Colour realism peacock feather tattoo running from the shoulder down the upper arm, with a bright blue eye near the base.

Peacock feather tattoo across shoulder and upper arm

Realism · Shoulder · Colour · Photo

A long peacock feather extends from the top of the shoulder down the outer upper arm, with fine strands drawn in dark brown, green and purple. The bright blue and teal eye at the lower end is the focal point, shaded to give it depth against the lighter skin. The feather is set against plain skin and a dark background, with the arm angled diagonally across the frame.

Realism Shoulder Upper arm Peacock feather Peacock eye Feather

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Nell, The blue eye is still in the tin. I found it on Tuesday when we were locked through at Braunston, wedged in the cracks of the lock gate as if someone had posted it to us on purpose. Dad says it came off a peacock on the Hall estate, that the old squire kept six of them and they screamed like broken kettles every evening. I told him peacocks don't come down to the towpath, and he said that's exactly what a peacock would want us to think.

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The feather is in poor shape, bent near the quill, the barbs gone the colour of weak tea. But the eye is perfect. Whenever the sun gets behind it the blue goes almost green at the edges, then teal, then something like the water under the bridge at Stoke when the cut runs deep. Mam would have known what to call it. She called everything pretty that wasn't useful, and this is no use at all, which is why it sits on the cabin shelf between the brass horse and the ration tin.

The lock-keeper's boy came down yesterday asking whether we'd seen a bird on the towpath, a big one, dragging its tail. He looked properly worried, so I said no. Then I sat on the roof for an hour watching the water and wondered whether a bird that proud would bother to come looking for one feather. I don't think it would. I think it's just pleased to have given one away.

I'll post this at Hillmorton. Keep the kettle on. Your loving sister, Bea.