Infinity 8

infinity 8 – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Infinity 8 is my most recent abstract painting that I completed last weekend. Last Saturday the date was 8-8 and I had been reading about the 8-8 Lions gate which was an important date during Egyptian times and started thinking about the number 8 which when turned on it’s side becomes a mathematical symbol representing the concept of infinity. This led me to the idea of painting a large infinity symbol that was shaped like an 8.

I first painted the large purple eight shape on the page. As I looked at the eight, I started thinking about doubles, two circles next to each other. This led me to play with the idea of twins, double trouble, as they say. Since I am an identical twin, I’ve heard that saying many times. I painted smaller bright green circle in each circle and then continued painting matching colors and more strokes between the two circles. I then painted a large fish shape between them. I’m pleased with this painting; it was fun to do and again I’ve used my favorite colors.

Twin Fairies

Twin Fairies is my third attempt at painting twins and I think the most successful.  As  I have written on my about page, I have an identical twin sister and we are the youngest in our family.  My parents had an eight and four year old when we came along.  They were busy with the older daughters, so the two of us were left on our own  and played together all the time.   We actually developed our own language and I can remember being in our own imaginary world pretending to be animals, fairies, etc.   If you were to see our baby photos, we actually looked like chubby cherubs with curly hair.

My Mom was born in the early 20’s and when she was a child, her mom gave her illustrated prints of little fairies and children that were popular during that time period.  Mom kept them and they hung in our  bedrooms growing up.  We loved them, they were magical and fun to look at.  I wanted this painting to have a bit of that dreamy, magical style.

Mirror Fish

Mirror Fish – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Mirror Fish is my most recent painting.   Two fish  are swimming together like the Pisces symbol of  two fish swimming in opposite directions.  My twin sister and I are Pisces; our birthday is coming up later this month.  Maybe that’s why I felt like creating a new painting of the two fish to add to the other double fish paintings I’ve done through the years.  In this painting I’ve tried to loosen up some and play with lots of vibrant color.

My sister and I are in good places at the moment.  We are happy with our lives,  our families are doing well and we’re enjoying the empty nest phase.  We are identical mirror twins, which means the egg divided after 7 days and so we are mirror images of each other. She is right-handed while I am left-handed.

My sister was visiting last weekend and when we stopped by to pick up coffee at the local Dunkin Donuts, we got attention for looking alike. These days we find getting attention fun.   Growing up we never felt comfortable with all the extra attention we received.   Both my sister and I always smile to strangers and over the years I’ve realized that we do that because people were always staring at us.

We are still very close and talk to each other 2 or 3 times a week but like the fish above with the different colors and along with every identical twin, we each have a unique personality.

The Twins

                                    The Twins – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

 The Twins is my most recent painting. It is is another painting for my Heni’s Happy Paintings Etsy Shop. I wanted to create a fun, happy outdoor scene and tried to show the special bond that identical twins have. I have an identical twin sister and we had that special bond.  We came into the world together and share the same genes.  Technically, we are mirror twins; I’m a lefty and she’s right handed, which means our egg split late, after nine to ten days.

Even now after living apart for so many years, we still have the same mannerisms. As I wrote on my about page, my twin and I were the youngest in our family and spent most of our time together in our own world, running around outside and playing pretend endlessly.  I think that helped us to be creative as adults.  Both of us are in happy marriages and I wonder if that has to do with being in a partnership from day one and learning how to give and take at an early age.   I love my sister and am glad she is my twin.