Close-up of a colourful mandala tattoo with black outlines on a shoulder and upper chest, in orange, teal and yellow.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Colourful mandala tattoo on a shoulder

Neo-trad · Shoulder · Colour · Photo

A large, symmetrical mandala made of layered petals, scallops and rings sits over the shoulder and upper chest. Bold black outlines define the shapes, with solid black areas between the petals. The petals are filled with orange, teal, yellow and red, with a small teal and yellow centre. The photo is taken close up on a flat angle, and the design fills most of the frame.

Neo-trad Geometric Shoulder Mandala Flower Petal Geometric pattern

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Morag,

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The boat was late again, so I have had the whole of Tuesday to sit with Dad's paint tins. You will laugh, but I have finally started on the buoys. Forty of them are lined up on the slipway like stubborn hens, and every one needs its rings redone before the regatta. He always began at the centre with a dot of teal, then a yellow ring, then petals pushed out to the rim. He never once used a ruler. He said the sea only notices a perfect circle when it wants to drown you.

The trouble is that my petals keep coming out lopsided. Mrs Gillies came down with a flask at noon and watched me for a good ten minutes before she said, "You're pressing too hard on the black. He let the black breathe." Then she took the brush from my hand and did one scallop, quick as a gull landing, and gave it back without a word. I have been trying to breathe ever since.

Here is the thing I meant to tell you. The ferry office rang on Monday. They want me on the winter run, the one that goes out in the dark. I said yes before I had properly thought about it, and now I am sitting here with orange on my wrists and no idea how to tell Mum.

I'll finish the buoys first. There is one left, the old red one with the chipped rim, and I have saved the black for it. Tell Mum I am fine. Tell her the sea is calmer than it looks from the mainland.

Love, Ishbel