Realistic colour tattoo of a black raven perched on a branch over a glowing orange jack-o'-lantern, placed on the calf.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Raven perched over a glowing pumpkin on a calf

Realism · Calf · Colour · Photo

A large raven with a black body and pale eye sits on a twig, with its talons gripping the branch. Behind and within its body, a carved orange jack-o'-lantern glows with red and amber shading, and a faint purple spider web fills the background. The image shows the tattoo from two angles, with smooth blended shading and vivid colour against the skin.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Hush and pass me that peel, lad. The loaves won't wait on a story, but this one will wait on you. You want to know why we leave the oven door open a crack before the cockerel crows? It's on account of the raven on the orchard wall.

Keep reading

Back when Ashby Fold still had its orchards, a carver called Nell Harrow cut a lantern each October from the last windfall pumpkin and set it on the gatepost to light the lane home for the reapers. One year the frost came early and the flame guttered out before midnight. Out of the dark came a raven as big as a sheepdog, its beak sharp as a sickle, and it perched on the blackthorn bough above the gate. It looked at the dead lantern, then at the cold cottages below, and it said nothing at all, which frightened Nell more than any words would have.

She climbed up with her last tallow candle, meaning to shame the bird off. But a spider had strung a web across the gate from post to post, silver with dew, and every drop caught the candle and threw it back. The raven ducked its head and swallowed the light whole, lantern, web and all. Its belly took on a glow like a carved face, and wherever the brightness sat, the bird grew warm and still. Nell went home and slept soundly, and the lane stayed lit for everyone who needed it.

So each dawn, before the dough goes in, we open the door and let a little of that glow out for the raven to see. Mind your hand, lad. Now fetch the salt, and let's see if the dough has risen.

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