Black and grey pencil and dotwork sketch of two peonies, a bud and leaves, drawn as a tattoo design on white paper.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Peony cluster tattoo design sketch

Botanical · Black and grey · Flash

A pencil drawing of two open peony blooms, a closed bud and several pointed leaves arranged in a vertical cluster on white paper. The petals are outlined with fine linework and shaded with stippled dots, with light construction lines still visible around the composition. The drawing is in black and grey on a plain white background against a grey surface.

Botanical Dotwork Peony Flower Bud Leaves

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

Mrs Okafor's order sits on the steel bench at ten to four, three tiers under cling film. I am the only one in the bakery who has been awake since midnight, and the ovens tick as they cool, which is the sound I trust most.

Keep reading

The peonies are the hard part. Nobody believes a flower made of sugar can look like it is still deciding whether to open. I pipe the outer petals first, thin as tissue, then press the centre with a ball tool so they curl back from the middle. My father taught me to leave a little ragged at the edge, because real petals are never tidy, and the bride's mother will be hunting for the faults she can forgive.

Halfway through the third bloom the back door bangs. It is Dariusz from the wholesale van, early, carrying a crate of eggs he swears come from a farm with a name. He sees the sugar buds drying on the tray and asks why I bother with flowers nobody eats. I tell him the cake is for a couple who met in this shop, that she bought one lemon bun every Friday and he always pretended not to know her order.

By the time the window goes grey the cluster is finished: two open blooms, one closed bud on the stem, leaves pointed like the tips of knives. I box the tiers, check the wire supports twice, and step outside to watch the first van go past. The sky is the colour of the paper I drew the pattern on, and I think the cake will hold until noon, which is all anyone asks of a cake.