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.

Pluto

Pluto – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Here is a new painting for my planet series. Pluto is the furthest planet out from the sun and takes 248 years to complete its orbit. It was discovered in 1930. Because it was so far away from the sun and very cold Pluto was named after the Roman god of the underworld, he was the judge of death but also the god of wealth because of the metals and riches that lie underground. Pluto is considered a dwarf planet because it is so small. Although Pluto is small, in astrology Pluto is a powerful planet of transformation that rules the astrological sign of Scorpio.

With all that in mind, I decided to paint Pluto small in a rich dark red color. The brightness around it symbolizes the riches of the god Pluto. This painting is darker than the others because it’s far from the sun with no other planets in sight. I used layers and layers of paint. I’m fairly pleased and will start a new painting this weekend.

Sun #2

Sun #2 – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Sun #2 is my new painting for this week. Last week’s painting, El Sol, looked flat to me. so I decided to paint another, this time trying to get a more three dimensional feeling. It’s an imaginary sun with different solar system of planets revolving around it. I worked on the painting for a number of days and almost gave up on it. Luckily, I was able to push through and am pleased with how it turned out. I like the dynamic feeling and the sense of space.

We had couple of mild days here that uplifted my spirits. It was pleasant hearing the birds sing and children laugh while playing as I went on my walks. A few neighborhood friends dropped by for enjoyable afternoon gatherings in our front yard which was a needed break from this isolating COVID-19 time. Now the rain has come through and cold weather is back. I love the warm days we get here in Georgia in later winter; it means spring will be here soon. Happy Valentine’s Day weekend!

Infinity 8

infinity 8 – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Infinity 8 is my most recent abstract painting that I completed last weekend. Last Saturday the date was 8-8 and I had been reading about the 8-8 Lions gate which was an important date during Egyptian times and started thinking about the number 8 which when turned on it’s side becomes a mathematical symbol representing the concept of infinity. This led me to the idea of painting a large infinity symbol that was shaped like an 8.

I first painted the large purple eight shape on the page. As I looked at the eight, I started thinking about doubles, two circles next to each other. This led me to play with the idea of twins, double trouble, as they say. Since I am an identical twin, I’ve heard that saying many times. I painted smaller bright green circle in each circle and then continued painting matching colors and more strokes between the two circles. I then painted a large fish shape between them. I’m pleased with this painting; it was fun to do and again I’ve used my favorite colors.

About Time

About Time – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

About Time is a new abstract painting. I’ve been thinking of how we move through time and decided to paint a cross splitting the page with each square symbolizing one of the four seasons of a year. I also put in the white spiral as we go round and round through the seasons as we move through time.

Last week here in the USA it felt to me that something monumental happened in time, like a big gear clicking into place. I get the sense now that the majority of us are not going back into the same old patterns. It feels like it’s now time to heal ancient wounds and move forward, away from the mistakes of the past, into a fresh diverse future.

Resonance

Resonance – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Here is my most recent abstract painting titled Resonance. It is a visual continuation of my thoughts on the wave-particle duality theory that I was reading about during the last painting. One idea that struck me was the description of the principle of resonance that states that when two frequencies are brought together, the lower will ALWAYS rise to meet the higher. An example of this was explained by dropping a pebble in a lake with the waves moving out from the center joining another expanding wave.

From that idea I started the painting with expanding waves of color. I then added a few particles. Another idea presented helped me get a picture of how all this works is that we can think of atoms being like little tornadoes, mostly space. All of us, in fact everything is made of mostly space that’s always spinning! Toward the end of the painting I added the spiral, thinking of the spiral energy of a tornado.

The past couple of weeks here is the USA have been intense. I think that people are finally coming into resonance that our system here is unjust and especially so for blacks and that this needs to change. I believe in the power we all have to look at our shadows of our past, own them and start to imagine and then build new systems that will work for all of us.

Dragons

Dragons -acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

I’ve just completed my second abstract painting titled Dragons. With this painting I chose not stick with the square shapes and to use a different color palette than my usual.

I decided to have an idea in my mind to help me with the structure of the painting. I had read something about dragon and reptiles in a blog post that struck me and decided to paint with them in mind, hence the name. It’s more intense and darker than my usual work, but my favorite colors peek through. I’m enjoying doing these abstracts and will start a new one soon.

Squares

Squares – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Squares is a painting that I finished up this weekend. It’s my first experiment with abstract painting which is something I had been thinking of doing for a while now. To have a focus I decided to paint squares in continuing the idea of 2020 being a 4 year because squares having 4 sides. I started painting squares of various colors and sizes and began overlaying with more squares and scratching back to show the colors underneath. It was challenging since I wasn’t quite sure of how to proceed and began to look muddy but I moved through the frustration and was able to pull colors out. I found myself wanting to expand squares to rectangles but stuck with the equal sided square. After a while it started coming together and I like the result.

The overlay of the colors making new colors along with the the scratch back through the colors reminded me of batik wall hangings I made for friends and family years ago. One thing I loved about batik was you never know how the colors would blend and end up. In this painting I ended up with these vivid colors which I love. I think I will start a new abstract now with colors I don’t generally use as another experiment and skip all the squares.

They are slowly starting to open things up here in Georgia, I have mixed feelings about that and am hoping that the vulnerable don’t pay the price. Take care everyone!

Fish in the Depths

Fish in the Depths is another of my fish paintings. A hand carved wooden fish ornament hanging in my bedroom was my inspiration. I have always loved it’s smooth oval shape with the little dot for the eyes. Once I painted the fish in I started playing with overlaying contrasting colors and scratching back to add texture and soon it became another tropical fish painting. I think the fish’s expression turned out nicely. It’s gotten cold here in Atlanta this week, I think I’ll start a new fish painting this weekend.

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