After 30 hours of ink work spanning the last three years, Lee Jamieson's tattoo tribute to Robert Burns has finally been completed.

Born and bred in Alloway, which Scotland's most famous poet put on the map, Jamieson has always had a soft spot for the Bard.

Decades after first getting interested in the works of Rabbie, he finally decided to honour the writer with an impressive series of tattoos across his back.

There's a red rose, a statue of Burns, Jean Armour, the cottage where he was born and the full first verse of the Tam O'Shanter poem among the many inks on his back from tattoo artist Neil Sinclair.

The 39-year-old told STV News: "As a young boy at Kyle Academy I got a full Robert Burns certificate and was really interested in him growing up. When it came to looking at ideas for a tattoo he sprung to mind.

"It all fits in together like a big jigsaw puzzle with the Auld Kirk and Tam O'Shanter, the first ones I got done. I spoke to Neil and we added in the Twa Dogs, Twa Brigs and To A Mouse.

"To be honest I didn't think it would grow out into my whole back. I think it's splendid, he's done a grand job."

The former soldier, forced to give up the Scots Guards in 1998 for medical reasons, has started to gain a bit of attention for the tattoo while out cleaning windows in his current job.

He has also admitted he may not have room for any more to be done after a number of sessions at Asylum Tattoos in Ayrshire.

Despite all that time and his high praise for the work done to his body, he still has one particular favourite.

He said: "The Twa Dogs is probably my favourite. It's special to me because its about a rich man's dog and a poor man's dog. My dog's pretty special to me, like a best friend.

"I've got a bit of notoriety because it's been in the papers and my mum and sister think it's brilliant, too.

"I think I'll stick with what I've got just now. There are parts on my back you can't really put anything on, and you could put wee thistles in maybe in some of the gaps. But it's brilliant as it is.

"It's one of the proudest things I've ever done."

All in all it took his tattoo artist "probably 30 hours" over the three years Lee has been a customer of the studio in his hometown.

Neil told STV News that despite what many people think, it is not one of the more unusual requests the studio has had.

He said: "It's actually not wholly outwith what we normally do. We get a lot of people asking for Scottish stuff. When Braveheart first came out we had a few folk coming in and looking for William Wallace tattoos.

"Some even wanted to get the Mel Gibson version but we managed to talk a couple out of that and getting the more traditional images of Wallace we have.

"Other Scottish requests have included Robert the Bruce - but none of them have been to the extent of what Lee has got because he went for the full coverage."

He added: "When he first came in he was only wanting to get his shoulder blades done but when he saw some of the designs we had. And it just grew from there.

"His brother has a full back tattoo as well but it's all oriental stuff, which we do a lot of. I've got one guy who has full sleeves on each arm and his whole back covered in oriental designs, I've worked well over 100 hours with him."

Even for Neil there's a local link to the tattoo designs for Lee which he described as a "labour of love".

Neil said: "I think it's tremendous. My mum was very much into her Burns when she was alive and I picked up a bit of it, entering primary school Burns competitions.

"I'm really into my traditional stuff and this has been a labour of love for me."