Moonlit Dove with Sunlit Crow

Moonlit Dove with Sunlit Crow – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

I’ve been thinking about the light and dark and how here in the United States each passing day brings more and more concerning news. We are living through an unique time period that has a surreal feeling to it.  There are many polarizing issues with such a big gulf between them; from gun control, global warming, immigration, to race relations and gender issues.  What seems clear to me, is not to others who have their own different beliefs.   I’m sure they feel the same as I do.  Arguing about the issues has not been productive.

There are no easy answers.  I again started thinking about Carl Jung’s term the shadow and how what we don’t see in ourselves gets projected onto others.  I think on a collective level we are all dealing with unhealed wounds from our past and collectively we need to blend the light and dark within ourselves.

Moonlit Dove with Sunlit Crow is a new painting of a white dove flying toward the moon and the black crow flying toward the sun is the result of my pondering.  Getting back to painting is helping me refocus my energy away from absorbing too much negative news to being more centered and peaceful.  This is helping me integrate my own anger issues that will hopefully reach out into the collective and help in some way.

Two Pears

Two Pears -acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Two Pears is another painting that I started years ago.  I had always loved the composition but thought it was a bit dull.   I added the colorful wallpaper in the back and brightened up the pears which I think helped.

When I look at this painting I think of my instructor who said any time you have two of something they are in a relationship on the page.   It’s kind of fun to think about what the relationship is between these two pears with one in the bowl and the other not.

I’m trying to give myself a media break since it’s so crazy out there.  It takes discipline and will give me more time to starting to work on a new painting.

Sunflower Still Life with Black Cat

Sunflower Still Life with Black Cat – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Sunflower Still Life with Black Cat is a painting that I’ve just completed.  I felt like doing a new still life and wanted to use the fish pitcher that my twin sister gave me on our birthday last year. It’s one of her many unique thrift store finds,  she’s got a great eye and is always coming home with fun items.  She thoughtfully passed it on to me as I like to paint both pitchers and fish. The pitcher usually stays out in the screened in back porch; I brought it in and filled with sunflowers to paint.

I decided to add a black cat to the painting to continue the still lifes with cats series.  It’s the fourth one in the series and with the two other cat paintings I now have cat note card six pack for marketing purposes.  I’m pleased with the cat, he’s standing for a change which I think works in this painting and it’s also bit humorous that he’s right next to the fish.   I had been wanted to paint sunflowers for a while now, as they radiate warmth and happiness.  The sunflower papier mache bowls I used to make were always quite popular.

It took a while to balance all the elements but I’m happy with the result. Our daughter is coming home for spring break next week, we’re looking forward to her visit.  It’s gotten chilly again today, hopefully it will warm up by next week during her break.

Bonfire

Bonfire -acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Bonfire is my most recent painting.   I had been thinking about the fire element in the last few weeks.  On Valentine’s Day when the news links about the Parkland High School shooting began to appear, I found myself feeling very sad and angry on the special day marked for love. As usual the politicians offered thoughts and prayers, while acting as if nothing can be done about this continuing problem.   Remarkably over the next few days, as I looked at the various social media sites, I could sense a shift.  The teens and their parents were acting on their grief and anger to take back their power and those of us on the sidelines were adding to this energy of change that is starting to happen.

When my daughter was a senior in high school, there was an incident were a student skipped class and stole a cache of guns and ammunition from a home in an adjacent neighborhood.   As the information about a lockdown came through, we began to hear sirens and helicopters overhead.  At that point we were not sure if there was an active shooter in the school, it was frightening.  The police handled the the situation and all ended well after several hours with no shooting.  When my girl graduated I was relieved that that worry for her was over, even though she heading to New York City for college!  I feel for all the moms and dads and children that still have that fear that it could happen one day at their school.

Each of us has an inner fire that we can call upon for standing up for what we feel is right.   Traditionally the fire element represents action, power, passion, and creativity.  In medieval times salamander nature spirits were thought to provide the spark for starting the fire.  When looking into a fire and seeing all the movement of the colors, it’s easy to see why they thought of salamanders.  I decided to add them to the fire.

It is inspiring to see these teens coming together and owning their power encouraging us to do the same and  it will bring about positive change.  This Bonfire is for them!

Mirror Fish

Mirror Fish – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Mirror Fish is my most recent painting.   Two fish  are swimming together like the Pisces symbol of  two fish swimming in opposite directions.  My twin sister and I are Pisces; our birthday is coming up later this month.  Maybe that’s why I felt like creating a new painting of the two fish to add to the other double fish paintings I’ve done through the years.  In this painting I’ve tried to loosen up some and play with lots of vibrant color.

My sister and I are in good places at the moment.  We are happy with our lives,  our families are doing well and we’re enjoying the empty nest phase.  We are identical mirror twins, which means the egg divided after 7 days and so we are mirror images of each other. She is right-handed while I am left-handed.

My sister was visiting last weekend and when we stopped by to pick up coffee at the local Dunkin Donuts, we got attention for looking alike. These days we find getting attention fun.   Growing up we never felt comfortable with all the extra attention we received.   Both my sister and I always smile to strangers and over the years I’ve realized that we do that because people were always staring at us.

We are still very close and talk to each other 2 or 3 times a week but like the fish above with the different colors and along with every identical twin, we each have a unique personality.

Beloved Sam

Beloved Sam-acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Beloved Sam is a new painting that I just completed for a birthday gift for Lauri Shock.  Her husband, Billy Howard contacted me after receiving a note card of mine with the image of Adele’s Cats from a mutual friend.   Billy asked if he could buy the original since one of the cats reminded them of their Sam who had recently passed away to give to Laurie on her birthday.   Since I didn’t have the original I offered to do a new similar painting for him.  He liked that idea and sent me his Medium Post, Sam the Cat, which has some lovely photos of Sam.

