LELE DOLL AND THE TULIPS, HOUSE PORTRAITS AND ANOTHER YEAR TO CELEBRATE

 Hello! I am so excited to present my new oil painting, I have been working with a Lele doll this time and I am very happy with the result.

LELE AND THE TULIPS

For a long time, Mexican art has been strongly associated with the image of death: catrinas, altars, skeletons... beautiful and profound symbols, but also very recurrent.I have decided to focus my art on another equally powerful, but less explored symbol: the Mexican Lele dolls.

For me, they represent what is alive: childhood, joy, the indigenous roots that continue to breathe, create, and resist. Each Lele is a song of colors, a flower that never withers, an expression of tenderness and strength that lives on in the hands of our artisans.

Painting them is a way of saying: "Here we are, we are still alive, we continue to create beauty from the everyday."

I choose to portray these dolls not only as cultural symbols, but as a reminder that our Mexican identity is also woven with love, play, hope, and community.

Lele: A Living Symbol of Light and Roots

In this work, I decided to depict the Lele doll, a figure deeply rooted in Otomi culture and recognized as an emblem of Mexican folk art. Originally from Amealco, Querétaro, the Lele doll—whose name means "baby" in Otomi—is much more than a toy: it is a living heritage, handmade by Indigenous women who transmit with each stitch the memory of their ancestors, their worldview, and their connection to the land.

While many artists are inspired by catrinas—which are also part of our cultural richness—I felt the call to go in another direction: to portray what lives on.

For me, Lele represents sweetness, feminine strength, innocence, indigenous identity, and the pure joy that reminds us who we are.

She is a symbol of life, color, and hope. Instead of focusing on the symbols of death, I decided to celebrate what flourishes, what grows, what heals.

Painting her is a way to elevate energy, to connect with the sacred in everyday life, and to honor our roots from a softer, brighter, and more spiritual place. I want this painting to be a reminder that the beauty of Mexico lies not only in its legends of the afterlife, but also in its hands that create, in its colors that heal, and in its dolls that tell stories of love, resilience, and joy.

Between life and death: I choose to paint what flourishes

In Mexican art, death has always been a powerful and beautiful presence. Catrinas, calaveras, altars... they teach us to honor what was, to remember with love, and to laugh at death.

But on my artistic journey, I felt the call to go in another direction: the life that still breathes.

I choose to paint Lele, the Otomi doll, not only as a cultural figure, but as a symbol of what lives on in our roots. Lele represents childhood, community, feminine wisdom, and the vibrant soul of our Indigenous peoples.

While the catrina honors those who are no longer with us, Lele reminds us of those who still struggle, create, laugh, and embroider their history with vivid colors.

While the art of death has an undeniable symbolic and poetic depth, Otomi art offers a more luminous vibration, focused on what flourishes, what endures, what continues to beat.

By choosing to paint Lele dolls and other manifestations of this culture, I honor life here and now, the living heritage of our people, and the spiritual strength manifested in simplicity, color, and love.

While the catrina honors those who are no longer with us, Lele reminds us of those who still fight, create, laugh, and embroider their history with vivid colors.

Both are part of Mexico. But today, I choose to focus my brush on tenderness, hope, and colors that heal and uplift.

To paint a Lele is to pay homage not to death, but to the life that persists. To the hands that create it. To the culture that endures.

It is an act of love, a prayer of light, a vibration that invites us to see the everyday as something sacred.

I chose to paint tulips even though they're not typical Mexican flowers because they're a part of my life in Missouri. Every spring I see them bloom in my garden, right in front of the window, and for me they've become a symbol of rebirth and connection to my present. By placing them next to the Lele doll, I wanted to unite my Mexican roots with the beauty of what surrounds me.

You can buy this piece  HERE

CHANGING OF SUBJECT....

I have started to make house portraits as I find this very creative. How many of us can remind the house of our childhood or our fist home? Well, now I am happy to recreate in paper that special place and you can request yours. HERE

This month so far has been amazing, I have celebrated myself for another year and I made the most delicious lemon cake ever! I promise I will share the recipe next time with proper photos, so far here some favorite pictures.

TO SEE: You can't miss the video about LELE and the tulips, where you can see all about it. It's in spanish but you can turn the subtitles on.

TRANSITION, SPRING AND ENERGY!

 Hello friends, HAPPY SPRING TIME 🌹 in the north hemisphere, welcome to the blog!

I'm celebrating for several reasons: the exhibition of my painting, TRANSITION at the Webster Groves Art Gallery and SPRING time, we're finally starting another spring cycle. I'll finally see flowers and more sunshine, warm days to be outside and renew my inspiration. This is so exciting and makes me appreciate every season of the year and how each one has a special charm.

