Shining Sea Turtle

Shining Sea Turtle = acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Shining Sea Turtle is a new turtle painting of mine.   I had not painted in about a month as my daughter is graduating from high school in a few  weeks.  She will be going off to New York University in the fall.  It was very unexpected as we assumed she would be going to an in state school. She got accepted and received enough funding to make it possible.  It’s been an exciting  few weeks figuring out the details.  We are thrilled and very proud of her.  It’s been my girl’s dream to go off to school in New York City and now it’s actually going to happen!

I’ve settled down a bit and it feels good to be back painting.  I love doing underwater ocean scenes and I just felt like painting a serene sea turtle.  I hope all are having a peaceful happy season.

Purchase the print here:  Shining Sea Turtle

Bluebird in Spring

Bluebird in Spring – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

At last, spring is in full force here in Atlanta.  The flowers are blooming and the tree leaves are out with their lovely light green color so striking against the bright blue sky.  I have been spending the past week working in our yard;  starting to tame all the overgrowth.  Even though I have a degree in landscape architecture, I’ve never been much of a gardener.  A few years ago we put in some large flower beds and planted a few smaller flowering and evergreen trees that now are helping to define our yard; but with no attention, the English ivy, poison ivy and blackberry brambles had taken over.  I’m learning the lesson that with care early in the season, when the ground is moist and mosquitoes not out yet, gardening can actually be kind of fun.  I’m planting perennials where the weeds were along with mulch hoping to encourage a lovely, easily maintained garden.

I painted Blue Bird in Spring last spring.  It was fun to paint, I tried to make it look like an old vintage postcard symbolizing spring.  On my walks I often see bluebirds flying about.  The bluebird symbolizes joy.  When I was young the bluebirds had disappeared.  People began to make an effort to bring them back by putting up bird houses in their yards and meadows.  The bluebirds returned; it’s encouraging to realize how resilient nature is.  I painted this bluebird to remind me of how joyful and resilient life can be!

Print available here:

Front yard view