See This Emirati Sketcher’s Dirham-Sized Drawings

About a year ago, 32-year-old Emirati sketcher Mariam Abbas began posting her drawings on Instagram, and people immediately began wondering how she managed to make her designs so tiny. "I just stick my face really close to the paper and work where there is plenty of sunlight," she told The National of her drawings, which are often the size of a dirham coin.

Abbas studied at the American University of Sharjah, where she specialized in visual communication and mastered sketching with a pen and a pencil. It wasn't until years later that this mother of three began teaching herself watercolor, which she now uses in her art.

Though at the moment, she's focused on creating a series of drawings of mosques around the country, she's also done a series on junk food, which features miniscule images of chips and other snacks. Often, she'll place a recognizable object next to the drawing to give some perspective as to how small each one really is.

Whether she's celebrating National Day with a drawing of a dhow boat, or ringing in Ramadan with a tiny bottle of Vimto, you can check out her incredible work right here.