Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Dia de Muertos

While in Patzcuaro, we were able to experience The Day of the Dead. This is a joyous celebration of relatives and ancestors. The street outside our posada (hotel) was where the flower market was set up for 4 days. This truck was over flowing with brilliant purple cockscomb flowers. The flowers just kept coming and coming by the truckloads.
The colors, perfume and amount of flowers was amazing and incredible. I couldn't believe they could all possibly sell but they did. It was overwhelming to think of sketching such a sight, so I fine tuned my eye and zeroed in on smaller aspects of the market.
We visited the panteon (cemetery) in Patzcuaro and boy was it a sight to see! There so much activity as people cleaned and decorated the graves. There was family, music, flowers and laughter. It was beautiful, heart warming and something to remember. This page has bits from 7 different graves.
The next day we visited Tzin Tzun Tzan and the panteon there. There was more activity and candles from the night before. Being overwhelmed again, I concentrated on smaller parts of grave sights and came up with this page. I feel privileged to have been there. Thanks Mari for the opportunity.

Robert Bateman 6" x 9" Sketchbook
Pen and Watercolor

2 comments:

Margaret Ann said...

OOOOH! YESSSSS! More glorious sketches from your trip. I cannot believe it about the flowers trucks...what a feast for the senses that must have been...I love the way you capture the little things in great detail...your journal is such a treat! Love each and every one of these new additions...Ahhhh I feel so uplifted! :)

Lynn said...

These are wonderful sketches! I love all the flowers. It sounds like an amazing experience.