This is the last of the 5 large skulls I completed in my first ever run of Calaveras (Day of the Dead 2005). It is, in fact, the very reason I made /any/ of the sugar skulls in the first place.

I lost my grandmother earlier in 2005, but due to the fact that she lived in Italy, and I was super broke (among other issues), there was no way I could go to visit her in her last days, or for her memorial. I never really mourned her, I didn't particularly have any way to do so. This was the woman who instilled the love of the kitchen in me, and I spent several summers as a little boy at her side cooking, baking, and generally turning the front room of her home upside down with culinary experimentation.

The very nature of Dia de los Muertos, the celebration of the dead, rather than the mourning of them, struck very, very close to home for me. I had no space (or time, or money, for that matter) to setup a full on ofrenda in my home for my grandmother, so I chose instead to make sugar skulls, and miniature ofrendas for each of them.

Rosy cheeks, blue kerchief, braided hair underneath, bright, vibrant eyes. All these traits are represented on the calavera. I kept her in a place of honor throughout October and November. Since moving (in May), she now rests on a bookshelf in the living room, so I can see her every day. When I'm finally able to make it to Italy, she'll go with me, to be left at the site of my grandmother's burial, as a gift and tribute proper.

Ciao Nonna...

Sept 2008 - I have entered this piece to "Day of the Dead Contest"

(Resubmitted for new account. Originally posted on ~malkie13)