I found this great painting of Robert Burns surrounded by masonic symbols at the Total Kunst art gallery. The exhibition, called Homecoming Tattoo, features paintings by a number of Scottish tattoo artists and celebrates this unique folk-art. The first modern tattooist in Scotland was Prince Vallor, we're informed, and he opened his tattoo parlour in Glasgow in 1939. This painting of Burns immediately called to mind one of my favourite Burns poems --- To a Mouse (AKA Tae a Moose) I heard somewhere that Seamus Heaney was giving a talk in Glasgow and someone asked him what he thought about the massive influx of Eastern Europeans immigrating to Scotland and the UK. Heaney, allegedly, simply replied "Tae a Moose" invoking Scotland's best loved bards. I'm going to keep an eye out for actual Burns tattoos on actual people. In the meantime, enjoy the poem:

Link - if you prefer - http://www.readingroom.spl.org.uk/classic_poems/mcfarlane.htm