Tattoo

This blog is supposed to be about teaching in Saudi Arabia, and this is my first post about teaching...

Promise not to tell my mother? I have a tattoo. Honestly they are frowned on by a lot of people, my mother can get in line. How and why I got it is kind of complicated. The short version is basically I wanted something that couldn’t be lost, borrowed or stolen; and it’s a reference to my daughter. I also wasn’t interested in someone else’s doodle on my arm for eternity so it’s my art and yes it goes all the way around, what do you take me for?

Tattoos are frowned on in Islam, they are in fact Haram. I was under the false impression that none of my students knew I had an indelible daisy chain inked around my arm until one of them told me how much she liked my arm band. Apparently it shows pretty clearly through all of my white shirtsleeves. Blush.

Oh right, teaching. I have a class in Illustration this semester. The class meets once a week for 3.5 half hours, which is hard to manage in regards to studio time. Once a week is not enough. I needed a method for getting my students to work independently and on a variety of topics. What I came up with was www.illustrationfriday.com , which is sponsored by Penelope Dullaghan. Free plug below:

work: http://penelopeillustration.com
store: http://lopiepop.com

The site puts up a new topic every Friday and you can post a link to your personal solution. All of them are interesting and the ages are from 8 to pretty darned antique, with experienced illustrators and artists along with housewives, hacks and students.

This week’s topic was Tattoo. At the top is my solution and to the right is a picture of the one on my arm. (Note the photo shows off my pretty brown eyes per my sister’s request.)


Ciao, ciao.