Bohemian Bazaar Day of the Dead Shrine

Now that we have sufficiently distanced ourselves from Halloween I am sharing a Shrine that I made for Day of the Dead. Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) has NOTHING to do with Halloween. There. I said it. But given the symbolic skulls and the temporal proximity (it is celebrated Nov1-2nd) the confusion is understandable.

I used an Altered Trading Block as the base of my shrine. I also used the Graphic 45 Bohemian Bazaar collection of patterned papers to cover the wooden base and chipboard. Skeletons and skulls symbolize our fragile mortality, but when they are colorful and dressed up festively they are not macabre and indicate we should not fear death, for it is part of the cycle of life.

Brightly colored patterned paper

Catrina, by Jose Guadalupe Posada

Day of the Dead is a celebration to honor those who have passed and who not only are remembered, loved, and missed but are still a cherished part of the community. Since we are a community of artists, it is only fitting that my shrine honor a great artist: Frida Kahlo. Day of the Dead is an inspiring festival for artists because of the abundant brightly colored mixed media and sculptural folk art produced.

You can find not only wood blocks and Graphic 45 paper at Altered Pages.com but also some wonderful Day of the Dead art supplies like these:

Collages

Here are some questions for you to start your creative engine today...

If you could have lunch with any artist, alive or deceased, who would it be?

Have you ever remembered someone who passed, literally or symbolically in you art work? How?

Do you ever challenge yourself to work with color palettes that are outside your comfort zone? Why or why not?

Do you enjoy learning about the folk art of other cultures? What cultural art inspires you?

We LOVE comments and interaction with the fabulous Altered Pages community...that's YOU! So join the fiesta here, on the Challenge Blog, and on Facebook!

-X Gia Lau

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Handy Tip for Artists, Recyclers and Neat Freaks! I have a follow-up to the Citra-Sol method for creating fabulous background pages and collages. I bought a big bag of navel oranges and realized I had the ingredients to make my own solvent! Simply take a clean glass jar, peel the rind from the oranges and place all the rind/peels, without the pulp (tangerines, oranges, navels) into the jar. Pour enough vinegar over the peels to cover them. Allow the jar to sit for a week or two and VOILA! You have made your own solvent for literally pennies. You will notice the liquid getting a bit thicker than the plain vinegar and it does not smell bad!!! I now have a HUGE jar on the window sill! Be careful and only use this after testing on a safe spot.

DINA WAKLEY Featured Artist

We are SO Proud to present Dina Wakley with her ART and February Tip (oops, she says she is totally disorganized, so there is HOPE for all of us!) Dina Wakley is a mixed-media artist and teacher. She loves everything about art: creating it, thinking about it, looking at it, and teaching it. Dina is passionate about teaching art. She teaches both in-person and online workshops. She is a docent at the Phoenix Art Museum, where she gives tours to school groups and gets kids excited about art. As a Ranger Signature Designer, Dina designs a line of mixed-media art supplies that includes acrylic paints, mediums, brushes, rubber stamps, stencils, and more. Look for the Dina Wakley Media Line by Ranger at a store near you. Dina's books Art Journal Freedom and Art Journal Courage are available now. Also look for three new North Light DVDs starring Dina, available this month: "Art Journal Mark Making and Throwing Ink," Art Journal Color Courage," and &q

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