Magnolia Flower in Mom’s Ginger Jar

Magnolia Flower in Mom’s Ginger Jar – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Magnolia Flower in Mom’s Ginger Jar a new still life that I painted in honor of my Mom.  Her birthday was on Monday and I try to do a painting with her in mind around this time of year.  The ginger jar was hers.  I’ve always loved it and now it graces our dining room side board.  Mom collected antique ginger jars and I can remember her telling me that the Chinese filled them with ginger and other spices to  export to the West.  This particular jar was made in the early 1800’s.  She also had many pieces of antique willow ware with the blue painted landscape scene depicting a love story.  We heard the story from mom many times of a young couple in love. The wealthy girl’s father would not allow her to marry the poor boy so they ran away together and sailed off on a boat which sank in a storm and they were turned into love birds to live happily ever after.  My Mom was quite a romantic.

I enjoyed working on this painting, it was challenging for me to get the colors to work with the white of the magnolia flower along with the white of the porcelain ginger jar.  It was a fun puzzle, I am pleased with the end result and I think that Mom would have loved it.  Happy Birthday Mom!

willow ware platter

Brand New Day

Brand New Day – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

The first day of spring has arrived!  I think my Brand New Day  dove painting represents the happiness of this time nicely with the sun returning.  This is one of my most popular paintings, I just sold another large framed print at the Flying Biscuit Cafe and am framing a new one today to replace it.

Here in Atlanta the flowers are blooming, green grass is appearing, it feels like spring!   During my time spent up north in Brooklyn, when spring arrived I wanted to see  daffodils  instead of the grey slush that I would inevitably step in.   Those extra cold months were very challenging for me, just didn’t feel right.   The first spring we spent back here in Atlanta after having lived in California for four years, I felt we were in a fairy land.  I’d never really appreciated how breathtakingly beautiful spring was here.  There’s an Indigo Girls song called Southland in the Spring Time, that describes the feeling well.   Where ever you live I hope this spring season will be a joyful time for you.

Print available here.

Dad’s Birthday

Into the Sun

Today, October 1st is my dad’s birthday, so he’s on my mind.  Whenever I paint a crow I think of him.  I’ve been pondering why this is so.

He grew up in Charlottesville Virginia went to the University there.  Edger Allen Poe had gone there briefly years before and he was one of my dad’s favorite poets.  Dad would recite the Raven especially this time of year as the days shorten and head to Halloween.

My dad had a real love of nature, and he passed that love on to his four girls.  Most weekends we drove out to the Alabama countryside.  We spent our  afternoons running around picking blackberries, playing in the hay, swimming in the pond and creeks.  We would spy on beavers and shy away from rattle snakes.  There  he taught us to ride a horse,  fish and shoot a shotgun.  He loved  bird hunting.  He never took us hunting but we plucked many a quail.

I loved this time of year out in the Southern countryside.. The beauty of the dried grasses, cornstalks and few remaining cotton balls along side the rustic barbwire fence against the backdrop of the blue sky with crows flying about.  Years later I realize what a gift the my dad gave us.  That experience over time got into our bones.  That is why I paint birds and other natural creatures.  So thank you Dad!