nonwestern

I am on a huge standstill on my project. I really took some advice to heart after the first "peer critic" last Tuesday, and decided to stear away from the obvious Day of the Dead symbol (the skeletons) and make the celebration more my own.
In the past my family has researched dragonflies being represented in Native American culture as souls of the dead. It has now become an ongoing symbol for my brother and many more loved ones lost. I thought dragonflies would be a perfect skeleton to my altar. So, I bought some really nice paper and wire, and brought all of the materials to my parents house to get started. I failed miserably, because the glue I used was very unnattractive, and the sculptures stuck to the newspaper I left them on! I went for a second round and came up with some decent little wire and paper sculptures. I just can't really figure out how to put everything together.
I can't exactly decide out how to paint the ground of the tunnel either...I keep going back and forth between making it look like sand with footprints (sort of like the prayer), or making look like water. This project is becoming more of a chore now than it was in the beginning, but I feel as if I haven't finished one full, enticing project yet this semester and I would love to do that with this one because I felt so good about the first step.