Day of the Dead & Sugar Skulls

Many of us are familiar with this image above of a Sugar Skull.

This is a multi layered piece of work that I created on my iPad using an Apple Pencil. It took me a little over 12 hours to completed over a period of a week. I had the image printed on canvas and it is framed, making it one of my most treasured pieces.

So what is a Sugar Skull and why is it so important? The sugar skulls are an offering to altars during the celebration of Day of the Dead. Mostly identified with Mexico; the celebrations are also held throughout Latin America.

People would make these skulls out of sugar and mould them into fanciful designs leaving them behind at the altars as a goodwill offering and acknowledgement of those that have passed before them. The day of the dead is a beautiful celebration full of lively entertainment, vibrant colours, abundant food and gleeful celebration. It is meant to acknowledge those that have passed and to embrace the lives that they lived.