Black and grey shaded rose tattoo with leaves, a bud and a thorned stem on the inner wrist and forearm.

Shaded black and grey rose on a wrist

Realism · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A large rose in full bloom sits at the centre, with a smaller bud, several leaves and a thorny stem curling down towards the hand. The petals and leaves are rendered with soft gradient shading, fine vein lines and strong dark accents, giving them a realistic, dimensional look. The tattoo is in black and grey only, set against lightly lit pale skin and a blurred background.

Realism Botanical Forearm Rose Bud Leaves Stem Thorn

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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

Dear Maureen, the rose bush by the coal shed came up at last, though Dad says it's only because the frost finally gave up on us. I've cut three blooms and put them in the jam jar on the windowsill, where the light comes through the net curtain and makes them look like they've been painted in pencil. The bud is the one I'm fondest of. It's still tight, all its petals folded down over one another like a fist that hasn't decided yet.

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Mrs Pargeter from the post office came round on Tuesday asking after you. I told her you're doing very well at the typing college in Leeds and that you send your love, which you do, don't you? She said she'd heard the Harcourt boy was back from Germany with a wristwatch and a limp, and that he'd been asking about the chapel fund. I didn't know what to say to that, so I gave her two ounces of barley sugar and said the weather was turning.

The thorns on that stem are wicked. I pricked my thumb on Saturday reaching for a leaf and it bled more than I expected, so I sat down on the step for a bit with my hand in my apron. Mum would have sworn at me for being so careless. I thought about you then, and about how you always said roses were only pretty because they were trying to keep people away.

Write soon, and tell me whether the city has done anything about the dark, because I can't bear it much longer. The leaves are out now, all of them, and they look almost black in the evening. Your loving sister, Edie.