Black and grey blackwork and dotwork tattoo of a horned owl with a third eye and clawed feet, across the upper arm and shoulder.

Horned owl with third eye on upper arm

Blackwork · Upper arm · Black and grey · Photo

A horned owl with wide dark eyes, a third eye on its forehead, and feathered wings is shown gripping a branch with clawed talons. Fine dotwork stippling and etched linework build up the feathers, face and horns, with heavy solid black areas behind the figure. The design is shown in black and grey only and fills the upper arm, with the horns reaching up toward the shoulder.

Blackwork Dotwork Upper arm Shoulder Owl Horn Third eye Wing Claw Branch Feather

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tom,

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The wasps have got into the Discovery apples again and Father has given up trying to save them, so we are picking everything green and leaving the rest for the pigs. You asked in your last letter whether the old owl is still in the Bramley row. It is. Mrs Pryce says it came the spring the orchard lost its first tree to lightning, and that it has three eyes, one shut tight in the middle of its forehead like a stone. I laughed at her until I saw it myself on Tuesday, sitting on the bottom limb with its horns pushed up against the dusk.

It did not move while I walked under it with the basket. Its wide dark eyes followed me down the row, and I counted the ladders leaning against the trunks the way you used to count fence posts when you were small, so as not to think about anything else.

Last night a wind got up and the branches knocked together like the bones of something. I went out with the lamp meaning to shut the hens in, and the owl had moved to the branch above the gate. Its talons were wrapped round the wood as if it meant to hold the whole orchard down. The middle eye had opened, just a sliver, and it was looking at the house, at the window where Father sleeps.

I have left a windfall on the sill for it, though I know that is foolish. Come home before the frost. Bring your boots, and leave the city owls out of your letters, because I suspect this one has heard them all.

Your sister, Nell