Dia De Los Muertos | Day of the Dead

I thought I would give you a preview of one of my new Day of the Dead prints. “El Casamiento” is a wedding scene in a Mexican style church. There is a large stained glass window in the background and one of the votive holders you see at Catholic masses. There is a banner that uses various symbols to show the joining of two people and the effect it has on people and the world around us, and of course there are marigolds everywhere.

This picture is inspired by my parents wedding portrait. Currently it is not available but towards the end of summer is should be available in my Day of the Dead greeting cards, and the limited edition prints.

The Beautiful Witch stands beside her cauldron, and it looks like she is cooking a vegetable stew. Her broom rests on a tree in the background while her skeletal familiar (cat) keeps her company. She dresses in bright golds and reds, and there are no children present to be cooked-up. She isn’t the witch you would burn at the stake—at least I certainly hope not. She is the witch you don’t know because she defies your expectations.

She’s not frightening, nor malefic, nor a nightmare specter. She is merely in touch with the inherent power with which we are all imbued. She doesn’t fear this power; in fact, she has learned how to use it. She is timeless and exists in all worlds. She is dead, too, but that does not preclude her being alive.

Why a beautiful witch. Blame it on “Bewitched”. Elizabeth Montgomery is still my favorite caster of spells.

This work is included in my 2007 Day of the Dead Calendar, and is available in my Day of the Dead greeting cards, mugs, altar candles, and the limited edition prints.

This is my Dia de los Muertos tribute to Frida Kahlo. She has long been a favorite artist of my parents, I remember seeing her artwork as a child and wondering why she pictured herself the way she did.

Many years later I read up on Frida Kahlo and began to understand that her entire life was lived in pain and yet this did not hinder her ability to create. It is my belief that Frida placed herself in many of her works because her art is as much about the artist as it is about her vision of the world. It reflected her pain and her struggle and her ability to not only survive, but to thrive.

To myself, and artists everywhere she is an inspiration.

This work is the first page of my 2007 Day of the Dead Calendar, and is available in my Day of the Dead greeting cards,mugs,altar candles, and the limited edition prints.

I was born and raised in Texas, and while I lived for over a decade in California, I have always considered myself a Texan at heart. Moving back in 2005 inspired me to create “El Vaquero” (the cowboy). This skeleton cowboy is practicing his roping tricks or perhaps getting ready to rope a steer that is just out of view; but even in death he is using the skills he learned in life.

There is also a skeletal rattle snake resting in the shade of a cactus and while a living snake is venomous, this one is there merely to keep the cowboy company. Death is the great equalizer, and this snake has no reason to attack a dead cowboy—what good would that do?

The two of them—the cowboy and the snake—are out in the heat of the desert with the dry purple sky above them enjoying their death as they hopefully did their lives.

Currently this artwork is available in limited edition prints, Day of the Dead greeting cards, and in our 2007 Day of the Dead Calendar.

Day of the Dead art did not originally include any Devil imagery. The Aztecs did not have a devil until their forced conversion to Christianity. They, as many other cultures do, had many gods (some pleasant and others not so much) and they did their best to stay on their good sides. This really isn’t any different from the Old Testament God, who is portrayed in the stereotypical mafia don manner. You did what you were told or you “swam with the fishes.” (See Noahs’s Ark.)

I think that religions use the creation of an “evil other” in order to create a common foe and use this concept to keep their flocks in order. I use a lot of Devil imagery in my Day of the Dead Art because I can identify with him. I believe he is misunderstood and falsely accused of creating the evil in the world. People don’t want to take credit for the pain they inflict, intentional and unintentional, both upon themselves and others. The Devil is the perfect scapegote. Very unpopular to begin with, it is easy to heap blame upon him and exclaim “the devil made me do it.”

Other people think of him sitting in Hell cooking up schemes to
destroy mankind, boiling potions in a cauldron or devising
tortures for all of humankind. I put him in a kitchen cooking up
a salad; fresh fruit and a cup of hot chocolate on the counter. I
imagine that the Devil would be a gourmet chef.

I put my artwork on his cannisters and mug because I have been
told that the Devil would definitely be a collector of my work. While the person did not intend this comment as a compliment, I took it as such.