Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Blue and purple orchid tattoo

Botanical · Colour · Photo

A large orchid with three upper petals and a fuller lower lip sits at the centre of the frame, with thin purple streaks curving behind it. The petals use smooth blended shading in blue, violet and pale highlights, with fine stippled texture on the centre column. The image has a dark vignette border and a plain, soft-focus skin background.

Botanical Orchid Flower Petal

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Nell,

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The orchid came off the van at half past four, two hours late and bruised at one petal, and Mr Dunmore swore he'd have sent it back if the bride hadn't already been crying in the doorway. I've set it on the sill of the back office where the light comes in sideways. It is the wrong blue for a wedding, too cold and too violet at the edges, but she asked for it by name, and she asked for the Vanda with the purple veins that only grows in the glasshouse at Pell Lane, so there was no arguing.

You'll laugh, but I went to look at it twice more before I wrote this. The lower lip is fuller than the catalogue shows, a little bearded, and the three upper petals stand up as if they're listening for something. Someone has painted streaks behind it, soft as breath on glass. I keep thinking they're meant to be wind through the lilies on the lawn, though nobody has told me that.

Tomorrow I'll carry it down the aisle in a jam jar of water wrapped in a tea towel, because the florist's foam would only ruin the petals. Keep your sister on the far side of the marquee. If she sees it before she's dressed she'll want to wear it herself.

Love, Mags