Black and grey dotwork and linework tattoo of a mountain, winding river and pine trees in an oval frame on the upper arm.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Mountain, river and pines in an oval frame

Dotwork · Upper arm · Black and grey · Photo

The tattoo shows a peaked mountain with a winding river running down its centre, flanked by tall pine trees in the foreground, all enclosed within an oval outline. The mountain and trees are built from fine linework and dense stippled dots that create shading and texture. The piece is rendered entirely in black and grey ink, and the oval composition sits across the upper arm against a patterned black sleeve.

Dotwork Blackwork Upper arm Mountain River Pine tree Forest Oval frame

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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

The river moved again in the night, Ruth, so I've had to redraw it. Mr Halloran at the survey office sent the plate back with a note that said only 'Again?' underlined twice. I've been at the board since six, stippling the ridge with the fine pen you bought me, dot by dot, because he says a line is a promise and a dot is only a guess.

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The mountain is the easy part. It has stood where it is since before the county had a name, and it never argues. The pines in front of it are harder. I give each one a dark base and let the upper branches fade into the paper like breath on glass. Mrs Okafor from the library came to look and asked why the trees crowded so close to the edge of the oval. I told her the oval is only a window, and trees never stand politely inside a window.

Last week I walked the valley with the old ranger's map and found the water had cut a new bend below the scree, straight through the flat rock where we used to sit and eat bread. I stood in the shallows with my boots full and thought, well, that's that, then. We're the ones who have to keep up.

I'm enclosing the drawing so you can see what I mean. The river is the only line I didn't stipple. Keep it flat in your case and don't fold it. When you come home at Easter I'll show you where the water went, and we can decide which of us draws it next.

Love, Mae