Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – A Springfield business got some business from Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza that had not yet been seen before Tuesday.
Mendoza commissioned a painting from Monica Zanetti, owner of Wild Rose Artisans Gallery & Boutique. It features the Comptroller, her mother, and labor leader and women’s rights advocate Dolores Huerta.
“Susana gave me this beautiful picture, and I just took a while to look at it,” said Zanetti. “First I sketched it, and just kept sketching and then kept layering. First I do pink and purple, layering all the lines, and then I just start adding color, and adding color. My paintings have a lot of texture. There’s a lot of meaning behind it.”
Zanetti says birthdays, and monarch butterflies are also in the painting, displaying what she says a lot of happiness, with a message of reaching for the stars.
Reaching for the starts is portrayed in a banner at the top, said Zanetti.
“The ‘si se puede’ (‘Yes, it is possible’) banner on the top…keeps going,” said Zanetti. “It’s flying, so we’re reaching for the stars, and a lot of just happiness in this painting.”
The painting also includes monarch butterflies, and several of Mendoza’s favorite and lucky numbers. For instance, 10 is there because she is the state’s 10th Comptroller.
“I’m so excited to see the final product and the strength depicted in such beautiful colors. I thought Women’s History Month would be a good time for the unveiling,” said Mendoza, in a news release.
