks and purples. Colour ink dominates across all three photographs against warm skin tones.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Nell, the Bramley trees gave everything they had this year, and Dad has stopped pretending he can manage the ladder, so I've taken it on. Mrs Okafor's rose by the gate has finally flowered after three summers of sulking. It's a deep red thing with petals like folded velvet, and the dark, dotted leaves are the only part of the garden still winning against the greenfly.

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The blue butterflies came back on Tuesday, a pair of the big swallowtail sort with the speckled wings Grandad used to keep pinned in his cabinet. I thought they'd gone with the frost. They work the windfalls along the wall, skipping from the crab apples to the split plums, and the paler one always settles on the same warm stone as if it's waiting for someone to bring the tea out.

I went down to the bottom orchard with the trug this morning and found the old pink one at last, caught in the netting over the cherries, wings going like a paper fan. I cut it free with the pruning snips, very slowly, and it sat on my wrist for a full minute before it rose over the hedge. Dad saw me come up the path with my sleeves full of plums and asked whether the butterflies had been at the fruit again. I said yes, and he smiled as though that was the only news he'd wanted.

Come up in September and bring the boys. We'll pick the last of the Blenheims, and I'll show you the rose, which is nearly as stubborn as he is. Your loving sister, Ruth.

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