It was my first commissioned painting and I was a bit nervous, but Billy said that they liked my style of using bright colors so I went with it.  I chose my mom’s stangl pitcher that looked a bit like one in the photos.    With Sam, I accented his green eyes and white patch that they loved about him.  I put a painting behind the flowers of birds flying as a symbol of Sam’s spirit being freed.

Sam showed up one day and became theirs when he was about a year old and for 15 years his quirky personality brought them joy daily.  It was a pleasure painting Sam.  I was touched by Billy’s thoughtfulness of wanting to do this for Lauri’s birthday gift.  What a wonderful idea in helping them to honor Sam’s memory.

The Jaguar

The Jaguar – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

The Jaguar is a new painting for my rainforest series.  Jaguars are the largest cats native to the Americas and third largest cats in the world behind lions and tigers. The jaguar once roamed from Argentina all the way up to the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Today, jaguars have been almost completely eliminated from the United States.  This endangered cat hangs on in remote regions of Central America and South America.  My niece spent time in Costa Rica on a college research trip and was fortunate to see a black jaguar in the dead of night.

Jaguar is a Native American word meaning, “he who kills with one blow.”  In  pre-Columbian America the jaguar was seen as a god in Peru, Mexico, and Guatemala.  The Mayans saw him as the god of the underworld.

The idea for this painting came to me a couple weeks ago.  My daughter is spending a semester abroad in Prague, and has taken advantage of her free time traveling to many exciting places,  She’s been to Paris, Rome, Naples and now, Vienna and is having a great time on her adventures.   We are excited for her because she’s broadening her horizons by learning about and experiencing other cultures.  It’s brought back to mind wonderful memories of my travels.   One of those memories was a trip with my husband down to the Oaxaca, Mexico region.  In a small arts village, I  bought him a bright hand painted and carved, wooden jaguar that he keeps in his office for good luck.  This jaguar painting is also for my husband and a reminder of our happy memories of Mexico.

Ganesh

Ganesh – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

This week I felt like painting something light hearted so I chose Ganesh as my subject. Ganesh is one of the most worshiped gods of the Hindu Religion. He helps to destroy selfishness and vanity and to remove obstacles in one’s path. He brings good luck and fortune as he represents the material universe with all it’s many manifestations.  His elephant head represents super intelligence, his one tusk represents being focused and his large tummy symbolizes digesting both the good and bad peacefully.

One of my sisters who has an elephant collection has always liked Ganesh.  Years ago I made her a papier mache bowl with a painting of Ganesh on it.  She still has it and it makes me feel good whenever I go up to visit her and see it.  Her partner liked the white elephant that I painted last year and mentioned that he would like a Ganesh note card to give to his Indian friends at work, so that’s the plan.  I’ll make some note cards of this to give to him for Christmas.

It seems to me that Ganesh knows how to relax and enjoy life, which helps to bring good luck.  That is something we westerners could learn and benefit from.   Here in Georgia the schools have already started up in what used to be the lazy last days of summer.  In our home, my husband has just gotten a large job and will be working like crazy all month so we’ll just have to make do and relax when we can.  I hope that everyone can carve out some relaxing time during these last days of Summer.

Two Rabbits in the Meadow

Two Rabbits in the Meadow – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Two Rabbits in the Meadow is a painting that I made for my Heni’s Happy Paintings Etsy Shop back in early June.  I thought of doing a new rabbit painting after spotting a little rabbit ahead of me on a path during my morning walk.  I decided then that it would be fun to do a new whimsical painting which I could add to the animals in the meadow series.

I looked up the symbolic meaning of spotting a rabbit in a google search.   Seeing a rabbit can mean more abundance may be coming  but one needs to face their fear and know when to make their move.   This made sense to me personally.   During the spring season I was involved with marketing with the May art show and also updating my art work at the Flying Biscuit Cafes.  Once my daughter came home from college for the summer and my husband got very busy with work, I got distracted and unfocused.

It felt good to get back to painting but now I’m ready to move forward with the marketing.  Tonight I’m going to a small art and food truck event, getting myself back out there.  Looks like it’s going to be a beautiful hot day and I’m hoping for no evening showers.

The Brothers

The Brothers – Acrylic Painting by Heni Sandoval

The Brothers is new painting of mine, a portrait of our two cats.  Truffle and Tuxie were rescue kitties from a feral mother that we adopted  six years ago.  We just love them and their very different personalities.

Tuxie, pictured on the bottom is full of energy and a terrific hunter.   I can’t  recall all the times he’s brought chipmunks into the house.  We usually catch them and put the little critters back outside much to Tuxie’s dismay.  Tuxie is always letting Truffle know who is boss until Truffle can’t take it any more and goes after him.  Truffle, pictured on top is a gentle soul, for although he’s afraid to  sit in our laps, he soaks up affection and would happily be pet for hours. He is  large and chubby;  I had to stop leaving dry food out for he ate his and Tuxie’s portion.

I’m pleased with the painting and feel that I captured them pretty well.  When Tuxie was  about a year old, he came home with a broken tail which was very traumatic for him and us.  We weren’t sure if he would have get the tail cut off but luckily it healed and now he has this quirky curl.  He loves to lay on his back and lift his paws to get affection.  He’s so adorable. Truffle lounges around curled up sleeping most the day.  He, unlike quirky Tuxie, has perfect tuxedo cat markings.  I used the cooler peaceful colors around Truffle since he is sensitive and mellow.

The painting also shows the lush colors of the southern summer.  We’ve had a rainy few weeks here as summer began, the garden is doing well.  There’s an overflow  of zucchini and the tomatoes are almost ripe.  I hope everyone is having a good start to the season!