Wily Coyote

Wily Coyote – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

After last week’s more complex painting, I felt like painting something more whimsical and loose.  As I was pondering what to paint,  I happened to see a  funny cartoon of  Wile E. Coyote getting into trouble with the Road Runner and later that evening  Joni Mitchel’s Coyote tune came up on my Echo; I love all her music and had not heard that fun song in years.  We also have had plenty of coyotes in the hood,  I’ve never seen one here but have heard their strange calls in the wee hours of the night.

With the decision made, I looked up the symbolism of the coyote.  He is often thought of as a trickster, a joker, and even a shape-shifter, but is also revered in Native American culture as an important messenger of personal transformation, showing endings and new beginnings.

I thought it might be fun to paint a coyote in a fanciful colorful magic-like landscape and Wily Coyote is the result. I’m pleased with the way he is looking at the viewer as if he knows something we don’t.

Next week my husband and I are heading to Seattle for my niece’s wedding. Its definitely a time of a new beginnings for my niece and also for her older sister who is days away from her second child’s birth.  We’ll be there for a just under a week with all my sisters and the nieces and nephews.  Our daughter will  fly in from Japan, luckily her internship ends two days before the wedding date.  We’re so looking forward to being with her and hearing all about her experience there.  Not sure that I’ll be able to start another painting before we leave but am looking forward to new inspiration of being in Seattle during this exciting time with our extended family.

Happy Easter!

Bounding Bunny – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Happy Easter!  I painted this little fellow in late February of this year.   Here in Atlanta we were enjoying some unusually early warm weather which was delightful and inspired me to paint Bounding Bunny.  As I was painting, I began to see think about the Easter bunny and how much fun we had as children hunting for Easter eggs and then later as a parent, enjoying the delight of my child and her friends doing the same.  So in this painting I added eggs into the layers of color as a wink to all that fun!

Also, Happy Passover to those of you celebrating that holiday.  It’s a beautiful morning here, hope everyone enjoys the day!

Bounding Bunny

Bounding Bunny – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

I have just completed a new painting, Bounding Bunny.  The lovely springlike weather we are enjoying here in Atlanta has inspired me to have some fun playing with color around a leaping cottontail rabbit.   I’m pleased with the sense of movement that the painting conveys.

When looking back at a similar painting done last year, Two Rabbits in the Meadow; I remember my struggle with the foreground, having to rework it many times.  I prefer the new painting, there’s more movement in the sky and the little bunny is leaping.  This new painting came together easily.

As I wrote before, the rabbit symbolizes good luck and abundance.   In the past few days I’ve sold four items from my two etsy shops, which is  encouraging as Etsy sales had slowed  down last year.  I’ve also gotten new framed prints up at the Fly Biscuit Cafes.  I have some other ideas for marketing and like this bunny I am ready to leap ahead.  March is here which means spring is just around the corner.  I hope all are enjoying these days!

The Jaguar

The Jaguar – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

The Jaguar is a new painting for my rainforest series.  Jaguars are the largest cats native to the Americas and third largest cats in the world behind lions and tigers. The jaguar once roamed from Argentina all the way up to the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Today, jaguars have been almost completely eliminated from the United States.  This endangered cat hangs on in remote regions of Central America and South America.  My niece spent time in Costa Rica on a college research trip and was fortunate to see a black jaguar in the dead of night.

Jaguar is a Native American word meaning, “he who kills with one blow.”  In  pre-Columbian America the jaguar was seen as a god in Peru, Mexico, and Guatemala.  The Mayans saw him as the god of the underworld.

The idea for this painting came to me a couple weeks ago.  My daughter is spending a semester abroad in Prague, and has taken advantage of her free time traveling to many exciting places,  She’s been to Paris, Rome, Naples and now, Vienna and is having a great time on her adventures.   We are excited for her because she’s broadening her horizons by learning about and experiencing other cultures.  It’s brought back to mind wonderful memories of my travels.   One of those memories was a trip with my husband down to the Oaxaca, Mexico region.  In a small arts village, I  bought him a bright hand painted and carved, wooden jaguar that he keeps in his office for good luck.  This jaguar painting is also for my husband and a reminder of our happy memories of Mexico.

Mer-Cat

Mer-cat – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Here’s a new painting for my Heni’s Happy Painting Etsy shop.    Earlier in the summer I painted The Brothers of our cats Tuxie and Truffle.  I then thought I’d like to paint our other cat, Tiggy who passed away a few years ago. With the warm summer weather I was also thinking about painting a mermaid in an underwater scene.  I put these two ideas together and created Mer-Cat.

Back in May when I had my show at the Phoenix and Dragon bookstore, Candice, the owner mentioned that they have  an art show in October where they have paintings of cats from various local artists which is another reason why I’ve done these cat paintings.  The bookstore has three cats that live there full time.  When I set up my show, they all came into the gallery to hang out with me.  It was very sweet. There are many pet oriented gifts in the shop and I’ve bought some cat gifts for my daughter there.

