Black and grey botanical tattoo of flowers, buds and leaves climbing up the inner forearm of a person wearing dark clothing.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Botanical flowers and leaves on a forearm

Botanical · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A photograph of a forearm carrying a botanical tattoo of flower heads, buds, stems and leaves that spread up from the wrist towards the elbow. The linework is fine and dark, with shading built up through tonal greys that give the blooms some depth. The design is shown in black and grey against a dark top and a plain background, so the tattoo stands out clearly.

Botanical Forearm Flower Bud Leaves Stem Foliage Botanical

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Nell,

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The boat didn't come on Tuesday, so the post is still in the wheelhouse of the Mary Ann under the fish boxes. I'm writing this on the back of your last letter because the paper I bought for you has gone soft in the cupboard. The wind has been from the west for nine days. Everything on the north slope lies flat and sulks. Only the bramble along the dyke has held its ground, and it has come into flower in that pale, stubborn way it does, five petals and then a bud just behind, like someone who has thought better of leaving.

I went up with the secateurs this morning and cut the long stems that had reached over the wall. I pressed them between the pages of Father's Flora, the blue one with the cracked spine. You'll remember he never let us touch it without washing our hands first. I've enclosed three sprigs with their leaves still green enough to show the veins. Put them somewhere you'll see them, not in a drawer. Mrs Gunn at the shop says a bramble brought into a house means a visitor is coming. I told her that was nonsense, and then I went home and sat looking at the one on the windowsill for an hour.

You asked whether I'm coming south for the wedding. I haven't decided. The island takes what it likes from you slowly, and I'm no longer sure how much is left to give. But if I do come, I'll bring the book, and you can tell me which of these you think is the bloom and which is the bud. The flower heads keep their shape for years once they're dry. That's the only thing I'm certain of out here.

Love, Morag