Black and grey dotwork lotus mandala tattoo with fine line detail on the inner upper arm, near the armpit.

Lotus mandala tattoo on upper arm

Botanical · Upper arm · Black and grey · Photo

A black and grey lotus flower sits on the inner upper arm, drawn with fine lines and stippled dotwork shading. Concentric petals, a central bud and delicate hanging ornaments form a symmetrical mandala-style design. The tattoo is shown in close crop against a pink satin outfit and a pale background.

Find an artist for this

Take it to an artist as a reference. A good artist will make it yours rather than copy someone else's tattoo.

A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tomasz, the lamp in the drawing office has finally given up, so I am writing this by the light of the harbour wall, which is kinder than it sounds. You asked me to copy the survey of the lagoon for Mother Vesna, and I have done it, every reed and sandbar, but the thing I cannot stop thinking about is the lotus your uncle carved into the chart table. You said it was only decoration. It is not only decoration. Each petal is a channel, and the bud at the centre is where the water goes slack and the eels gather, and the little hanging ornaments are the marker buoys he set out before the storm year. I traced it twice with a fine nib and the lines kept closing into a ring, like they wanted to return to where they began.

Keep reading

Yesterday I took the tracing to the old net-mender on the slipway, because she knows the lagoon better than any chart. She held it up against the grey sky, squinted, and said the shape was not a flower at all but a way of folding a net so the fish could find the mouth without finding the walls. She showed me with a length of twine and three knots, and I understood, at last, why your uncle always pointed at the chart and then at the sea and never at the paper.

I am sending you the finished copy with the petals marked in red. Please do not let Vesna fold it into quarters. The centre must stay whole. When you come home at the turn of the tide, bring the twine back too, and we will see if the knots still hold.

Your friend, Ilka

More like this

Realistic black and grey lion head tattoo on the middle finger of a hand, with a silver ring and a black lace sleeve nearby.
Lion head tattoo on a finger
Small black and grey realistic tattoo of a French bulldog lying down, placed on the inner forearm of a person wearing a red sleeve.
French bulldog on a forearm
Small grey star tattoo with a red centre on the wrist of a hand holding a black leather clutch.
Small star tattoo on a wrist
Black and grey realistic tattoo of a woman with wavy hair and eyes closed, with a small rose outline beside her, on a person's upper back.
Black and grey portrait of a woman on the back
Close-up of a small black Roman numeral III lettering tattoo on the inner wrist, worn beside stacked gold and silver bracelets.
Small Roman numeral III tattoo on the wrist
Close-up of a wrist and hand with tiny black fine line tattoos, including a small cross-like mark on the wrist and a small symbol on a finger.
Small fine line marks on wrist and finger
Black and grey roses with leaves in a traditional style, tattooed on a person's upper arm beside a grey t-shirt sleeve.
Two roses on an upper arm
Black tribal pattern tattoo on the back of a hand and wrist, with a gold and red bracelet on the wrist.
Tribal pattern on the back of a hand
Black and grey tribal swirl and leaf tattoo with dotted shading on the back of a hand, extending up towards the wrist.
Tribal swirl and leaf tattoo on the back of a hand
Black and grey geometric mandala tattoo on the inner wrist and forearm, with a small yin yang below it, shown on a hand resting on a red tartan shirt.
Mandala tattoo on a wrist
Black and grey shaded rose tattoo on an upper arm below a white short-sleeved blouse, with partial script and a key motif visible nearby.
Black and grey rose on an upper arm
Fine line black vine tattoo with small curls and scrolls on a woman's ankle, above gold metallic heels.
Vine scroll tattoo on an ankle

From the plentytattoo archive, uploaded by a user. Is this your work? Ask for credit or removal.