Colour tattoo of a black and white striped lighthouse under an orange sky with yellow light beams, on the lower leg.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Lighthouse with orange sky on a lower leg

Calf · Mixed · Photo

A striped black and white lighthouse stands on green grass at the lower edge of the design, with a light room at its top. Behind it, soft orange and red clouds are crossed by bright yellow beams of light, shaded with blended, painterly tones. The composition is tall and centred on the lighthouse, with the clouds filling the upper area of the piece.

Calf Lighthouse Cloud Grass Sky

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Mabel,

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The paint came on Tuesday in four tins, and Mr Pardoe has the stripes done already, black then white, winding up the tower like a barber's pole that has gone to sea. The council man said we'd not need the stripes now the new lamp runs by itself, but the herring boats still look for them from the bar, so the stripes stay. I told him the boats have eyes and so do I.

The sky went strange on Thursday. The sun dropped behind the bank of cloud over Gull Rock and the whole lot turned the colour of a fire someone had forgotten to bank. Pardoe climbed up to check the glass and came down white as a sheet, saying the beams were already out before the dusk was properly down, as if the lamp knew something the sea hadn't told us yet. Tom Ashby had taken the small boat out at noon to fetch his brother from the far side, and he had not come back.

We lit the lamp at half past seven with our hands shaking, and I climbed the iron stair to turn the shutters myself. From the gallery I could see the beams striking up through the orange cloud like rope being thrown, yellow and long, sweeping out over the water. Then, off the rock, a small dark shape with one sail, turning towards the light. I stood there until my arms ached from waving the lantern, and when they came in over the bar Tom was laughing at himself for losing his oar.

I'll write again when the paint dries properly. Keep the kettle warm for me.

Your loving sister, Edie