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.

Inner Space

Inner Space ~ by Heni Sandoval

I’ve just competed a new abstract painting titled, Inner Space. I liked the complexity of the last abstract painting, Outer Space, with the many colored spheres of various sizes and wanted to continue with that idea.

I follow the Design in Nature Facebook group and love looking at the various images posted on their page. Every so often an incredible image of a magnified leaf or flower will show up on my feed. Nature provides us with beautiful organic designs. Some of these images look a bit like space with the tiny particles and wave like lines.

I decided to imagine that I was painting a microscopic organic structure so small that I could see particles and waves. I enjoyed making the waves look like tree branches dividing and as they moved through space getting smaller. Perhaps because on my winter walks it’s hard not to notice all the many tress here with the intricate branch patterns. I used a lot of paint and played with the various sized particles to give it a spacious feeling. It was fun to do.

We’re enjoying a mild winter here, after surviving the record breaking frigid winter holiday season. The daffodils are out and the cherry blossoms are just starting. Spring will be here soon.

Truffle on the Green Chair

Truffle on the Green Chair

Truffle on the Green Chair is my new painting. The image is from a photo that I texted to my daughter for her kitty fix. I liked the composition and the space around Truffle so I decided to paint it. I am inspired by the British painter, David Hockney. I love his interiors with their vivid colors and how the colors help define the space, so I decided to have some fun painting in a similar style. In this painting were a number of smaller parts within the space that required time and detail. It was a good practice for me.

Truffle is such a cutie-pie, many times he has an uncertain look in his eyes when I take pics. He likes to sit on top of the chair when I’m cooking in the kitchen. We just love him! At Christmas he started limping, his front paw had a spot on it that I thought would heal but then the wound cracked it it bled profusely. The vet checked him out and told us he has an autoimmune disease where his paws get soft; she gave him a steroid shot. I had recently changed his kitty litter to a lightweight corn based brand which I think aggravated his condition. I changed the littler to unscented clay brand and began feeding food containing probiotics. His little paw healed, luckily the condition is not fatal, it’s something he just has to live with. I wonder if that’s why he has been fairly stationary much of his life compared to his rambunctious brother, Tuxie.

Jupiter

Jupiter – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Jupiter is a new painting for my planet series. I started this painting a few months ago and have only now completed it. We were busy during the holidays and prior to that were updating our kitchen, opening up a wall to the dining room and then I painted the upstairs hallway and my daughter’s room, which had been a bright purple color from all the way back to her middle school days.

It felt good to get the house updates accomplished but I’m happy to get back to painting. Last weekend while waiting on the snow storm I started reworking this painting. It’s done now and I’m ready to start a fresh painting.

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun and is the largest planet of the solar system. It is a gas giant with lower density than earth and covered with rapidly moving bands of white and brownish storm clouds. Jupiter has four large moons and more than seventy smaller moons. The famous red spot is a big storm that is the size of Earth.

Jupiter as the largest planet was named after the Roman king of the gods who ruled the sky and thunder and was in charge of laws and social order. In astrology Jupiter represents the principles of growth and expansion.

Curves

Curves -acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Curves is my most recent abstract. I’m enjoying doing these paintings, this time my goal was to use muted colors with darker tones. As you can see, I did not succeed with that goal, as I tend to always end up with jewel colors and while there are some dark tones, this painting is quite bright. What I do like about it is that the many layers of paint begin to give the painting depth and I actually love the rich colors.

I am going to force myself to change my color palette in the next few paintings to see how that goes. I also want to start painting in a larger format and am going to get some larger watercolor sheets in the next few weeks. We’re in for an overcast weekend after a few days of off and on rainy weather here as the remnants of another hurricane come through. I plan to start the new painting tomorrow.

Blue Spiral

Blue Spiral – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

I took some time off from painting to work on my artist website that I had made back in 2017. I had not done much with it since being in a two art shows in 2018. With my sister’s devotional, Awaken to Rest being published any day now, my website may get some more traffic. With this in mind, I uploaded several paintings from the last few years to the collection pages and made a new artist statement and projects page. I’m still tweaking it, but it’s in fairly good shape.

