fortune baby

"fortune baby"
acrylic & digital
2009

"a child absorbs with great sensitivity the mother's teachings and training, her actions, her emotions, and the whole image of a human being. and in this process, the child imperceptibly amasses personality traits and thus inherits fundamental human culture. an old proverb says that the child is the mirror of the mother. institutions may conduct course of education and may impart great knowledge to their charges, but it is beyond their power to give all that a mother and a family can give."~daisaku ikeda

this is a piece celebrating the conception of a new life from two worlds in the 21st century! i used acrylic paint for the main subject, the fetus. then i designed the rest in photoshop. it took me a couple of days to finalize the concept for this piece, once i decided, it was easier to design it. i love it!

just briefly...
the concept behind this piece is that this new life is an integration of two distinct cultures. in nichiren buddhism, when a new life exist in a practitioner, this unborn is consider a "fortune baby". thus, you see 南無妙法蓮華經, the mystic law of the lotus sutura, as the other main component. the mother is a nichiren buddhist, as the father is of mayan decent. i decided to use the mayan astrology symbols to illustrate the mayan part of this unborn.

with my own personal experience, i decided to design this piece on behave of all single mothers who have to carry an unborn for 9 months all by themselves without the support of the biological sperm donors. and because of this, they are heroic revolutionist of our time and they always give birth to greatness! so it was very important for the red revolution stars within the lotus flowers!

you can find 8x10 prints here, my etsy store. i will have them in the local stores next month!