holidays
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Art
Holiday Lights Warm the Dark Winter Nights of Jeremy Miranda’s Paintings

All images © Jeremy Miranda, shared with permission
Colorful lights strung on trees and lining gutters cast a welcoming, vibrant glow on dreary, winter evenings in Jeremy Miranda’s paintings. The Maine-based artist (previously) is known for his dreamlike works of landscapes and interiors that incorporate both the domestic and outside world, and elements of nostalgia, intimacy, and memory echo throughout the scenes. Often illuminating the magical in the mundane, Miranda has been creating a growing collection of holiday paintings during the last few years that center on Christmas trees and decorated homes, capturing the warmth of the season as it shines through stark, frigid nights.
The artist has a few prints available through Sebastian Foster, and you can follow his work on Instagram.
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Art
A Scottish Town’s Annual Competition Invites Its Youngest Artists to Design ‘Wonky’ Holiday Lights

All images courtesy of Newburgh Action Group
For more than 20 years, the town of Newburgh in Fife, Scotland, has marked the holiday season with a wonderfully wonky tradition. Each autumn, young residents are invited to submit original sketches of Christmas decorations to a competition, and once a winning design is selected, Blachere Illumination transforms the work into an LED sculpture that’s then displayed throughout the town. The newest light is a salmon nicknamed “Happy Nemo” that sports a red hat, and the menagerie also features a “reinduck,” a cheerful piece of candy in a green wrapper with arms and legs, and a dinosaur with a star on its head.
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Illustration
Animals of the Lunar New Year Beautifully Illustrated by Felicia Chiao in an Ongoing Series

“Year of the Ox” (2021). All images © Felicia Chiao, shared with permission
We’re ushering in the Year of the Ox later this week, an occasion Felicia Chiao (previously) kicks off with an illustrated homage to the horned bovine. Rendered with gilded details and Chiao’s signature aesthetic, the drawing is the latest in the California-based illustrator’s collection of works marking the Lunar New Year. Each of the five pieces, which she creates with Copic marker and gel pens, relies heavily on red, a traditional sign of luck and prosperity for the upcoming year, along with layers of flowers, tassels, and a fantastic depiction of the animal.
Chiao tells Colossal that she’s celebrated the Lunar New Year with her family since childhood, which informed her first drawing, “Year of the Rooster,” back in 2017.
My family is Taiwanese, and so the Lunar/Chinese New Year is a big deal. I am very Asian American so I can’t say I’m the most traditional, but I grew up hearing all the zodiac animal stories and superstitions, and I wanted to make a drawing of my animal year back in 2017. It was a fun way to nod to my cultural background.
Prints from each year are available on Society6, along with a massive collection of Chiao’s fantastic illustrations. Head to Instagram to see more of her drawings featuring imagined worlds and emotional characters.

“Year of the Rooster” (2017)

“Year of the Pig” (2019)

“Year of the Rat” (2020)

“Year of the Dog” (2018)
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Art
A Small Scottish Town Delegates the Annual Christmas Light Display to Its Youngest Residents

All images via Poppy McKenzie Smith, shared with permission
In a delightful holiday tradition, the small town of Newburgh in southern Scotland tasks its youngest residents with creating the glowing Christmas decorations that adorn the streets. Now in its 19th year, the annual event begins with school-age kids submitting their quirky designs to a competition. Once a winner is chosen, the artwork is sent to Blachere Illumination to be translated into LED before it’s unveiled at a ceremony held at Lampost 15, where the new work is hung each year. The winning artist gets the honor of turning on the light, illuminating their crooked gingerbread figure or beaming reindeer for the 2,000-plus residents to enjoy. In a similarly charming practice, the runner-up’s art is featured on the town’s Christmas card. (via It’s Nice That)
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Art Craft
An Enormous Skeleton Emerges in the Middle of a Mexican Street for Día de los Muertos

Photograph: Felipe Esteban Paredes Padrón
In celebration of Día de los Muertos, artist Raymundo Medina built a massive skeleton that appears to lurch out of the pavement on a street in Santa Cecilia Tláhuac, Mexico. Medina created the sculpture in the aesthetic of the Mexican holiday that celebrates deceased loved ones and ancestors. According to Miguel Ángel Luna, Medina is a member of the Jaén Cartonería collective and collaborates with Yaocalli Indians in his work. Built with papier-mâché and painted with starkly delineated black and white areas, the skeleton seems to be almost smiling, referencing the joyful purpose of Día de los Muertos to celebrate death as a part of life.

Photograph: Felipe Esteban Paredes Padrón

Photograph: via local.mx

Photograph: via local.mx

Photograph: via local.mx
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