Dia de los Muertos Inspired page with Jen Matott

As much as I love dressing up for Halloween, I love dressing up to educate my students in my art classes! I went as a Day of the Dead Mexican Sugar Skull last Halloween. I painted my face and created a headband of blossoms to celebrate not only our Halloween holiday but also the Mexican holiday, Dia de los Muertos. I love the meaning behind their celebration... to honor those that have passed before us. To remember and celebrate our loved one's lives. A couple days of dancing, eating, singing, parades, and family sounds like a great way to remember our heritage. While I am not Mexican, I can appreciate a holiday that celebrates the life of others even while they have died. Keeping their memory and accomplishments alive is part of the remembering!

I started by adding some Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft Gesso to this Fancy Pants patterned paper. I love the energy of the triangles but it's a bit busy. The Gesso toned down some of the optical energy. I used the back of a paintbrush to scribble in the Gesso too. It just gave some fun lines and texture to the area.

Then I used Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft Whipped Spackle through a Crafter's Workshop skull stencil. When dry, I used Gelatos® colors in Banana (from the 50's Diner set), Watermelon, Margarita Mix (from the Tropical Set), and Red Cherry to create dripping color over the Whipped Spackle. I created some puddles of each color on my craft mat and used lots of water and a brush to create drips.

The Gelatos® colors Metallic Melon and Raspberry were added by making puddles of color and water on the craft mat and putting the paper face down in the puddles. I let some of it drip by holding the paper at an angle.
Once all of the color dried, I put the stencil back over top of the skull and used a Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft Essential PITT Artist pen to outline some of the shapes. This gave it a big more definition.

The sequins were applied with some Gel Medium added in some areas to "glue" them down.

I love the colors and symbolism of the Dia de los Muertos holiday and had a blast recreating some of the energy and fun here! I'm so lucky to be an art teacher and have the opportunity to dress up like this at work! It's educational and just darn fun!