So, now I am back to painting. Blue Spiral is another abstract, I had the idea to paint spirals on all sides of the page. I began with the blue spiral centered horizontally on the page and then painted another spiral perpendicular and then two more coming across from the corners, each one a different color. From there, I began playing with more loops and circles and blending colors until it felt right. All the remained to be seen was the Blue Spiral.

It’s hard to believe that September is just a few days away, hope everyone is enjoy the last days of summer.

Floating Mermaid

Floating Mermaid- acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Here is my new painting, Floating Mermaid.  It’s feels good to be back to painting as I have had a long break.   In early May, I took a road trip with my twin sister up to New York City.  We met up with my two other sisters in New Jersey at my aunt’s home and had such a great reunion, also enjoying visiting with cousins and my aunt.   It had been over ten years since we had all been together.   We then took the train into Manhattan and  got to spend time with my daughter who was finishing up her freshman year at NYU.  She loves being in the city and it was reassuring to see how she was thriving.

Once she came home for summer break,  an opportunity opened up for her to spend five weeks in China teaching English and visiting with Chinese friends she had made at school.  It was all very sudden and with me helping her get ready for her adventure and having her home I found it challenging to focus on my art.

She’s been in China a week now and is enjoying herself and I am back to painting.  This floating mermaid is the result.  In life there are times we have to let go, relax and trust.  As a mom, I was nervous about my 18 year old girl  traveling on her own half way around the world.   At this point, part of my journey as a mom is to let go and trust my   child’s own path in life.    In this painting I wanted to show a mermaid relaxing in the water as the sun shines on her with the white dove of peace soaring above her, knowing all is well.

I hope all are enjoying summer,  whether you are home relaxing or off on exciting adventures!

 

Running Gazelle

Gazelle Running

Running Gazelle is a new painting in the African animal series for my Heni’s Happy Paintings Etsy Shop.

Images of gazelles have been showing up in my life lately.  I looked up the symbolic meaning of gazelles, they symbolize graceful feminine energy.   That made sense to me, they are such beautiful graceful creatures running with ease in groups.  I also love their dark curved antlers which are  so striking.  I wanted the painting to have the bright sun with lots of color to enhance the joyful feeling of running.

It’s a busy season, our daughter gets home next week for her winter break; we so looking forward to seeing her.  My wish is for all to have a joyous holiday season!

Purchase print here: Running Gazelle

 

 

Gray Squirrel Among the Autumn Leaves

Gray Squirrel Among the autumn Leaves – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

 Gray Squirrel Among the Autumn Leaves is my newest painting.  Here in Atlanta the fall has been pretty pathetic with the endless rain taking many beautiful leaves down too soon. We’ve had a few sunny days but this fall has not been as vivid as usual. During the rainy days I felt like painting an autumn scene with brightly colored foliage to brighten my spirits.

When I worked as a park ranger in Brooklyn and led tours with the inner city school children, if we spotted a squirrel they would squeal in delight.  In the South with all our trees we tend to take our squirrels for granted, in fact my dad used a bb  gun to shoot at them if one got near his  bird feeder.

Squirrels are pretty amazing when you think about it. They are beautiful creatures with their bushy tails, sleek build and so agile as they scamper through the trees.    They are also helpful to nature with all their gathering of nuts, some of which turn into trees.  I’m pleased with my squirrel and hope you like it too.

Purchase print here:  Gray Squirrel Among the Autumn Leaves

Woman with Dove and Lilies

Woman with Dove and Lilies – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Woman with Dove and Lilies is my most recent painting.   I’ve worked on it off and on throughout this rainy week.  It’s pouring now as I write.  Next week they say the sun will be coming back, I think everyone here in Atlanta is more than ready for that.  I’ll put this print up in my Circles Round the Sun Etsy Shop under my portrait section.  I’m off now to start a new painting, hope all are enjoying the weekend!

Purchase print here:  Woman with Dove and Lilies