Sarah Charlotte Brown: Q3 Art
Photography was my outside project. I took many photos, and chose my favorites to edit.
Photos taken at Bard College in New York State on iPhone 4s.
Edited on photoshop CS3.
From what I know Sugar Skulls are a Mexican celebration. Sugar Skulls are used for day of the dead and they are a offering to the dead. Day of the dead is a day to celebrate relatives that have passed away.
The meaning a my Sugar Skull represents me in a lot of ways. I didn't want to do a skull that was dark, I wanted to do one with a lot of bright colors and flowers. I also wanted to keep the skull basic I didn't want to make it to busy so that it was hard to look at.
For the plaster I used Jereimah's face. I started by cutting up the pieces and making sure that water I was going to use was warm. I put the vaseline on his face to make sure the the mask did dry directly on his face and it would be hard to take off. Then I started by plastering his forehead and I made by way down his face. I let that plaster dry for about 5 minutes. Then I started on the second level of the plaster. I worked from the forehead down then let that level dry for about 6 minutes. When the plaster seemed to have dried I took the mask off his face and let dry. Twos days later I was able to start painting the mask. I made sure that I had all of the primary colors so that I could mix any colors I wanted. I started by painting the top of the mask first and then I worked my way down the mask. I lastly did the mouth cause I was not sure how I wanted to paint it.
Sugar Skulls come from Dia de Los Mertos, or "Day of the Dead." Day of the dead is a holiday that is celebrated in Central and southern Mexico where it is believed that dead children come back from the dead to spend a 24 hour time period with their families once a year on November 1st. On November 2nd is the day that older people come back form the dead to spend 24 hours with their families. To prepare for the dead children and adults coming back from the dead on these two days, families prepare a little table filled with candy, food, water, sometimes cigarettes for adults, and more decorations. One of these finishing decorations included sugar skulls that families could purchase anywhere, or even make for themselves. I came up with my design for my mask because I went on google and looked at sugar skulls. Some were really scary so I decided to make mine with dark colors and very dramatic so that It would keep the halloweenish looking type of mask. For halloween my friend painted her face as a sugar skull and that also inspired my sugar skull. The process in which I made my mask was first I found someone who was willing to let me slob their face up! The perfect person was Jenn Wright! She was a really god sport about it. First, I lathered her face with vaseline so that her face wouldn't dry out from all the materials. First, I cut the strips to put on her face. Next, I got a tub of water, I dipped the strips in, put them on her face individually, and smoothed them out so that they would be nice and steady. I did about 3 layers of this so that I'd be sure to have a good tough mask. I had to put a straw in Jenn's mouth so she'd be able to breathe. After it dried, I started to paint the mask completely white as the base. After this, I sketched a rough draft of what I wanted on my mask. I copied it, but then ended up going into more detail once I drew it on the mask. After I was finished, I put the gloss on it so it'd be shiny and look really good.