Saturn

Saturn – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Saturn is a new painting for my planet series. You may be wondering why I chose grayish color. In ancient times Saturn was associated with lead; it was said that alchemists could lead turn into gold. I liked the idea of painting Saturn as a lead sphere; it brought to my mind happy memories of fishing with my Dad, as we would use small lead balls that we would press on the fishing line to help the baited hook sink. I used to love to fish, it’s been a long time now, but we fished throughout our childhood.

Speaking of dads, Saturn in astrology can represent the father but it also represents a taskmaster type energy. Its placement can be challenging in childhood but over time if worked through it becomes a strength. In the painting I made the rings bright yellow as if they were gold. Years ago, I had a housemate who in her childhood had a recurring dream where she would be hanging out on one of Saturn’s rings feeling loved and accepted. I thought that was so interesting. She was a Capricorn, which is the sign Saturn rules.

I used lots of color to complement the gray color of Saturn. I wonder if there is more color throughout space that one day, we will be able to see. I’m pleased with the painting and like that it’s a little different from the other planets in a Saturn type way. My friend has invited me to the Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience here in Atlanta the weekend which I’m looking forward to. Happy weekend to all!

Orbs in Space

Orbs in Space – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Orbs in Space is a new abstract painting that I completed yesterday. It’s quite vivid, I used my favorite rainbow colors. A few months ago, I did a painting of orbs floating among trees and was looking at it which led me to the idea to play with painting orbs again. I started by painting a spiral of spheres across the page and then continued with waves and particles. I recently saw a image of the most magnified human cell ever taken this week and it was amazing. It looked like an intricate abstract painting. I find the idea of space, both inner and outer both having waves and particles being similar in ways so interesting.

My daughter wanted me to decorate for Christmas early this year so I’ve been decorating and listening to Christmas music. It is helping to lift our spirits during this strange isolating holiday season. We usually have a holiday artist open house in the beginning of December and later a holiday eggnog party with friends but not this year. 2020 has been a year like no other. I’m hoping 2021 will be better for us all.

Galaxies

Galaxies – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Galaxies is my latest painting, a new abstract. I’m back to playing around with abstraction, this painting has a lot of overlaying of paint. I started with four equal circles and a loop and kept going with symmetry, but it just was not working, and I almost gave up. At that point I just began adding more colors and shapes moving away from the symmetrical look and it started to look better. I like the movement and the fact I didn’t give up.

The idea for the name of my painting came from a fascinating article I read this week on two researchers who have found that the complex web of neurons in our brain look strangely similar to the cosmic network of galaxies. One fact that stood out to me was that there are at least 100 billion galaxies that connect in a web within our universe. It’s hard to even imagine that. Here is the link to the article: NEURON WEB IN HUMAN BRAIN IS SIMILAR TO THE NETWORK OF GALAXIES IN THE UNIVERSE

It’s a beautiful weekend here, I hope everyone enjoys the upcoming Thanksgiving week even if most of us are not able to be with extended family.