Two forearms resting on white bedding show black line tattoos, including a cactus, Chinese characters, mandalas and a rose on the forearms and hands.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Forearm sleeve of roses, mandalas and cactus

Botanical · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

Two forearms rest on white bedding, covered in black ink tattoos. The upper arm carries Chinese characters and a cactus with a skull-like form, while the lower arm shows a large mandala, a rose, a peony and smaller floral motifs that extend onto the hands. The work is in black linework with dotted and shaded fills, with no colour ink.

Botanical Geometric Forearm Hand Cactus Rose Peony Mandala Flower Skull Chinese character Leaves

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Hal,

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The cactus finally flowered on Tuesday, the morning after the frost, and I nearly walked past it with the barrow. It had pushed out of the crack in the south wall where the chapel roof used to sit, and the bloom was the colour of weak tea. Mrs Abernethy says a cactus only flowers when it has decided to be left alone, which I have chosen to take as a comfort.

I found the seed tin you sent in the potting shed, under the bags of grit. Your careful hand is on the label, and the characters underneath, the ones the trader insisted on, I still cannot read. You wrote that they mean keep this safe. I have been keeping things safe for eleven years in a castle with no roof on the east range, so I took that as a joke at my expense.

Yesterday the peonies broke through the mandala bed we laid out with string and lime, all those rings we argued over until the mist came in. The roses along the wall have gone thin, but the bramble rose window over the arch is fuller than it was in March. Nobody climbs the valley road now except the sheep and the man from the trust with his clipboard, who asked whether the brambles were a hazard. I told him they were the only thing in the county still keeping their promises.

I am posting you a cutting of the cactus, wrapped in yesterday's local paper. Pot it in the glasshouse, not the windowsill. It will sulk for a month, then it will surprise you. Write when the seeds are in.

Yours, Ros