Trini Pride!

I have been feeling a bit patriotic these days.

The Olympics is in the air. Trinidad and Tobago has not won a medal YET but I think that our athletes are doing a fantastic job.They really are putting their best feet forward (especially those sprinters ;D ).  EDIT: WE HAVE A MEDAL NOW!!! :D

 Nicki Minaj's "Pound The Alarm" video which was shot in my beautiful country was released a few days ago. In case you missed it, check out that steel pan in the intro. I just loved the clips of Trinidad in the beginning.

Also this year, Trinidad and Tobago is going to be celebrating 50 years of Independence.


It's always a nice time to be a Trini, so I decided to post up one of my Trini-inspired pieces.

Sometime in February, around Carnival, I was looking around for a Thank You card for one of my lecturers. Now I was having some difficulty finding the right card. To understand why, you need to understand the sort of person he is.

He is a foreigner, he taught me for 2 years and he was an exceptional teacher. He then became my Tutor for my Research Project, which was when I got to interact with him more. He was a man who truly cared for his students well-being which is something you rarely see at a tertiary level. I respected that, but what I respected the most was his work ethic and dedication to his job, how he lived away from home and family and still gave his job as a lecturer and as a medical professional his very best, his professionalism, and the calm and gentle manner in which he dealt with people regardless of the situation.

How could I give my mentor a $5.00 Thank You card after he inspired me to give my best in all my endeavours? That would have been blasphemy! Not that he would not have appreciated the thought anyway but I just could not do that.

We always joked that one day I would paint something for his house, so I decided that one day would be today and I set about making it. I wanted something to reflect Trinidad so he would always have a reminder. Hence the Steel Pan and Trini colours. Additionally as I said before, I did it around Carnival time, so I wanted something bold and very graphic

Photo of my Trini-inspired Thank You Card

I printed what I wanted to say on one side of a stiff sheet of paper. That would eventually become the inside of the Card when I folded it. I drew my sketch out after. Then I painted it on with acrylics, did some pen and ink details and added the silver and black ribbons (remnants of Christmas bows). To finish it off, I added the little crystals which I actually cut off from one of those sparkly carnival-like sticker tattoos. Great way to recycle and use up old tid-bits (especially a diamante sticker saying "Sexy". Who wears those things anyway?).

It was well-received. Perfect for a foreigner. If medical school doesn't work out, I think I'm going to try to give Hallmark some competition. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think. Also what's the most patriotic thing that you've ever made/done ?

Thank you for reading!