Los Cabos, 1998	Red Woman, 2004
Naturaleza Muerta	Copy of a Van Gogh landscape, 2004

Portrait of a woman I took from a new book I purchased on painting portraits, 2004

This is a very quick painting I did with oils a couple of weeks ago. I want to start painting landscapes too, becuase I need to earn money. Since most people enjoy lanscapes and seascapes I want to practice painting them so that I can produce some comercial art to sell as a way to get money.

I named this collection, Catholic Religious Ceremonies in the lives of Latinas. For my ISSM capstone I had to do a project in which my integrated majors, Visual and Public Art and World Languages and Cultures would be reflected, and so I chose to write a paper on Chicana Public Art, with an emphasis on Bay Area Muralist Juana Alicia , these series of portraits, and a 4' x 6' mural painting that is still in progress.   In these series I chose to give a space to those special moments, ceremonies that many Catholic Latinas experience throughout their lives, such as baptism, first communion, 15 th birthday as a ceremony in which the young girl becomes a young woman, and a bride symbolizing marriage, and the drastic and most times beautiful change in our lives.

I felt it was in important to make such a series because I had never seen such theme in paintings.   Since my mural is dedicated to celebrating and honoring the work that Latina women do in the Salinas Valley area, I felt that our work only represents part of us, and the important spiritual moments/experiences in our lives also shape very much who we are.   I really enjoyed painting the portraits of brown Latina women of all ages.   The Baptism portrait was taken from a photograph of my daughter when she had her baptism.   The young girl in her First Communion outfit is my mother, and the 15-ˆ±era and Bride are two beautiful women I created to represent the many young women out there that dream of that special moment.  

All images & design © Alejandra Oseguera

No images should be use without my permission, email me at lafrida.@. yahoo.com