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Traditional nurse lady head with a red-cross cap and a single anemone on the forearm

Traditional Nurse Lady Head Tattoo

A traditional nurse lady head with the classic red-cross cap, a soft veil, and a single anemone tucked in at the base. I worked this one mostly in bold black line with restrained shading through the face and the petals, keeping it firmly in the old-school flash tradition the nurse motif comes from.

The nurse is one of those designs that goes back to wartime flash and keeps getting tattooed for the same reasons it always did. It reads instantly and it ages gracefully. I gave the portrait room to sit at full scale on the forearm so the features stay legible as the years soften the line.

For a traditional lady head in Wellington, hit me up at @pokestaytattoo or pokestaytattoo@gmail.com.

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By Rhys Thomas at Whitetail Tattoo, Level 3, 41–47 Dixon Street, Te Aro, Wellington, New Zealand

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Common Questions About Traditional in Wellington

What's the difference between traditional and neo-traditional?
Traditional keeps to a small, classical colour palette (reds, yellows, greens, blues) with chunky outlines and limited shading. Neo-traditional opens that up with more colours, finer detail, and more painterly shading. Same bones, more flexibility.
Do traditional tattoos cost less because they look simpler?
No. Traditional tattoos look deceptively simple. Clean bold lines and solid colour packs are hard to execute well, and they're priced on time and skill required, not visual complexity.
Can a traditional design be personal rather than generic?
Yes. Most of my traditional pieces are custom subjects rendered in the traditional language. Bring your own meaning and I'll handle the visual grammar.