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Friday, October 7, 2011

Bringing the Dead to Life

Hello all my Wonderful Bloggy Buddies!

I'm so happy to be able to post here twice in one week!  It's all this cool weather...it just perks me right up :D

With Halloween looming in the air, I was enjoying some wonderful images of skeletons and spooky decor online, when I came across photos of Dia de los Muertos....sugar skulls, bright painted faces, colorful flowers.....a reminder to recognize and celebrate our loved ones past and present.

I was overcome to try Day of the Dead inspired art of my own....and...

I even rembered to take a few in progress shots :)
I started with some quick notes of what characterizes the style....

So, I chose 2 prepared 5 x 7 inch canvases and sketched faces on them...
First with pastel, then more detailed with pencil.

Once I refined their faces, I painted them white and sketched on the patterns they would have adorn their faces.
It's so amazing to me how I can just freehand a face shape, eyes, nose, etc, not purposely trying to make them alike or different........but end up with them having distinct faces from eachother...

I was laughing a bit here that they resembled those masks the wrestlers wear on tv :D
All finished up...
Flowers in their hair...

"Dulce" has such soft eyes and a gentle expression....perhaps missing a cherished one she lost?
From the side...


....and this is "Rosa".
Her more rounded eyes have a direct gaze....
She just plucked that rose from her Abuela's garden before joining the festivities.  A rose as pretty as her name....

I enjoyed this so much!  It was so much fun to dress these girls up....almost like I was playing in make-up in front of the mirror...heehee!
I hope you like them, too!  If you like them A LOT...they are in my Etsy shop ;P

Hold the memories of your loved ones close...and hold your living ones closer.  Tell them how much they mean to you.  Say "I love you" at a time when they least expect it.  Life is for the living...
and for Loving (imagine a heart icon here since I don't know how to do that...haha)

I love you guys,
Cameron

15 comments:

Joyce van der Lely said...

Just a quick visit, no time for coffee....
They turned out really well Cam ! I love sugarskulls, I even facepainted my little girl a Catrina last year for Halloween !!! and I have some Halloween/DoD ideas looming.......but working on some more "Klimtisch" at the moment still
xoxo

Marty said...

These are SO amazing! I love both, but for some reason Rosa is my favorite :) It was fun to see a bit more into your creative process--especially because someone (painting challenged) like me cannot even imagine the steps involved!

Love YOU! :)

Šolanje na domu-Waldorf said...

These sugar skull girls are gorgeous! Deffinetly love the eyes. :)

Geri said...

oh, Cam - these are so ghoulishly gorgeous!

indie grrrl said...

Oh My, these are amazing. Heading over to Etsy to check them out. Thanks for stopping by my blog. Hope you are having an awesome weekend.

Carmen said...

Oh I love that you did the steps leading up to these gorgeous girls! Love them both!

Happy Halloween Cam :)

Getrealmommy said...

Very, very cool! Keep um coming!

Katie said...

These are great! Day of the dead is such an inspiration- I love how you did those! very cool

Micki Wilde said...

These are wonderful Cam, our minds must be in tune with each other, I have been collecting images of sugar skulls all week ready to paint my son and daughter's faces for halloween this year, I found some awesome tutorials on youtube too!!

Raven Moon Magic said...

I love these, i see what you mean about feeling you were doing makeup on them, i do this to poor women in magazines, those poor plain airbrushed faces are just screaming for decoration!, and once again the eyes!!! do you want me to say it in every comment?? ohh ok the eyes are so deep, you can see right inside these poor lost women. love it

xxx
sheree

Theresa MacNaughton said...

Wow!!!! These are just AMAZING, Cam! You did a fabulous job!!!! :) Thanks for sharing photos from conception to completion!!! :) Wish WE had cooler weather...it's been in the 80s...yuck!

Kristin said...

Um, yeah. Those are AMAzing!! I LOVED seeing your process pictures and think the pieces are just spectacular!!! Wonderful color, background, details - Bravo, xoxo

Erin K said...

Loved seeing your progress pictures. These ladies turned out lovely...so gorgeous for day of the dead! You're one talented lady!

Treehugger_31 said...

Awesome! :) I'm in awe of your talent!

Sarah said...

beautifully done!

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