Enlarged with AI from a smaller original
Dahlia flower line drawing
Botanical · Black and grey · Flash
A full-bloom dahlia drawn in black outline, with layered petals radiating from a tightly packed centre. Fine parallel hatching and curved strokes shade the petals, giving depth without any fill. The image is monochrome on white and centred, with the flower filling most of the frame.
Find an artist for thisTake 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
Put your hand down, love, that one isn't ready. Look at the middle of it, shut up tight as a purse with the string pulled. Every petal you see is a coat put on over the last, and the flower only lets go of its centre once it has been wrapped as warm as it can get. My mother grew these along the back wall of the cottage, and she said the trick was patience and a great deal of doing nothing at all.
Keep reading
That was the summer the Harrowgate boy came over the fence on a dare. He had his cousin's pocketknife and a notion that the big white one by the water butt would earn him a shilling if he could cut its heart out and bring it back. I caught him halfway up the path, knees green from the beans. I asked him what he thought was inside. He said nothing, Mrs Penhallow, it's only a knot. I told him every knot is somebody's careful work, and he sat down in the wet grass and listened to me for an hour, which is longer than most people manage.
By August the dahlias had given up their secrets, every one of them opened flat as a dinner plate, showing their stitching to the sky. I stood at the gate with the boy beside me, and he asked which was the best. I pointed to the tight one by the water butt, still shut. The sun came over the hedge then, and for once the middle of the garden was the brightest thing in it.
More like this
From the plentytattoo archive, uploaded by a user. Is this your work? Ask for credit or removal.