Title: The Sugar Skull Within.
Size: 21.59 cm X 27.94 cm. Date: September, 2016. Media: Colored Pencils. Exhibition Text. I created this piece to express the culture within my community as well as expressing my own idea of what it means to be considered a sugar skull. What a sugar skull means to me is something that expresses a sense of emotion with a strong meaning behind it. Within the research I conducted, the meaning of a sugar skull is an expression of the passing of a loved one and to celebrate the life they have lived and to continue their life after death. |
Process.
Research.
I did some research on the Sugar Skull and they are part of the Mexican culture and are used in the celebration of "The Day of The Dead". Day of the Dead is the celebration of loved ones that have passed away and to celebrate the life they lived. The name "Sugar Skulls" has originated from in 1950's when Mexican people began to create these skulls using sugar because sugar at the time was very cheap. Each sugar skull has there own meaning behind them and the people creating them use color and patterns to represent the meaning behind them.
Citation. "Mexican Sugar Skull: History and Origin of Sugar Skulls and Feria Del Alfeñique." Art Is Fun. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2016. ACT Question Responses.
1.The relationship between my own inspiration and the effect upon my art work has a very strong visual impact on the viewer because my piece was reflected upon the Mexican culture.
2. The overall approach the author has on the topic of my inspiration is based upon their own traditions and the importance it has on their way of living. 3. Some generalizations and conclusions I have made over the creation of this piece would be that depending where you come from or what your heritage is, that everyone has their own way of dealing with certain situations. 4. The theme around my research would be the Mexican culture that I was introduced to from my surroundings. 5. Some inferences that I read during the research would be that imagery and meaning are key to having the message of your piece come across strong enough that the viewer will understand what is being conveyed. |
With the creation of this process, I had a hard time on designing the way the head would be shaped and if the head would be tilted to the right or left side. Once I decided to do just a normal set up, I started filling in the details. I wasn't sure on how to do the eyes of my picture because in images I have seen before, they dramatize the eyes to show culture. This piece had a particular challenge for me due to the fact I used a different medium than I'm use to doing for an art class. I normally focus more on sketches and then turning them into paintings but I wanted to step out and try something new.
I got this idea after the passing of my aunt. My aunt came from a strong catholic culture and she also was very religious. My family showed her the beauty of sugar skulls and what they represented in the mexican culture. After the exposure of mexican culture she began look in to how the mexican culture celebrates the passing of a soul. Later on she found out she had pancreatic cancer and soon passed away. EXPERIMENTATION: After drawing this picture many times I was able to correct my mistakes and add new details like more beads for the necklace and more detail around the eyes. I was also able to experiment with different colors while using watercolor colored pencils.In the pictures below I experimented with swatches of each color I chose to use for each part of the drawing. Each color was represented with two swatches; one swatch is just regular colored pencil and the other swatch shows the water-colored pencil and how when water is applied, it becomes more lighter and stretched out. I chose not to use the watercolor aspect of the colored pencils because the paper I was using was not watercolor paper so it would have became wrinkled and curly. I started drawing it real lightly with a drawing pencil but I decided to outline it due to the fact the picture had a great amount of detail included in it as well as the culture behind it. I also tried to use bright and happy colors to represent the bright colors that are used on sugar skulls. ReflectionOverall I enjoyed doing this piece because I was able to work with my favorite medium and it was also interesting to do something that is not thought of being an piece of work for a show. One thing I would do different next time would be the choice of coloring techniques because after looking at it I can see some one spots and all the different directions I colored it. I would also use different designs to show the meaning and message behind my piece while also catching the viewers attention. In general this piece was very successful, it is one of my favorite pieces and I'm happy with the way it turned it.
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