Awesome Mail

  Any day I get totally awesome Day of the Dead or Halloween ATC's, papers and such in the mail is my idea of an extremely good mail day. This delightful group came from Alaska. Bet those Muertos were chilly on the way here!

What's on my work table?

What's on my work table varies moment by moment. Here's some of what's on it right now:

   Lots of Dia de los Muertos & sugar skull images for ATC's and cards, Latte pens, ink pads and paper scraps. And that's just in one tiny section of my 6 foot table space! 
  What's on your work table right now?

Jack O Lantern

An old fashioned Jack O Lantern, carved by my son and placed on the front steps to welcome the Ancestors and keep malevolent spirits at bay. you can tell Jack's getting a bit moldy inside. The boy just couldn't wait until closer to the 31st to carve it up!   In our house we celebrate Samhain, the ancient pagan festival, and Dia de los Muertos, the Mexican Day of the Dead. and yes, he does like to go trick or treating too. 

Mixed Media Monday

  

I started this piece a while back (you can see it here and here), but the La Catrina image got misplaced. She reappeared in a box of miscellaneous papers one day, to my delight, so I immediately got to work on it again.  The substrate is Masonite, covered with papers, paint and gesso. La Catrina has been hand-colored and UTEE added on top. I"ll be adding metal bits, some skull beads and wire to finish it off.
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  I love using up extra bits of paper, paint, inks, etc by making ATC's.
ATC's are a great way to have a finished piece of art quickly, which can be quite satisfying! 

Four mixed-media ATC's made 10/15/11
The top heart is grunge board.

Skull Block Print

I've been doing quite a bit of block printing recently. As usual, skulls end up being the main subject. On the left is my carved lino & on the right is one of the prints, done using multiple colors.  This is only the third lino block I've ever carved and I'm actually pretty thrilled with the results.  My all time favorite Art Mag, Cloth, Paper, Scissors is having a block print challenge right now. I think I'll send in one of these prints and see if it ends up gracing the pages of the magazine. Wish me luck!

A shout out to Raine  (aka: Glinda!) for the GREAT wicked Witch card she sent me last week.  Love you!!!  We MUST have an art play date soon!!!

Sugar Skull Completed

Finally finished the papier mache Sugar Skull I was working on. I love the Mexican folk art look of the piece! One of these days I'll make it to Oxana, Mexico for the Dia de los Muertos celebration. Until then I'll keep on making my own sugar skulls and skeletons. Actually, even after I go to Oxana I'll make my own. Somehow I just know making skulls and skeletons won't be something I'll ever give up!

This is a photo of it before being painted: unpainted

Skeleton Painting

Yet another skull has appeared in my art work. My hubby has taken to calling our home The Skull Factory because skulls & skeletons are absolutely everywhere!

Skeleton Bride & Groom

One of my latest creations here at The Skull Factory! Created by lopping off the heads of a cake topper & substituting skull heads, caulk, paint & webbing spray.  I'm creating a little shrine to house them and am also working on an entire mariachi band of skeletons.  In my world you can never have too many skulls and happy skeletons about...

Sugar Skull In Progress

 I've been  indulging my love for skulls and skeletons lately by putting them in almost every piece of art I create. This is a papier mache sugar skull in progress. Based on the sugar skulls made for the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) in Mexico and on the papier mache often used to create Mexican folk art, this skull will be brightly painted once completely dry. It's my first attempt at a papier mache skull so am hoping I've done it right!

On a side note, my digital camera experienced an untimely death while in Niagara Falls with the boys.  Until I can get a new one I've resorted to using my phone camera for blog photos. I admit the quality isn't the best, but decided posting even mediocre photos was better than not blogging at all!

Sugar Skull Painting

Finished this small painting today. I love Mexican sugar skulls and day of the dead art. This is a mixed-media painting of a sugar skull.

Our Dia de los Muertos offerings for the Spirits of those who've passed before us. Both 2-legged and 4-legged

Day of the Dead, revisited

Last night I finished up the ATC's for the hand-drawn ATC swap I'm in. I made 6 images in all and am looking forward to getting 6 in return. I'm amassing quite a collection of DOTD ATC's!

I also started an ATC swap at Swap-Bot titled 'Blue for You' It's a mixed media ATC exchange. All cards for the swap need to be primarily blue & also use at least 3 different media to create them. Each participant will have 2 partners that they send 2 ATC's to. I love hosting swaps through swap-bot. They make it so darned easy to set them up & you always get a decent number of participants. The only drawback is you occasionally get flaker's (people who flake out & never send) but that happens anywhere you swap unfortunately. Once I get my cards done for that swap they'll make their appearance here.

Day of the Dead

I've been busy this afternoon creating some more ATC's for the hand-drawn Day of the Dead swap. I've managed to create three more so far. I love creating these images! They are so whimsical and vibrant.

Immersed in art

It's been a busy few days art wise. I had several swaps I made ATC's for, including one I'm hosting. Plus the completion of a Goddess doll for a swap. I'm amazed I was able to get so much done this week with all the mayhem at home: sick kids, dr's appointments, the drudgery of housework & laundry. It just goes to show that you can carve out time for art everyday even with a hectic home life.

These six ATC's were for a Funky Zetti swap I'm in. Each one is hand-drawn using various markers.

This is one of the ATC's I made for a Hand-drawn Day of the Dead swap. I love Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) imagery so couldn't resist joining in on another swap featuring them! Actually, I've joined two swaps with DOTD themes. I have a few more cards to make for this swap and then I need to do the ones for the other which is a Zetti DOTD swap. I'm hoping to get to them today.

And last, but certainly not least, is the Goddess doll. The shells were collected by me on Casey Key, which is located on the West coast of Florida. The legs and bottom of the doll are filled with popcorn seeds to enable her to sit up on her own.

Skull Found In Mail!

I have a thing for skulls & skeletons. Especially the Mexican Dia de los Muertos ones (who can resist a happy, dancing skeleton?). My sister by choice & partner in crime, Raine Phoenix, knows of my abiding love affair with all things skeletal. She may not share it, or even understand it, but she appreciates it for what it is: part of my uniqueness & quirkiness! Or at least that's what I tell myself.

Imagine my delight when I found this great piece of mail art from her lurking in my mail box. With removable skull & hidden message no less!