Matthew from southern England returned to us for his sixth project. A sailor and longtime client, this time he came with a piece inspired by the ocean and its paradoxes. The quote he chose comes from John Masefield’s poem “Sea Fever”:

חַיָּב אֲנִי אֶל הַיָּם לָשׁוּב, לִקְרִיאַת גֵּאוּתוֹ אֶתְיַצֵּב, בְּקוֹל שְׁאָגָה צְלוּלָה וּבָרָה, פּוֹקֵד וְאוֹתִי מְחַיֵּב

“I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied.”

The lines speak to more than a love of sailing. They reflect a personal search for stillness within the storm. Matthew described life with ADHD, anxiety, and depression, and how being out on the water quiets the mind in a way nothing else can. Alone with wind and tide, there is no room for distraction. Every moment is presence.

He asked for the verse to be translated into Hebrew. His tattoos are for himself, he explained. He likes that others cannot immediately read them. In his words, it is “a conversation I have with myself.”

The design is less polite and more elemental. Something with texture. A calligraphic scene where sea and spray are not smoothed out but inked in full motion. The balance of clarity and chaos, like a sailboat navigating open waters, mirrors the internal landscape that Matthew knows so well.

This piece is both a compass and a storm. It charts the wild call that cannot be denied.