Dias de los Muertos

Hello blog world!  The last post was kind of long and pictureless.  Sorry. This one will make up for it.

I am wrapping up a long weekend of activities and recovering from World Series celebration from last night (GO GIANTS!!!!). Advil is my second lover right now. Oiye

So the past weekend was the Day of the Dead Festival at Calvary Cemetery. I didn't get much sleep Friday night, due to my insane cats waking me up at 3 am! But I managed to get some work done in the early hours, checking over the list of things to take and listening to the rain. I prayed that it would clear up enough for the festival. Luckily, Goddess heard me and it stopped raining by 8 that morning.

Setting up was hard. The rain might have stopped but the wind was a pain in the rump. Especially when pitching up a pop up canopy tent. The wind knocked over easels, with my paintings on them and one of the paintings got a rip right down the center. :( Going to repair that one soon. Several of my brand new easel broke as well, which I am none too happy about.

Finally, after my husband conquered the tent and the walls we had our area set up and were good to go. We also had our good friends Alex and Josana in a tent beside ours. She was selling her ceramic work and Alex was selling some prints of his. I'll post some pictures of their goods next time as I didn't take any pictures of them myself. :(


 Here I am!

Yes that is a San Francisco Giants sugar skull painting. Told you I was a Giants fan ^_~*

The furry bush man beside me is my husband Eric. He wears his world series beard proudly. He's going to shave it soon, but keeping it for the parade tomorrow! Yes I am going to the parade. Woot woot!


Here's a closer look at my work:

The third picture down, which I call the bride, was the one that got ripped. At least it was through her hair and not her face. She can be fixed.

Here are some of the Giants sugar skull paintings I made:

Panda Skull

Fear the Beard

                                                       



The Festival was held at Calvary Catholic Cemetery in San Jose and it was actually a lovely cemetery with some beautiful headstones and markers. I must remind myself to take my camera to the cemetery the next time I'm at one. 

I had a lot of people interested in my art, lots of compliments which really made this artist feel good, and quite a few took pictures of me and my work. :)  The day actually was pretty nice save for a few gusts of wind and it was actually quite warm.  I even got a sunburn, not fun! But the event itself was enetertaining.

Aztec dancers , Folklorico Dancers from a local high school, and story telling. 

Folklorico Dancer at the Festival

They even had a tent where you could paint your own sugar skull. I soooooooo wanted to go to that tent, but I had to man my own. I did manage to wander to the other booths though and found a cute dish cloth I can embroider right after I finish my table cloth embroidery from Hungary that I bought and started 3 years ago. haha. 


Some of mi familia came out in support and even my little sister came all the way down from way northern CA. It was fun seeing all of them there. Even Eric's mom and little brother came to see the event. 

The festival was to end at 3, and around 2:15 there were some menacing clouds rolling into view. By 2:45 it started to sprinkle and within another minute the clouds opened up and it began to rain. Luckily, at the first sign of sprinkle, I started getting all my paintings together, and with the help of my hubby, his mom, and friends we got the paintings into my truck with little to no damage. Just one water spot. Granted, we were soaked through, having to take down the tent. 

That's one way to clear out a festival. Everyone moved quick!


That night the Giants lost. Boo. Sunday came and I had to take my paintings down to El Aguila in Salinas. The building used to be a lawyers office but is now a small cultural center at #34 Central, between the Steinbeck Center and the Steinbeck house. If you're in the area, go check it out!  My work will be there until Saturday afternoon.  My mother came down with me and we met up with my aunt for brunch and I had a great time listening to their stories about working in the fields, about the family and the connections being made within the creative world. I am very inspired by my family and want to continue painting from my heritage. 


Speaking of which, I'm going to San Juan Bautista this weekend to enjoy the Day of the Dead festivities. There will be a procession and music and such. The town is lovely and there is this creative energy I felt just driving through (perhaps its the energy of the San Andreas fault!). I can't believe I've only been there once before.


Tonight I am setting up an altar for my family. For my departed Aunt Charlie, mi Wela chiquita (abuelita/great grandmother) and mi Welo (abuelo/grandfather). I'll be setting out some food for them and hope to have some conversations with them, if only in my dreams. I miss you all.


Light a candle for those you have loved and lost but haven't forgotten.