Cardinal in the Tree

Cardinal in the Tree -acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Cardinal in the Tree is a painting that I recently completed. I’ve done many dove and crow paintings with the sun or moon in the scene and I got the idea to try my hand at creating a similar whimsical painting of a song bird. I chose the cardinal since I felt like using bright red paint.

We have a couple of cardinal couples that hang out in our yard. One late afternoon while in my husband’s upstairs studio, I looked out the window and saw a beautiful cardinal high up in a tree branch, this surprised me because I hadn’t realized just how tall particular accent tree had gotten. I planted 15 years ago and it has tripled in size.

With that scene in mind, I started the painting. I know that many people think when a cardinal appears it can symbolize a dead loved one is thinking of them. I like that idea and every time I spot a male cardinal, I like to think that my dad is winking at me. He and my mom loved their backyard with all their song birds. I hope all are enjoying this Easter and Passover weekend.

Cardinal in the Garden

Cardinal in the Garden -acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Cardinal in the Garden is a new painting of mine.    Last week I spotted a male and female cardinal hopping about on our roof; there will be baby birds chirping in a nest nearby soon.  Cardinals are such striking song birds.  On Mother’s day I felt like painting a new song bird since I was thinking about mom.

My parents loved to garden, dad transplanted eight or so dogwoods from the countryside and in the early spring the yard was gorgeous with those dogwoods in full bloom and pink azaleas below.   The songbirds that gathered on the bird feeders in in their garden kept my parents entertained while they sat in the sun room. This new painting is in honor of mom and dad who through their care and love of the natural world around them passed that love on to me.  Thank you!

Purchase the print here:  Cardinal in the Garden

A Girl with Two Red Birds

A Girl with Two Red Birds- acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

I have begun  a new series of paintings with children as the focus.  A Girl with Two Red Birds is my first one and I am pleased with her.  A few years ago after my parents had passed away, my sister Melissa mentioned to me that whenever she saw a cardinal pair she thought of mom and dad.  I liked her thought and since then I’ve noticed that each spring we have a cardinal pair settle in our yard and now I too think of mom and dad when I spot them.   My parents were from the World War II generation and went through ups and down as most couples do, but in general they loved each other and got along well.  They had shared interests which helped.  Both enjoyed gardening and feeding the birds.  I can still picture them sitting in the sun room getting excited about the various song birds feeding and bathing in their backyard garden.  In this painting the girl looks centered while she holds two bowls with the male and female birds balanced on each side of her.