Twin Suns

Twin Suns – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

I’ve just completed Twin Suns, a new painting for my Cosmic Bodies Collection. I got the idea to paint two suns together as I was thinking about how I was born with an identical twin. Last week I visited my twin sister for a couple of days to celebrate our belated birthday. We started getting together like this a few years ago and it’s been fun. I’ve done many double paintings over the years, usually fish or dolphins. I thought that this time it might be fun to do an abstract painting with a double effect.

It’s interesting to think that she and I were once an embryo that divided and formed into two individuals. I imagined what it might be like after a sun divided into two. I played with the idea of outer and inner space. I used two figure eight waves as infinity loops and more waves to give the sense of ever expanding movement.

Spring is in full force here, hope all are enjoying the season.

Solar Eclipse

Solar Eclipse – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Solar Eclipse is a new painting for my Celestail Bodies series. The idea for this painting came to me for two reasons. First, after painting last week’s Sun Moon and Planets, I felt the strong composition of the large sun in the center worked well and wanted to try that again. The second reason was because of the recent spring equinox of equal day and night led me to think of doing another painting with the balance of light and dark similar to my crow with dove paintings. I then thought, why not do a new painting as a compliment to the first using a large sun darkened by the moon due to an eclipse?

The upcoming total solar eclipse is traveling across North America on April 8th 2024. In this painting I put in the planets as they will appear from earth’s view. They are bundled in one area in the sky, I added asteriods, stars and also the green devil comet which may be able to be seen during the eclipse. It was challenging to get the space dark but not too dark around the eclipsed sun, while also making sure the planets were light enough. I think it works pretty well.

There is lots of buzz here about it here in the US, which is probably another reason it came to mind to paint. It will be exciting for those who live or visit under the path of totality of this solar eclipse.

Sun, Moon and Planets

Sun, Moon and Planets – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

I’ve just completed a new painting for my space series which I’ve titled Sun, Moon and Planets. It’s done on the larger sized watercolor paper. I’m enjoying working in this larger format and spent most of the week on it. I started with a large sun centered on the page and then added the spheres and then balanced the painting playing with warm and cool colors.

The forcast here in Atlanta is calling for rain all weeknd, so I’ll probably stay in and start a new painting. I’ve been thinking of possibly doing a portrait. I like the mix of doing a freeing abstract painting and then the challenge of doing something more realistic.

Whale in Space

Whale in Space – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

I’m back to my daily painting and have just completed Whale in Space, which depicts a large blue whale spinning out in space. I follow a whale page on Instagram which shows videos of whales as they spin up out of the ocean and then crash down on the water, it’s breathtaking. These images inspired me to add a whale to my space series. My husband tells me whales spin as they rise from the deep to create a vortex of bubbles that traps fish for them to eat.

Whales are magestic, large and other worldly; I can see why the space whale has become popular in various science fiction shows. Here is what google said about the meaning of the Space Whale: It represents the grandest of dreams. It represents a world in balance, one in which humankind has learned to walk with all of the life on this planet.

Two Soaring Doves

Two Soaring Doves – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Two Soaring Doves is my most recent painting. I started painting an abstract in August and then sat with it for awhile. Once September arrived I thought to add a white dove in honor of the International Day of Peace.  I had done several white dove paintings in the past for the occasion. It had been a couple of years since I’d done one; this time, I decided to paint two white doves together within the larger space.

International Peace Day is observed around the world each year on September 21st. It was established in 1981 by a United Nations resolution. “Peace Day provides a globally shared date for all humanity to commit to Peace above all differences and to contribute to building a Culture of Peace.”

I enjoyed painting both the abstract background and the two doves. Even though it seems more and more crazy out there lately, somehow, I feel that soon things will flip, and more peaceful solutions will come as we all get tired of the distractions that keep us apart.

The weather is beautiful here, still hot but cooler days are coming. Fall is just days away. Enjoy the new season.

