100 DRAWINGS IN 100 DAYS - BLYTHE IN A BURKA !!

BLYTHE (IT'S GETTIN' HOT IN HERE...)

now i have turned to what i consider to be some of the most striking, beautiful, devoted and pious women, yet the dress is very controversial in western society - the islam burka.

oh there is so much to be written here, and i just love that while i thought i was just doing a pretty little drawing and playing with ink on paper and watching the lovely lines interlacing, i was actually educating myself on the subject. how cool is that?!

the website that i went to for all this information is so lengthy that i will just give you the skinny version here and the link to the site ( here) if you would like more information.

"a Fatwa (in the Islamic faith is a religious opinion concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar) written by Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid on the Saudi Arabian website Islam QA, states:

The correct view as indicated by the evidence is that the woman's face is 'awrah which must be covered. It is the most tempting part of her body, because what people look at most is the face, so the face is the greatest 'awrah of a woman."*

in afghanistan: the chadri (the full length robes and the head veil with just a mesh covering over a slit for the eyes) was not worn much before the Taliban. Their treatment of women required that they wear the chadri in public. and although it is not mandatory for women to wear it in afghanistan now, they still prefer to wear it as a matter of personal safety during a time of such political unrest.

in india: the wearing of the burka is more prominent especially if the woman is young and unmarried, or young and in the first few years of her marriage. after that, it is at the husband's discretion as to whether or not she continues to wear it.

in pakistan: the popularity of the burka has declined over the years except in rural areas. there the burka is not seen as a religious symbol, but one of honor, wealth and tradition and the wearing of it is not observed while traveling outside the area.

in israel: some time ago a group of jewish women began wearing the burka as a symbol of piety. then hundreds of women were doing it. as one woman put it, "I follow these rules of modesty to save men from themselves. A man who sees a woman's body parts is sexually aroused, and this might cause him to commit sin. Even if he doesn't actually sin physically, his impure thoughts are sin in themselves."*

and that was fine to think that way, until the husbands decided that it had the opposite effect, and actually became a sexual fetish that was just as promiscuous as wearing too little and could lead to even more danger of sexual transgressions. wow.

in syria: the burka is not allowed to be worn in schools or universities by students, teachers or staff.

in france: the burka has been prohibited from being worn in french public schools since 2004, which falls into line with their law from 1905 of not wearing or displaying any clearly visible religious symbols (the burka in france, considered a religious symbol much like a cross is to christians). in july of 2010, the assembly successfully placed a ban on burkas in public places. and they now have the "bill to forbid concealing one's face in public".*

in australia: the australian liberal senator, cory bernardi  called for the ban on the burka, which has not yet gone ahead, but the argument still continues.

and on it goes... the world is trying to find reasons that it is unsafe for your health to wear a burka, and people will try anything to put an end to that which they don't understand or fear. i say, each to their own.

* courtesy wikipedia

100 DRAWINGS IN 100 DAYS - EASTERN GODDESS BLYTHE

BLYTHE (IS DIGGIN' THE BLING THAT GOES ALONG
WITH BEING A BODHISATTVA...)

allow me, if you will, to take you on a journey... actually a few journeys. i am delving into "sets" of drawings at the moment (it all started with alice...). i have already explored the Virgin Mary, and the Immaculate Heart images, and now i am heading further east, to the Buddhist countries and their Buddhas and (the female version) the Bodhisattvas.

now, there are so many different goddesses and gods, that i couldn't even begin to name them, for they are just too numerous, and they all hold different qualities. i have done a Mrs.  Potato Head, and actually taken bits and pieces from a few different Bodhisattvas to create my very own... (hope that's ok with the universe that i did that!) i have combined two in particular: Tara and Kwan Yin.

Both these Bodhisattvas embody compassion and Samsara (continuous suffering), and each of them have their trademark symbols: kwan yin with her 1000 arms and 1000 eyes because she is omnipresent (but usually portrayed with eyes in the palms of her hands), and usually holding or sitting on a lotus flower - a sign of purity; and tara with her calm and sympathetic expression because she is the goddess of longevity and healing. for the sake of simplicity and clarity, i preferred not to draw the 1000 arms (i would have run out of ink as well...), and only one eye besides the normal two on her face. but the story behind this goddess kwan yin is a must read, and for that matter so is tara's. they both have beautiful anecdotal qualities, which is why i was so attracted to them. 

when i lived in Oklahoma City, i attended a buddhist temple on sundays, and our primary focus was on the various Bodhisattvas, of which i had previously no experience. and so naturally i thoroughly enjoyed making up my own image of "Her".