Black and grey dotwork and fine line tattoo of a sun with rays, clouds and a curling wave inside a circle, on the inner forearm.

Sun, clouds and wave on a forearm

Dotwork · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A circular tattoo shows a sun behind clouds, with radiating rays fanning out above a large curling wave and smaller breaking waves below. The linework is fine and even, with the sun and shadowed areas built up from stippled dots. The design is entirely black ink in greys and black, set against pale skin and a white painted brick wall.

Dotwork Fine line Forearm Sun Cloud Wave Sea Ray

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

Dear Tomasz, the customs officer at Halden Quay has taken Father's brass compass and says it can be collected in March, once the paperwork has crossed the water and come back again. I am writing on the back of a tide table because the ferry clerk keeps the only good pen locked in his drawer with the stamps.

Keep reading

The sea beyond the breakwater has been heaving since Tuesday. Mrs Okonedo at the chandlery says the big swell always arrives under a bank of cloud, with the sun pushing rays through the gaps so the whole bay looks like an opened cupboard of light. I stand on the wall each morning and count the sets. The third wave always rises highest and curls over itself the way Father drew it on the lid of his tobacco tin, with those long even lines that never quite touch.

Yesterday the young officer, sunburnt across the back of his neck, asked what I was carrying. I said only the tin and a sheet of paper, and he turned the paper over and looked at it for a long while. He said it reminded him of the sea off Cotter Point, the way the lines run out before they reach the edge. Then he stamped it without reading a word and waved me through.

So I am keeping the tin, the drawing and this letter, which I will leave under the blue-chalked stone at the top of the slip. Tell Mama the sun is out over the water. When you come for the compass in March, the wave will still be there, and so will I, counting.