Yellow Sun, Blue Sun

Yellow Sun, Blue Sun – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Yellow Sun, Blue Sun is a new painting for my space collection. I decided to paint the sun, our star connecting to the star Sirius in our galaxy. I used my favorite jewel colors which was a fun change after the wolf painting. Planets are orbiting each of the suns while the milky way stars are in between.

This time of year Sirius rises with the sun and in ancient Egypt it signaled the new year. Many ancient cities were built in alignment with Sirius as it was believed that the vibrations of this huge star could reign down and deliver higher frequencies to help in the advancement of life on Earth. Sirius is also known as the dog star because it rose in the late hot days of summer, which we are certainly having here in Atlanta.

Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky and is actually a double star. The smaller Sirius B which I painted is bluish is color in front of he larger white Sirius A. I painted the blue spiral between the two suns to symbolize the helpful energy coming our way this time of year.

Pinwheel Galaxy

Pinwheel Galaxy – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Pinwheel Galaxy is a new painting for my space collection. While writing the last blog post, I became intrigued when I read that black holes may help with the formations of galaxies. I clicked on a few space sites to learn more. Scientist think galaxies may be formed around massive black holes, the theory is that black holes leak dark matter, creating a “wind” of particles that stream away.

A galaxy is a system of billions of stars and dust held together by a gravitational attraction. They are formed by bands of gases that form the stars. I saw a beautiful photo of a galaxy with a black hole in the center and each band of light spiraling out in the Fibonacci sequence, as seen throughout nature, such as a fern fiddle head, seashell or beautiful flower.

With this painting, I decided to play with that idea of bands of color, each expanding in a spiral out into space. I named it pinwheel galaxy because it looks like a pinwheel. I know it’s a holiday weekend for many, enjoy these days!

Black Hole 2

Black Hole 2 ~ acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Black Hole 2 is a new abstract painting in my space series. A black hole is an area in space with so much gravitational pull that no matter or radiation can escape. Black holes are formed from super nova star explosions and the extreme density of the matter causes the gravitational pull. Astronomers think that black holes may help to stabilize galaxies.

This is the third painting in my space collection that includes a black hole. In this one, I put a large black hole on the top edge and added planets and stars along with a sun. I painted radiating colors being drawn to the hole along with a comet. It was fun to paint. I love the looseness of layering color washes and then scratching back to see what’s created. I also enjoy doing the detail work of painting the spheres and star dots. Doing detail work helps to keep me in the present moment, at times I tend to overthink. I’m fairly pleased with the result.

Earth with Moon

Earth with Moon – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Earth with Moon is a new painting for my abstract series in space. Over the past few years I had painted most of the planets in our solar system. This week, the idea came to me that I should add the earth to complete the series. I decided to include the moon and made the earth large with the moon shining up above. The sunlight pours in from the left contrasting with the darkness of the space. It’s a bit different from the other paintings, less abstract.

This painting was challenging, there are several layers of paint, I started with light colored curving strokes and spirals adding the earth and moon expanding circles of light but it looked chaotic. It only came together once I made the earth and moon more solid and darkened the space between. I found it a bit more challenging to play with making it as abstract as I see the moon in the darkness of night and know that earth spins with the blue oceans, green and sand colored land masses with white clouds swirling above. It works somewhat but I might play with doing another one down the road.

Alice’s Horse

Alice’s Horse ~ acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Alice’s Horse is a new abstract painting that I’ve done for my sister. She wanted one of my abstract paintings but one with muted colors that differ from my usual jewel colored space abstracts; one that would fit in with her open living space of their relatively new home. The painting is on 22″ by 33″ watercolor paper, I had not painted in this large scale for several years. In some ways it’s more freeing to paint with large strokes; I enjoyed it and I plan to do more.

My older sister took horse back riding lessons and was a natural, My dad got a beautiful horse named Scarlet for her and our family that he kept at a friend’s countryside place in Seal, Alabama. It seemed like every weekend throughout the year we were out there playing in the countryside. Alice spent many days riding Scarlet. I thought it would be meaningful for her to include a horse in the abstract landscape. Doing this painting brought back many happy memories of our times there. It got me thinking of a few more ideas of new paintings in the style to complete a series.