Realism tattoo of a hummingbird above two red roses and grey leaves, shown across the upper arm and shoulder in three photographs.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Hummingbird and red roses on an upper arm

Realism · Upper arm · Mixed · Photo

Three views of the same arm show a realistic hummingbird in flight beside two large red roses with grey leaves behind them. The bird and leaves are rendered in soft black and grey shading with fine detail on the feathers and leaf veins, while the roses carry bold red tones with dark shadowing. The composition runs down the upper arm, with the bird at the top and the roses filling the lower half of the design.

Realism Botanical Upper arm Shoulder Hummingbird Rose Leaf Bird Flower

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Maud,

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You will not believe what came through the fanlight at the Ravensworth Ballroom on Saturday. Mr Pargeter had just lifted his baton for the last waltz when a hummingbird dropped out of the dark like a thrown coin, hung in the air over the punch bowl, and refused to leave. The band lost the beat. Mrs Hollis dropped a glove. I stood by the pillar with my shoes pinching and watched that small bronze thing beat its wings so fast it seemed to be standing still.

It went straight for the roses. Someone had left a jug of them on the piano, two great red heads of them, heavy as cabbages, with the grey-green leaves curling off the stems like cupped hands. The bird circled them once, then settled at the lip of the bloom, its beak working into the deepest red as though it had been expected. Nobody moved. Even Pargeter lowered his arms. I thought of Ray, who wrote from the base in March that he would be home for the summer dance, and who has not written since.

When the bird finally lifted, it took the long way round the room, under the chandelier, past the coats, and out through the same narrow window it had come in by. I did not run after it. I went to the piano, took one of the roses out of the jug, and carried it out to the steps where the cold air smelled of the river. I dance on Saturdays now. I am not waiting any more.

Yours in haste, Edie