Black ink fish symbol tattoo with brushed, tapered strokes across the forearm, on a grey background.

Fish symbol on a forearm

Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

The photograph shows a single fish symbol tattooed across a forearm, drawn as an open almond-shaped outline that crosses over itself at the tail. The linework is bold and tapered, with dry, brushed strokes that give the edges a rough, textured finish. The ink is black with some grey shading in the crossing strokes, and the image is a close, straight-on view against a dark grey textured surface.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dad never drew the tail first. He said that was how you lost a fish, starting at the end and hoping the middle would follow. So every spring he sat on an upturned crab pot outside the net loft with a jar of black gouache and a brush worn down to three hairs, and he began at the nose, a long curve like a question mark lying on its side.

Keep reading

I was twelve the year the board on the lifeboat slipway went grey and the paint started lifting in flakes. Dad said the sea took paint the way it took everything, slowly and with bad manners. He let me hold the jar while he worked. When he came to the crossing he dragged the stroke fast and dry so the edges broke up into little teeth, and he told me that was the trick, to leave the ink looking tired, as if the fish had come a long way to be there.

The coxswain came down that afternoon with a tin of his own paint and a bet on the table. He said a proper sign should be a clean line and nothing more. Dad only smiled and carried on. When the tide turned the harbour went glassy and the light came in low across the slip, and the shadow of the new fish fell across the stones, sharp and black, and for a moment it looked as though it were swimming upstream against the water.

Dad rinsed his brush in the sea and said nothing about coxswains. I still have that jar. It sits on my shelf with the lid rusted on, and every spring I paint the fish again, starting at the nose and saving the tail until last.

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