Black and grey traditional style tattoo of a woman's face framed by flowers in her hair, placed on the calf, with a second tattoo partly visible on the left leg.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Woman portrait with flowers on a calf

Traditional · Calf · Black and grey · Photo

A woman's head and shoulders are shown in bold black linework with flowers woven into her hair, a drop earring, and a spiked collar with hanging drops below. Solid black fill and light grey shading on the cheek and hair give the portrait depth. The tattoo sits centrally on a calf, with a dotwork and linework design partly visible on the left leg against a plain grey background.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tom,

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The flower seller at the top of Quay Steps has finally put up the picture you asked about. It hangs behind her trestle, a little tin sign painted by somebody who knew their work, a woman's head turned three-quarters towards the harbour, black ink for every line. Mrs Penhallow says it came off a boat that went down off the Skerries in '61 and nobody claimed the cargo. I think she made that up, but I bought a bunch of sweet peas off her anyway and she gave me a look over her spectacles as if she'd measured me for a coat.

The flowers in the painted hair are bigger than anything she sells. Three of them, heavy, stitched right into the black curls, and the artist gave them a fine little shadow so they look as if they'd drop if you breathed on them. Under the chin there's a collar with spikes, like a fence of hawthorn, and drops hanging from it that I took at first for rain. Mrs Penhallow says they're tears. I said tears don't come in threes. She said that was the trouble with tears, you never got them in the right number.

Anyway, I stood there longer than the sweet peas deserved. Then I walked down to the slip and watched Dad's old boat come in low on the tide, and I thought of you out there past the buoy with your cold hands and all. Come home by the Saturday if the weather lets you. Bring the photograph of the Mary Ann if you still have it, and I'll show you the sign.

Your loving sister, Jen

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