Also, I was not painting as much as I usually do because I was having intense headaches. It's not something I usually suffer from, but the past days, with the planetary conjunction, the eclipse, the tornado, the solar flares, and all the crazy weather events, I think they've hit me energetically, and has been so much that I had to move my bed again to a place near the window to recalibrate my energy, and has worked because I can now sleep better and suddenly I have surges of intense energy and the next day I was painting, making new projects but not exercise...guilty!. 

I feel excited because my painting is moving to another stage of style, something more organic and with more flow, Im still playing with the background at the bottom and I have changed a little bit some parts, I like it!.

Starting a new stage, just like the name of my beautiful painting, TRANSITION, is all about going out and not losing the admiration for nature. Something I love when spring begins is the smell of juniper. I love the smell, scratching some of it and smelling my hands, bringing with me some leaves from Mr. Juniper's after asking him for permission to boil it at home, or keeping them near my work area to enjoy that smell of trees, forest, and greenery.

But back to my painting Transition, here I share some images from the event and some of my favorite paintings.

Here mi favorite pieces from the show

  

 

Artist:

-A muddy walk, Laura Green

-Ephemeral moment, Abigail García

-Spring Retreat, Marilynne Bradley

-Pink pants in the park, Sheila Lamberson

-United Bas-relief, Chet Geiselman

-Garden Guardian, Cassandra Klifoy

-Gold dragonfly, Jonty Kasku-Jackson

-Summit of the distant mountain, Sun Liu

-Fragmented view 2,  Amir Hamamy Toosi

About my painting:

"I was working during the 2022 equinox a sketch related to the spring, the new beginning, flowers, colors, new light and warmth. A new approach I have seen… I have been working shapes and colors in a different way, or at least I can feel this, everything was more loose, despite the usual blends I have added a lot of juxtaposed brushstrokes, a mix of figurative and abstraction, so far I'm so excited with this piece. 👩🏻‍🎨🎨🌸.

When I was making and painting this piece I felt like a change was so needed, after the lockdown I needed to hatch to spread my wings and fly to the adventure of a new chapter. With the change of season I thought how accurate it was to paint this, because it was not intentional to paint according to the change but it happened naturally. I just felt right and surprised about being working with colorful flowers, a woman that I see like a representation of new energy and beautiful things to come. Intuitively I chose the white owl, then after a few days I was looking about the meaning of the owl and I was so surprised to find out this:

A white owl represents the law of nature: everything that is born eventually dies and is reborn again in a different form. White owls symbolize change, transformation, and inner wisdom. The color white also symbolizes purity and innocence, representing light.

Now, that my painting is finished I can understand how I have downloaded the information from the ethereal word to the manifestation. The clues were always there and I just connected to make them visible through this special painting".

In other news...I can't tell you how important its to me to sprint time in nature. As an introvert, being in these kinds of places is perfect, and a few hours are all it takes to feel recharged. This week I spent St. Patrick's Day hiking in Powder Valley. I usually visit this place around this time. As I started the trail, my first thought was that I'd forgotten my staff (a piece of branch I found a while ago and sometimes I use for hiking). A few steps later, I found a perfect one! How wonderful it is when the universe responds immediately! So, the whole trail, I was happy with my new staff.

Whenever I see plank-like stones, I like to lie down and feel the stone. I once did this during a hike where I felt incredibly ill, feeling like I was going to get an ambulance. Then I walked over to a large stone where I laid down, I surrendered to the moment, and connected to the stone. I stayed there for a few minutes imagining the stone was giving me back my energy. I know it sounds crazy, but it worked! I felt so happy and surprised, and I loved nature even more.

Have you ever ALWAYS seen hearts everywhere? I see them even in food, rocks, or the most unexpected place. This time I took pictures of some of the many I saw on the tree trunks.

I love seeing mushrooms as decorations on tree trunks! I also saw an unusual-shaped rock.

Happy as a hobbit or something like that, I can't wait for another chance to visit a place where I can feel beautiful energy besides my studio.

Also, I did some picks with preserved nature, these are already sold but you can find more preserved nature on my ETSY

TO QUOTE: I am still reading "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" so here what I liked:

-"I offer myself to my love and to my neighbor as myself, this is how all creators speak".

-"The voice of beauty speaks softly, penetrating, slipping only into the most awakened souls".

-"If you have to be a servant, then look for the one to whom your service will be most useful".

-"I look in search of homelands, but I found no home anywhere. I am a vagabond in all cities".

TO WATCH: I did a Unboxing-Art Review-How to video, I have purchased the Acrylics by Folk Art to paint on ceramics and if you are a DIY person, this is for you. My creative energy has been so INTENSE that I have retaken an old project: PAINTED MUGS! When I was living in Des Moines I wanted to create mugs from scratch, but I did't knew a place for pottery, then when I moved to St. Louis I found a cool place called Pottery Hollow where you can paint pottery, I did a few amazing mugs for personal use, and now I have made a few for sale, in this video I did the first one as I was learning how to. My mugs are hand painted, dishwasher safe and they are available HERE

TO LISTEN: YOUR CREATIVE MIND!