Fine line ink drawing of a seated elephant whose trunk releases a cluster of butterflies, with the word Always written beside its hind leg.

Elephant blowing butterflies with the word Always

Fine line · Black and grey · Flash

A seated cartoon elephant faces right, its long trunk extended upwards and releasing a cluster of outlined butterflies with small star dashes around them. The linework is thin and sketchy in black ink, with a few hatched shadows on the ears and legs. The drawing is in black ink on off-white paper, with no colour, and the word Always in cursive script sits beside the elephant's hind leg.

Fine line Elephant Butterfly Star Script Word

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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

Dear Nell, The Bramley by the wall has finally let go of its fruit, and Dad has given up pretending he can still manage the ladder, so I am the one standing under the boughs with a bucket and a wasp for company. The whole orchard smells of cider and bruised windfalls. You would hate it and then eat three apples before lunch.

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Do you remember the grey clay elephant on the packing shed sill? Walter Pim's wife brought it back from Margate in 1952 and it has sat there ever since with its trunk raised as if it means to trumpet at the tractor. Last week I found the lid of an old biscuit tin pushed behind it, full of paper butterflies Walter had cut out for the grandchildren. He used to sit the elephant on the step each August and tell them it was breathing out the summer, one puff at a time, and that the butterflies would only fly if you said "always" to them first.

Yesterday a painted lady settled on my sleeve while I was counting crates and refused to leave for nearly an hour. I felt ridiculous, standing there among the wasps, murmuring "always" like a fool. Then it lifted off and went straight over the wall towards the church, and I suppose I should have followed it, but the bucket was full.

Come home before the frost takes the last damsons. Bring the good pen, the one you keep losing in other people's coats, and I will show you where Walter kept the tin. The elephant is still on the step if you want to say hello to it.

Love, Bea