Greyscale realism tattoo of a smiling man's face with curled hair and a high-collared jacket, on the upper arm.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Realistic portrait tattoo on upper arm

Realism · Upper arm · Mixed · Photo

A large realistic portrait of a smiling man in profile, showing curled dark hair, a broad grin and a high-collared jacket with a striped detail. The face is rendered with soft smooth shading and skin-tone colouring, while the hair and clothing use dark ink with grey highlights. The portrait fills the frame against the arm and the photo is taken at a slight angle under indoor lighting.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Ruth,

Keep reading

The big top came down in Shrewsbury on Tuesday and nobody cried except the elephant, who has never liked the sound of canvas coming down. I am writing from the back of the lorry with my sewing box on my knees, because the ringmaster asked me to take in his red jacket before we reach Chester, and I have found the stripe on the high collar has come loose at one end. He is a vain man and a kind one, which is a rarer mix than people think.

He sat for me last night under the one bulb that still works, turning his head this way and that so I could see the line of his jaw. He wanted the grin fixed the way it was on the old posters, the wide one that made the Tuesday crowds forget the rain. I told him a grin does not stay put. It goes slack by the second act whatever you do with it. He laughed at that, and I stitched the braid back on while he laughed.

Tomorrow we set up in a car park behind a Co-op, and there will be eleven people in the stands, maybe twelve if the vicar brings his nephew. I have decided I will not mind. I have the jacket, the sewing box and the name of a theatre in Leeds that might want a wardrobe mistress who can work miracles with a needle.

Write back soon. Tell Mum the cat has my blessing to sleep on the good shawl.

Love, Margaret

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