Mother's Day e-mail to my mom ila

Happy Mother's Day - 2013 family portrait image was a gift for my mom

Things are still crazy here but I have been thinking a lot about you and mothering. I just sold the Happy Mother's Day piece from the 2014 calendar on April 26th to my friend Hector but there was someone else who really wanted it also. I think it is the beautiful sensuous nature of that lush piece that attracted the attention. My intent was to convey you as the beautiful sensuous woman I knew you to be. I have this friend involved in the bellydance community who said her husband believes until a woman has given birth she does not reach her full potential. Somehow this is what I was trying to portray.

I have recently created a motherhood series and I am clear that women will always dominate my art and you will be repeated through out my work I suspect. In the Roots piece with the tree even though the women in my vision were clearly from India I was really reflecting on the strong roots you had provided. Madre Tierra (Earth Mother) the very pregnant woman is my vision of an earth mother which I based loosely on my visions of the pregnant woman I suspect you wanted to be. Kinda like my grandfather in El Abuelo de mi Suenos (The Grandfather of My Dreams) was from my waking dreams/visions this is the you of my dreams. I recently had a vision of your mother which I hope to have done by Mother's Day so I can send you the image as your gift.

Madre Tierra (Earth Mother) Very pregnant native woman sitting in a leaf in the middle of the earth's beauty

El Abuelo de mi Suenos (The Grandfater of my Dreams) I never knew my grandfather but he came to me in a vision and this piece was born

Que tu camino te lleve a tudestino,
May your path take you where you need to go.
Lavaun

...I must apologize to my mom for taking this personal correspondence and putting it out to the world. I just wanted to share with the world how beautiful my mother is in my eyes and how her beauty and the gifts she has shared with me inspire my desire to create sensual, strong women of all colors. 

The motherhood pieces along with much more will be on display through out the month of May at In Other Words Feminist Community Center here in Portland Oregon NE Killingsworth and Williams http://inotherwords.org/. 

Saturday May 10th there will be an artist reception from 3 - 5pm with music, nibbles and a brief Q & A about the art.