Colour traditional style tattoo of a matryoshka doll with a yellow rose on the upper arm, with a partial tattoo visible at the top right.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Matryoshka doll and yellow rose on upper arm

Traditional · Upper arm · Colour · Photo

A nesting doll with a painted face, teal bow and lace-like headscarf pattern is the central subject. Below, a large yellow rose sits on a red panel surrounded by dark green leaves and a ring of dots, all framed by bold black outlines. The doll is rendered in solid colour with a mostly centred composition on the arm, with parts of other tattoos at the edges.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Vera,

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The Cox's are coming off the trees faster than Mr Pell can crate them, so I have been sleeping in the packing shed with the wasps and the radio. I opened the tin you posted on Tuesday. I know you sent it so I would stop saying I was fine, and I haven't stopped, but I will say the dolls were a good idea.

Mother's set of five came out of the paper one at a time, the biggest first, as she always insisted, so the smallest was never lost in the middle. Her face was still painted in that bright, surprised way, and the teal bow at the neck had kept its shine. Mrs Tomlin's grandson came down the ladder to watch me lay them out on the crate lid. He asked which one was the mother. I said they all were, in a way, and he looked at me as if I had said something foolish.

The rose on the smallest one has a chip off one petal where it knocked against the tin. I sat with it a long while in the late light, the green leaves going dark against the red. Then I walked to the orchard wall, where the old yellow rose you planted by the gate has finally put out its second flush, and I cut one stem with the shears. It is in a jam jar on the windowsill now, beside the nest of dolls.

Come at the weekend if you can. There are windfalls to pick and I will need your hands. Bring the good knife.

Love, Nadia

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