Colour neo-traditional tattoo of a staring owl above a framed seaside lighthouse scene and a red rose, on the calf.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Owl, lighthouse and rose on a calf

Traditional · Calf · Colour · Photo

An owl with bright yellow eyes sits above an oval frame that shows a lighthouse beside a calm sea under a pink sky. A red rose with green leaves sits at the base of the frame. The linework is bold and dark, with solid fills and soft gradients in the sky and water, and the composition is centred and symmetrical.

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 Nell,

Keep reading

The owl came back to the gallery rail again last night, the same big-eyed bird that has taken to sitting on the lamp housing since the equinox gales. Mr Pryce says it only comes for the field mice that wash up with the wrack, but I have decided it is keeping an eye on us, and I have started leaving it the end of my supper. You would laugh at me. The rose by the cottage gate has finally opened, red as a pillar box, and I cut one for the table because the sea has been grey enough to make us all quiet.

The relief keeper is due Thursday on the Lady Ellen, if the swell lets her round the point. Until then it is just me, the lamp and the log. Tonight the sky went the colour of the inside of a shell over the water, and for a quarter hour the sea lay flat as a pewter plate. I climbed up and wrote in the log: calm, visibility unlimited, lamp burning. Then I thought that was a poor thing to report, so I added underneath: the sea kept its promises today.

Mr Pryce says we are not to go down to the rocks alone after dark, because the tide comes in faster than a man can run. I have stopped trying to explain that I am not afraid of the water, only of being sent indoors before I have finished watching it. The owl watched me write that down.

I have put this letter in the same drawer as your birthday card. Come in August and I will show you the lamp turning, and the bird that thinks it runs the place. Your loving Dad, Tom.

More like this

Traditional style colour tattoo of a grey and blue owl with yellow eyes perched beside a pink rose with green leaves, on a limb.
Traditional owl and rose on skin
Traditional colour tattoo of a blue bird beside a red and teal flower and a red and teal leaf sprig, on a leg.
Blue bird and flower on a leg
Black and grey owl on a branch with red-toned mandala and sunburst lines, tattooed on a thigh in a geometric and botanical style.
Owl on branch thigh tattoo
Traditional colour tattoo of a palm tree, red sunset over water and a red flower with green leaves on an upper arm.
Palm tree sunset and flower on upper arm
Colour tattoo of a cartoon owl with purple feathers, pink eyes and teal wings perched on a wooden log, on the forearm.
Cartoon owl perched on a log
Black and grey realism tattoo of an owl perched on a stack of books, on the upper arm.
Owl perched on a stack of books
Colour neo-traditional tattoo of a round-eyed owl perched on a branch with pink blossom, placed on the shoulder and upper arm.
Owl and blossom branch on a shoulder
Traditional style owl tattoo on an upper arm, wearing a tweed cap and argyle sweater, with a small red flower beside it.
Owl in tweed cap and argyle sweater
Colourful traditional-style owl tattoo with yellow-tipped feathers, red-rimmed eyes and blue-grey scales, sitting on the top of a foot with small leaves and dots around it.
Traditional owl tattoo on the top of a foot
Traditional style tattoo of a green, orange and yellow parrot perched on a branch with leaves, shown on a limb against denim.
Perched parrot on a branch
Colour traditional tattoo of an owl with teal eyes and a teal wing, surrounded by red and pink flowers on a forearm.
Traditional owl and flowers on a forearm
Traditional colour tattoo of palm trees, a red sunset over the sea with a sailboat, and a pink flower with green leaves, on a forearm.
Palm trees, sunset and flower on a forearm

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