Black swoosh tattoo on the side of a bare foot, held up against a white panelled wall, with the ankle visible.

Swoosh tattoo on the side of a foot

Ankle · Black and grey · Photo

A bare foot is raised against a white panelled wall, showing its outer side. A solid black swoosh shape sits on the side of the foot near the ankle. The image is softly lit with film grain, and the plain background keeps the attention on the mark.

Ankle Foot

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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

The hall in Hastings smelled of floor wax and somebody's cheap gin by eleven, and you had been up a ladder since seven with a sable brush and a tin of black enamel, lettering the band's name above the proscenium. Mr Abbott wanted it finished before the Saturday crowd. The cold came through the high windows and made your hand jump at the wrong moments, so you learned to lean your weight into the stroke and trust it.

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Ruth from the cloakroom brought you tea in a chipped cup and stood at the foot of the ladder, watching. She said the swoop beside the lettering was too quick to be a letter at all. You told her a sweep is only lazy if you go back over it, and you never went back over anything. Paint dries, and a mistake on a sign can't be hidden. She laughed and said it was the most honest thing a sign man had ever said to her, and she went off to hang coats before you could work out whether it was a compliment.

That night the band struck up a number nobody had heard before, and the floor filled with couples turning under the lights. You stood at the back with enamel still under your nails and watched a girl in a green dress spin until her hem lifted, every turn drawing a dark arc through the air, quick and certain, the way your brush had gone along the board.

On Monday you climbed the ladder to scrape the old letters off for the next name. Under the varnish, your one clean sweep was still shining. Nobody had noticed it, and you left it there, a small black wing above the door, for whoever came up the ladder next.