Realism
The client chose a four-leaf clover with a ladybird on top: two symbols of luck in one small tattoo. The clover has four leaves, not the three of an Irish shamrock.
There is not a single black line in the clover. The shape holds up on the difference between the yellow-green at the base of each leaf and the deeper green at the edges, plus a cool shadow where one leaf laps over another. That overlap is what gives it depth.
The ladybird is the one thing in the piece with an outline, and that is deliberate. A hard object on a soft one needs the contrast, otherwise it sinks into the leaf.
One sitting, two and a half hours. I set the size and the angle to fit the gap between the client's existing work rather than crowding it, and warmed the outer edge of the leaves so it sits with what is already around it. Photographed straight after the session. Everything else in the picture is older work and not mine.