My daughter has been in Prague now for just over a week, it’s pretty quiet around here, I think our kitties are missing her and all her loving attention.  Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Ganesh

Ganesh – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

This week I felt like painting something light hearted so I chose Ganesh as my subject. Ganesh is one of the most worshiped gods of the Hindu Religion. He helps to destroy selfishness and vanity and to remove obstacles in one’s path. He brings good luck and fortune as he represents the material universe with all it’s many manifestations.  His elephant head represents super intelligence, his one tusk represents being focused and his large tummy symbolizes digesting both the good and bad peacefully.

One of my sisters who has an elephant collection has always liked Ganesh.  Years ago I made her a papier mache bowl with a painting of Ganesh on it.  She still has it and it makes me feel good whenever I go up to visit her and see it.  Her partner liked the white elephant that I painted last year and mentioned that he would like a Ganesh note card to give to his Indian friends at work, so that’s the plan.  I’ll make some note cards of this to give to him for Christmas.

It seems to me that Ganesh knows how to relax and enjoy life, which helps to bring good luck.  That is something we westerners could learn and benefit from.   Here in Georgia the schools have already started up in what used to be the lazy last days of summer.  In our home, my husband has just gotten a large job and will be working like crazy all month so we’ll just have to make do and relax when we can.  I hope that everyone can carve out some relaxing time during these last days of Summer.

Two Rabbits in the Meadow

Two Rabbits in the Meadow – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Two Rabbits in the Meadow is a painting that I made for my Heni’s Happy Paintings Etsy Shop back in early June.  I thought of doing a new rabbit painting after spotting a little rabbit ahead of me on a path during my morning walk.  I decided then that it would be fun to do a new whimsical painting which I could add to the animals in the meadow series.

I looked up the symbolic meaning of spotting a rabbit in a google search.   Seeing a rabbit can mean more abundance may be coming  but one needs to face their fear and know when to make their move.   This made sense to me personally.   During the spring season I was involved with marketing with the May art show and also updating my art work at the Flying Biscuit Cafes.  Once my daughter came home from college for the summer and my husband got very busy with work, I got distracted and unfocused.

It felt good to get back to painting but now I’m ready to move forward with the marketing.  Tonight I’m going to a small art and food truck event, getting myself back out there.  Looks like it’s going to be a beautiful hot day and I’m hoping for no evening showers.

A Murder of Crows

A Murder of Crows – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

A few months ago I learned that a flock of crows is called a murder.  That captured my attention and I decided that at some point I would paint a murder of crows.  I love crows and have painted many through the years.   Whenever I’m out and about and spot a crow I get the feeling that they have spotted me also and are closely watching. Maybe for that reason they seem intelligent, social, and somewhat mysterious to me.    After last week’s tighter still life painting I felt like doing something looser, a perfect time for this painting.

In A Murder of Crows I wanted to show a lot of movement and layers of colors through the sky and tree branches as if the crows were flying in in out of different dimensions.   I tend to wonder if they can see colors and dimensions that we are not aware of yet.  Scientist say dragonflies and cats can perceive more than humans and they are now learning that trees communicate to each other through their roots.  It’s all very intriguing to think about the miracle and wonder of our natural world.

Happy New Year!

White Dove in Flight

Hooray! Hooray! It’s New Year’s Day
– By Kenn Nesbitt

Hooray! Hooray! It’s New Year’s Day!
The day we start anew.
So this year I’ve decided
To become a kangaroo!

Or maybe i will learn to fly,
Or how to walk through walls,
Or how to turn invisible,
Or surf on waterfalls.

I’ll make myself elastic
And I’ll teach myself to shrink.
I’ll turn into a liquid
And I’ll pour me down the sink.

I’ll visit other planets
And meet aliens galore.
I’ll travel to the distant past
And ride a dinosaur.

I’ve got so many wondrous plans.
I’m starting right away.
Yes, this will be the best year yet.
Hooray! It’s New Year’s Day!

Ken Nesbitt’s website for kids: Poetry4kids.com

Magic Crow

Magic Crow

 

To create anything… is to believe, if only momentarily, you are capable of magic.’

It is a beautiful fall Wednesday here in Atlanta. The leaves are changing to lovely warm colors and it is in the mild mid 70’s.  Delightful! 

Here is another crow painting of mine.  I like this painting, even though it is acrylic on watercolor paper it reminds me of crayon drawings that children  create in elementary school.

I saw the quote above on my twitter feed this morning.  It is from Tom Bessill who has written a book The Magic Hours, about creativity.  Here is a link to a review by Maria Popova on Brain Pickings, she is one of my favorite tweeters:  Brain Pickings

Print available here.