This is a new painting in pastel on paper of Xochiquetzal, the Precious Flower, the teotl who is love and flowers. She appears in her painting with her skin painted yellow and decorated with red glyphs of flowers, song, and butterflies. Her nosering is a turquoise butterfly, her mouth is painted blue, and two tufts of quetzal feathers emerge from her flower headdress, which is one of her most characteristic traits. She is half-nude, as the incarnation of feminine beauty and allure, and also to represent that she is our mother, who nurtures us. She holds a bouquet of flowers, for the flowers with which we adorn our altars and which we gift to our mothers and lovers are her very flesh. A coral snake emerges from the blossoms, which symbolizes excessive and dangerous desire, for, while sex is not viewed as “sinful” or bad, and is in fact a gift from Xochiquetzal to make life beautiful and pleasurable, it is also potentially dangerous, and can be abused. Butterflies fly around her, which are the souls of the dead who have lived exemplary lives and are rewarded in Tonatiuh Ichan, the paradise of the sun, where they live eternally among the flowers and sensual beauties of Xochiquetzal. This painting is available as a print in my etsy shop. #xochiquetzal #lovegoddess #pastelpainting #pastelportrait #beautifullatina #empoweredlatina #mexicanvenus #mexicanart #chicanoart #chicanoartist #brujeria #ixchel #caminorojo #aztecdance #portraitpainting #mujerlatina #bruja #guerreraazteca #ometeotl #indigenouswoman #mujerindigena