Black ink pen drawing of a mermaid seen from behind, with wavy hair raised above her head and a fishtail, shown as a tattoo design sketch with no body placement.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Mermaid with flowing hair, seen from behind

Black and grey · Flash

A line drawing of a mermaid viewed from behind, with long wavy hair lifted around her raised arms and a finned fishtail curving down the page. The linework uses fine pen strokes and hatching to shade the hair and tail, with lighter shading on the body. The design is drawn in black ink on a plain pale background, with no colour and a centred composition.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Nell,

Keep reading

The dyke behind the top field froze solid on Tuesday, so Dad let the ducks walk across it and they came back with their feet all red. I have the kitchen to myself tonight. Mum's gone to Aunt Joan's with the good scissors, which means the hair she promised to cut has been left to me, and I have not got the nerve.

I found your drawing in the tin with the spare buttons. The one you did on the back of the feed invoice the summer before you left, the woman with her arms up and her hair going everywhere like weather. You never said who she was meant to be. I've decided she's a mermaid, because she has a tail, and because the hair is so full of wind it looks like it's trying to lift her off the page and back down into some sea.

Ned came by with the tractor in the sleet and asked if I'd heard from you. I said I'd only heard the wind. He laughed, then didn't.

Write when the post runs again. Tell me the sea is as grey as they say, and that you're warm. I'll keep the drawing above the range where the damp can't get at it.

Love, Bea

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