Black and grey realism style tattoo of three roses and a lily on the outer thigh, with soft shading and botanical detail.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Rose and lily cluster on a thigh

Realism · Thigh · Black and grey · Photo

A cluster of three roses surrounds a central lily, with petals, leaves and stems drawn in fine linework and soft shading. The flowers are rendered in black ink and greys, with strong contrast on the lily petals and deeper tones in the rose centres. The tattoo fills most of the frame against a light skin tone, with a dark leather seat visible in the background.

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

The barge Patience carried cut flowers up the Wey every spring, and her skipper, Jonah Fell, would not let anyone else take the tiller through Hollin Lock. The water ran fast under the gate there, and the old men said a lily had drowned in it once, back when the lock was new.

Keep reading

One April a girl came aboard at Guildford with a basket of roses and no ticket to anywhere. She said her name was Ada and that she could mend nets and read weather. Jonah did not believe her about the weather, but the roses were the deepest red he had ever seen, and when she set them on the cabin table they seemed to lean towards the lock, as if they knew the way.

At Hollin the current caught the bow and swung it towards the gate. Ada stepped onto the coping with a coil of rope, wrapped the line around the bollard three times, and held it while the water roared past her boots. Jonah shouted. She did not let go. When the barge was still, she sat down on the wet stone and laughed, and a white lily had opened in the reeds where nothing had been growing that morning.

Jonah tied up for the night and left the basket by the lock wall, though he never learned what the flowers were for. Ada was not seen on the Wey again. Each spring after that, three roses and a lily came up between the stones at Hollin, and the lock-keepers left them alone.

More like this

Black and grey tattoo of three roses with shaded leaves across the shoulder and upper arm.
Three roses on a shoulder
Black and grey shaded roses with leaves tattooed on an upper arm, running from the shoulder down the outer arm.
Three shaded roses on an upper arm
Black and grey realism rose tattoo with shaded leaves on the inner forearm, near the wrist.
Black and grey rose on a forearm
Black and grey shaded roses with leaves tattooed on the outer thigh, with denim shorts visible at the top of the frame.
Black and grey roses on a thigh
Colour traditional tattoo of a rope-wrapped anchor with pink roses and green leaves on the outer thigh.
Anchor and pink roses on a thigh
Black linework tattoo of chrysanthemum flowers and leaves on the inner upper arm, in a botanical outline style.
Chrysanthemum blooms on an inner arm
Black and grey traditional tattoo of a large rose with a smaller rose, daisy-like flowers and thorny stems on an upper arm.
Traditional rose and daisies on an upper arm
Black and grey realistic tattoo of three roses and a rosebud with leaves on the outer thigh, above denim shorts.
Three roses and a bud on a thigh
Black and grey traditional tattoo of two roses with stippled dotwork shading on the forearm.
Two roses with dotwork shading on a forearm
Black and grey peony tattoo with leaves and stem on the upper back near the shoulder blade, shaded with fine stippling.
Peony and leaves on a shoulder blade
Black and grey realistic tattoo of large shaded flowers with layered petals on the outer thigh.
Black and grey flowers on a thigh
Black and grey traditional style tattoo of two roses with leaves on the outer thigh.
Two roses on a thigh

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