This is my telling of the legend of La Llorona the Mexican Legend of the wailing woman. I want to share it with you guys here!

I tell the story of La Llorona Man Vs. Art Style while I paint a picture of  her.

La Llorona,

The wailing woman is an ancient legend of my people. It is a cautionary tale handed down thru the ages mostly by spoken word and meant to scare kids to behave  and discourage young ladies from promiscuity.  It is a story of love, devotion, betrayal and murder.  You ‘ll be hard pressed to find a more sordid tale of tragedy and woe than that of this woman known as La Malinche, and later as La Llorona.

I first heard it from my great grandmother Mariquita Aguayo the summer of my seventh year and yet it  still  chills me to this very day.

La Malinche was the noble first-born child of the lord of Paynalaher on the Mexican Gulf Coast Coatzacoalcos, then a “frontier” region between the Aztec Empire to the north and to the  south  the Maya states of the Yucatán Peninsula.  She spoke both Mayan and Aztec  very well and  knew the  customs and and superstitions of them too.  Tragically as do most kingdoms that lie between  two great nations her people had suffered greatly  under the obsidian blade of both super powers for as long as she could remember.   In her twenties her father died and her mother remarried and bore a son.  Now an inconvenient stepchild, the girl was sold to Maya slave-traders.

In 1519 she was given to the Spanish Conquistador Hernán Cortés who immediately  took a liking to this highly intelligent and victimized young girl.  A girl who later played an active, powerful, and decisive role in the Spanish conquest of Mexico.  She was instrumental to the destruction of The Aztecs and Mayans.  La Malinche  acted as interpreter, adviser,  and intermediary for Hernán Cortés.  She was also a mistress to Cortés and gave birth to his first son, who is considered one of the first Mestizos (people of mixed European and indigenous American ancestry).

Following the native traditions of the nobility she became totally devoted to her man Cortés and basically sold out the Indians to the Spaniards.
She explained Aztec and Mayan superstitions and beliefs to Cortés who used the information to gain the upper hand on the natives. Without her help Cortés and his gold greedy mercenaries would have been crushed. Instead Cortés  the Conquistador was revered as a god!

She  bore him more  children only to be abandoned so that Cortes could marry a Spanish lady. Here we can see in the legend La Llorona’s loss is a metaphor for the Spanish rape of Mexico and the demise of indigenous culture.

Now this where it gets weird. Apparently she went mad and somehow  thought she could win the affections of Cortés if the children were out of the way.  So she did the unthinkable. She drowned the children and then in a total freak out of remorse she  killed herself.

Tut tut! We all know she was not going to get off that easy, was she now? For having betrayed her children as well as the Mexican people, the Gods punished  and damned the hysterical woman to wander, searching for her children along rivers and lakes at night for all eternity.  In some cases, according to the tale, she will kidnap wandering children.

In Mexico today, La Malinche remains iconically potent. She is understood in various and often conflicting aspects, as the embodiment of treachery, the quintessential victim, or simply as symbolic mother of La Raza or aka the new Mexican people. She is often known by the pejorative term “La Chingada” (“the violated one”).

And there you have it kids. The Mona Lisa in 32 seconds...now you try it!

I was doing a lecture at the Whittier Library along with Jim Lujan and Javier Hernandez who had set it up. We were talking to kids about drawing and the many ways it can enrich your lives. During which a young lady in the audience mentioned how impressed she was with my work. It turns out she is related to Casita Del Pueblo Gallery owner Yolanda García. My wife Hortencia met up with Yolanda, showed her my portfolio and I was in!

Self inflicted picture. Not bad if I do say so myself.

I’m very fortunate to have such a beautiful and supportive wife who is willing to do the bulk of the leg work and networking that is necessary for me “get my work out there”. She loves my paintings, drawings, and sketches so much that she squirrels all of them away.

Erika Cabrera from Casitia del Pueblo and my wife Ortie taking in the art.

Ortie displays the pieces of her choosing in our home and for the longest time never wanted to sell any of it. She organizes and stores it meticulously. Better than I would! I call her Madame Curator. Though she has found it difficult to part with any of my work, ever since the electroshock therapy and Thorazine treatments she has recently shown signs of improvement. She gave my nephew a post it note that I had doodled a dragon on.

I don’t even worry when Ortie is on the case. Besides being stunningly beautiful, she’s smart, fun, creative, and is the kind of girl that gets things done. Plus she is a dynamite cook and quite the fashionista. I love a lady that enjoys getting dolled up. These days walking in heels is a lost art. Not for my lady.

Thanks to her incredible devotion and support, I get to maximize my time creating! Did I mention how beautiful she is?

Can she light up a room with her smile or what folks?

So here are the three paintings I entered into the show.

The traditional Mexican serenade or serenata.

“Serenata Pa’ mi Chatita.”
(Serenade for my small nosed girl.)
Acrylic on 12X16 canvas board
(A chatita is Mexican slang for a girl with a small or snub nose, always used as an affectionate nickname.)

Pedro Infante sings and makes the ladies swoon.

“Cien Años”
Acrylic on 12X16 canvas board.
a portrait of the legendary Mexican singer and actor Pedro Infante. His song “Cien Años” is considered to be one of the if not the most romantic and beautiful songs ever made.

Eydie Gormay and Los Panchos

“Sabor a Mi.”
Acrylic on 16X20 Stretched Canvas.
In the early sixties Eydie Gormé teamed up with the Mexican Trio Los Panchos and recorded the album, Amor in Spanish. “Sabor a mi” which literally translates to “The taste of me” is one of the signature songs. It is a message to an ex lover saying no matter how far away you are or how much time passes you will always carry “The taste of me” on your lips.

They are currently for sale and on display at Casita del Pueblo 6738 Greenleaf Avenue Whittier CA.