Mexican inspiration

I have always loved the folk art of Mexico. The bright colors and clever patterns have always caught my eye and inspired me. This piece was an attempt to emulate the folk art of Mexico while including my own ideas, styling and elements. It is a mixed-media shadow box and is approximately 10"x10" square and 2.5" deep. It was sculpted with Sculpey and Apoxie clays and painted in acrylics.

In the center, there is a jaguar and a quetzalcoatl. I am not an expert on Aztec religion or culture, nor would I ever pretend to be, but when I was making this I was reading about  Tezcatlipoca  and Quetzalcoatl who are sometimes depicted as rivals, and how Tezcatlipoca was associated with the jaguar. Thus, I presented the two figures together in a sort of yin-and0yang presentation.

Around them is a box with leaves, and surrounding the box are small sculpted sugar skulls. I was a bit obsessed with Dia de los Muertos art at the time, so I had a lot of fun painting all the little skulls.
Unfortunately, I didn't take many angled pictures, but inside the box is a valley, with a night time starry sky, sun setting behind mountains and green grass with two rivers, On the left and right sides are a female and male dancing skeleton, respectively. The front is decorated with patterns of flowers, crosses and dots. I know that the outside edges are painted too, but I don't remember with what! It is difficult to see in the photos, but all of the patterns on the coatl and jaguar are incised into the clay. This piece was made in 2010 and given as a wedding gift to a friend.

A detail of the jaguar: