Venus

Venus – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Venus is a new painting in my planet series. I’ve learned quite a bit about the mythology of Venus from the research I did for a couple of other abstracts last year. The abstract which I named Ishtar, of a eight pointed star symbolized the planet Venus’s star pattern as she travels through space around the sun from our view on earth. Ishtar is an ancient Mesopotamian  goddess very similar to Venus, the goddess of love and beauty in Greek mythology. The earlier abstract I painted, Golden Mean Spiral, was based on the spiral pattern found throughout nature. Venus as she continually moves through space in a golden mean spiral forms a beautiful rose pattern. It’s interesting to me that the ancients knew about this.

I started this painting planning to get the star formed around the planet but then I thought I’d already done the star; so, I then decided to paint Venus as she appears in space. Venus is the second planet out revolving around the sun and as seen from earth is always close to the Sun, sometimes she’s the morning star and sometimes becomes the evening star. Those transitions are when the star points are formed in the pattern. Venus is a white planet brighter than the moon and has pink clouds. Here on earth, she appears as a bright white star.

I began to imagine Venus as almost like a pearl from the seashell within the sea from which she was formed in the Greek myth so famously portrayed in Botticelli’s Birth of Venus painting. I put in the sun on one side and used pastel colors, on the other side of Venus, I imagined it as the sea with its mysterious depths. It was fun to play with and I’m pleased with the painting. Spring is here in Atlanta, a great time to see the gold mean pattern and appreciate all the beauty in nature.

s.

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Outer Space

Outer Space – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Outer Space is a new abstract painting of mine. In the first few abstracts I was pondering the concept in quantum physics of the particle and wave. I was picturing inner space, the invisible particles/ waves that everything is made of.

In this painting I started out with a large yellow round shape, imagining Venus but soon she was hidden with all the overlaid paint. I’m enjoying this new process of painting where I don’t have create an objective image, it’s freeing. It’s fun to play with forms and shapes and colors. This painting turned out quite sunny and vivid which makes it a good one to post on this first day of Summer here in the Western hemisphere. It’s going to be a long hot one, stay safe out there!

Rose Goddess

Rose Goddess – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Rose Goddess is another painting that I began years ago and have just now completed.  I had always loved the composition but her face was not right.  I had found the image from a photograph of a goddess statue in the Versailles gardens.  Her face had always looked too masculine, so that’s what I changed to complete her.

I have heard that my mom’s mother loved roses and had a beautiful rose garden.  She died when I was too young to remember her.  My parents both admired her and always spoke of what a wonderful and loving woman she had been.  No one ever said an unkind word about her.  I think of her and her loving qualities and wished I had gotten to know her. She had  a pair of rose vases that I feel lucky to have inherited.   The fact that my loving grandmother loved roses has stuck with me and gotten me curious about the rose symbolism.

The rose has been associated with goddesses throughout history.  In one legend the first roses sprang from the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite’s tears.  In later times the rose symbolized the beauty of romantic love.   Under Christianity, the rose became the Virgin Mary’s sacred flower, representing the divine feminine love.  The accepting feminine  loving energy is so special and much needed now.