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1. Explain in your own words what a sugar skull is.
   - A sugar skull is a skull that either be a mask or even candy. They symbolize the mexican culture. The sugar skulls are created on the Day of the Dead, weddings, and sometimes even birthdays. They also can be sold for funds and can people can slaos create their own at festivals. 
2. Explain how you came up with the design for your mask/skull.
   - I can up with my skull design by looking up masks designs ans trying to create my own. I took snips of ideas to create my mask.
3. Explain the process from beginning to the end, the process that you went from having no mask to having a finished and painted mask. 
   - My first process was trying to create a drawling that could have possibly be the final sugar skull mask. It was not anywhere near what I was planning to create. Although, I did my best.

I came up with the design for my sugar skull by looking online at many different mask designs to use for reference. My mask has bits and pieces of other masks that I saw with my own personal touch. Many things in this mask were painted in the moment, I thought they would look cool so I tried it out and in the end the mask kind of all flows together. 

A sugar skull, is an artists rendering of a human skull. They are made from hardened sugar, the use of sugar art is something that was introduced to Mexico by Italian missionaries. The abundance of sugar in Mexico, meant that it was both cheap and easy to obtain, which allowed for the sugar art to catch on fast.  Sugar skulls have become an important part of observing and celebration of the Mexican holiday (El dia de los Muertos/The Day of the Dead) Sugar skulls tend to incorporate the use of floral patterns and/ or other intricate designs, as well as diamonds.

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A sugar skull is a Mexican mask that is usually made with hardened sugar and designed for the Day of the Dead, similar to our Halloween, in an almost spooky way. The main design for sugar skulls are skeleton faces. For this piece I began with creating my mask to get an idea on what would be possible on my canvas. Kamilah and Sophie helped me with this step so I give them credit for the finished product. I then researched some usual designs of a sugar skull and a lot of the same designs came up. I decided to put a twist on a classic art and really make it my own. This project was done right around the time of Halloween and I was planning on dressing up as Harley Quinn (the Joker's girlfriend from Batman). Her style is almost Mardi Gras inspired and I put this into consideration when I was drafting my design. I chose to sneak in a heart, as the lips, and a spade, as the nose. Trying to make it look as professional as possible I smoothed down what I could and trimmed the outer rim of the mask. I then based it with a few layers of white Gesso paint. After it dried I sketched, in pencil, an outline of my final design. I chose my colors, red and black, and began to paint it. At one point I decided that I wasn't fully satisfied with the style of the lips therefore I painted over that part with the white Gesso and started again. Even after everything was painted to my liking I touched up, making my lines as neat and crisp as possible. After all was said, done, and dry I carefully glazed the front of the mask. I had to be very precise with this process because of possible smearing and blending. Overall I am extremely pleased with the final result and would only want to change the texture of the mask if I could do it all again, perhaps sand it down. 

As a project in art class we work on sugar skulls however due to not having the correct problems we instead plaster our faces. This process only took about 15 minutes; Basically we grab the cloth of plaster and cut it up into big pieces and small pieces so we can put it on our faces we repeat this step to make 5 layers. We then put vaseline all over our face the reason why is because if we do not it will stick onto our skin that being said we would put a thick layer this is before putting any layer of plaster onto your face. When placing the layers in order for it to work we placed it into warm water causing the strips to be damp and be placed onto the face. The process from beginning to end was difficult the reason why is because I was afraid to get it done on myself but as time flew by i grew out of it and actually doing it finding it to be really easy. It was an amazing experience doing this because it shows the creativity you can do with the things around you.

I choose to paint the Puerto Rican Flag the reason why I choose to do this is because out of all 6 races I am my most proud race is being boricua. Being boricua or in other words puerto rican my heritage shows a lot of dedication and pride. Throughout my ancestors years it shows me that being part of this heritage is just not any title of race but history that I can carry on and be able to pursue in life to do what my heart desire. My heritage flag sometimes get confuse by the cuban flag however the color of the bands and triangle reversed; However the design initially influenced by the US flag. The white stands for Peace and Honesty, Red for the hardiness, bravery, strength and velour and as the color blue it stands for vigilance, truth/loyalty , perseverance and justice. As for the white star it stands for the commonwealth of puerto rico, the three sides of the equilateral triangle represent the three branches of the republican government and the fact its blue stands for our sky and coastal waters. The three red strips symbolize the blood that our people had shed and the two white stripes symbolize the right of man and the freedom of the individual. I choose just to do a simple flag due to the history it haves and the meaning behind it. 

Heres my mask and a few drawings during my time in Art class.....

Se llama Panhata Seng. Es de Cambodia pero vivo en Filadelfia. Es muy divertida y boba. Es nunca aburrida sin embargo es un poquito extraña. Es linda y loca. También es alta y delgada pero ella le gusta comer es por eso que ella cocinar. Además, le gusta cantar y ir de compras pero no le gusta nada leer y correr. Tiene catorce años. Su cumpleaños noviembre vienteuno. ¡Felize cumpleaños me amiga!