Black and grey realism tattoo of a tabby cat in a top hat, monocle and waistcoat inside a beaded oval frame with a bow, on an upper arm.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Cat in top hat and monocle in a beaded oval frame

Realism · Upper arm · Black and grey · Photo

A tabby cat wearing a top hat and monocle, dressed in a waistcoat and cravat, is shown as a formal portrait within a beaded oval frame. The cat's fur, whiskers and the shading of the coat and hat are rendered with smooth, detailed grey tones. The bow and beads at the base of the frame add depth to the composition, which is shown in black and grey only.

Realism Upper arm Cat Top hat Monocle Frame Bow Bead Portrait

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

The portrait had to be finished before the ferry came in, because Mrs Abernethy had paid a deposit of two shillings and wanted her money's worth. Clement Ruddock had painted the harbour, the chapel and three drowned Sundays on Scarrow, but he had never been asked to paint a cat. Sergeant Pim's tabby, known to the children as Lord Wetherby, sat on an upturned fish crate in the lighthouse parlour as though the whole arrangement had been his idea.

Keep reading

The hat belonged to the harbourmaster's late father and smelt of camphor. The monocle came from a jumble tin on the pier, and the cravat was tied by Clement's sister, who swore it was the only thing on the island that had ever kept still. Lord Wetherby tolerated all of it with the patience of a creature who had been shipwrecked twice and expected a third. Clement painted the beads of Mrs Abernethy's old necklace around the oval one by one, because she had insisted the frame should look like the inside of a locket.

By afternoon the light had gone flat and grey over the water. Clement stopped when the cat turned its head towards the window, where the ferry should have been, and held it there with a look of such settled disappointment that Clement felt obliged to paint it exactly. Mrs Abernethy arrived at dusk, peered at the canvas and declared that it was the spit of her late husband, which was not a compliment she had intended to pay. She settled the rest of the fee without another word. When the lamp was lit, Clement looked up and found the crate empty, the hat set upright on the sill and the monocle still warm where it had been dropped beside the paints.