Soaring Dove of Peace

Monday, September 21st is the International Day of Peace. I’ve painted a white dove of peace to honor the day for seven years now. Soaring Dove of Peace is this year’s painting, my first dove on the larger paper. With the extra space I decided to play with my new abstract style. I like the way it almost looks like stained glass

International Day of Peace is observed by people all over the world to encourage peace within and among nations. This year is the 75th year anniversary and the is theme “Shaping Peace Together.”  The UN invited millions of people throughout the world to join in a global conversation on building a peaceful and prosperous future which has become even more important with the global pandemic.  The UN General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, through observing 24 hours of non-violence and cease-fire. There are activities going on all weekend leading up to Monday.

If you are interested in learning more about the International Day of Peace  and events occurring check out this link: International Day of Peace 2020

Sooner Than Later

Sooner than Later – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

We’ve been sheltering in place for about four weeks now. It’s getting tiresome, but at least the spring season is beautiful here. With the loud city sounds gone, the quiet brings back memories of an earlier time, a sense of calmness prevails. On my daily walks it’s easier to notice the birds singing and it’s also fun to see so many young families out and about.

Prior to the pandemic I had planned to get more framed prints out into local cafes and yoga studios and also to seek out galleries that may want to show my originals, now with all that on hold, I’ve got plenty of time to paint. Sooner than Later is my newest painting. Can you tell it was inspired by the pandemic?

I love painting both doves and crows and this is my third painting with both together. I view doves as a symbol of peace and crows as a symbol of magic and transformation. It was fun to paint, I spent hours playing with colors of the orbs within the sky. The particles we breathe in and out connect us all, for better or worse.

I wanted to do an uplifting painting using both light and darkness. Covid-19 is revealing dark outdated systems that don’t work for the welfare of all. Hopefully, sooner that later, our world will change for the better; with more peace, less war; more harmony, less destruction of our natural world and more equality for all people throughout the world.

Soaring White Dove

Soaring White Dove – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

I have to say that it feels good to be back painting. I’ve just completed Soaring White Dove in time for International Day of Peace 2019, which is today, September 21st. This year the focus is on climate change; certainly caring for the earth will aid in bringing peace. Here is a link with details: International Day of Peace. Because of this theme I decided to paint a dove showing a beautiful landscape below. Yesterday was inspiring and encouraging to see young people from around the globe demonstrating in the fight against climate change.

My daughter has gotten her first full time job in her field at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. She moved last week and texted me photos of the view from her apartment with the mountains in the distance which she finds beautiful. We are happy that she’s found an interesting job for herself in a new geographic area as she loves traveling and experiencing new places. Her photos gave me the idea to paint a scene with mountains reflecting the sunlight.

WordPress wished me, “Happy Anniversary” this week. I saw that I have been blogging for seven years now which is hard to believe. I’ve also been painting doves for Peace Day for many years. Some of the paintings more successful than others. My favorite is Through the Storm which I painted two years ago. I like this one also and hope you do too!

Through the Storm

Each year around this time I paint a white dove in honor of International Peace Day which occurs on September 21st. On Monday as Tropical Storm Irma was blowing through Atlanta I decided to paint a new dove.

It was a stressful day for my husband as he was in the last stages of finishing up a big job and couldn’t afford to lose time in a power outage.   I have a large studio window upstairs and watched the big trees in the back yard sway back and forth.  The winds felt relentless, with big gusts coming through every few hours.  In our neighborhood alone around seven or so large trees came down;  many of our neighbors lost power.   Half of our county lost power, with the children just returning to school yesterday.  We were very, very lucky to have kept our power and also the internet service which was equally as important for my husband.  It was quite a storm and my heart goes out to all that suffered loss.

I was pondering why the dove is a symbol of peace and thought one reason is the beautiful curves it has, the rounded head and nicely feminine, curved form.    I tried to accent that in this  painting.  I then kept painting curving colors around and through the  dove.  I starting seeing all the curves that I was painting as the wind that I was hearing.  It was a good distraction from our fears of losing power.

I liked the way it turned out.   When I look at this dove it makes me think of  these powerful natural events that touch us and in some ways bring our humanity out as we come together to help and renew.

Floating Mermaid

Floating Mermaid- acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Here is my new painting, Floating Mermaid.  It’s feels good to be back to painting as I have had a long break.   In early May, I took a road trip with my twin sister up to New York City.  We met up with my two other sisters in New Jersey at my aunt’s home and had such a great reunion, also enjoying visiting with cousins and my aunt.   It had been over ten years since we had all been together.   We then took the train into Manhattan and  got to spend time with my daughter who was finishing up her freshman year at NYU.  She loves being in the city and it was reassuring to see how she was thriving.

Once she came home for summer break,  an opportunity opened up for her to spend five weeks in China teaching English and visiting with Chinese friends she had made at school.  It was all very sudden and with me helping her get ready for her adventure and having her home I found it challenging to focus on my art.

She’s been in China a week now and is enjoying herself and I am back to painting.  This floating mermaid is the result.  In life there are times we have to let go, relax and trust.  As a mom, I was nervous about my 18 year old girl  traveling on her own half way around the world.   At this point, part of my journey as a mom is to let go and trust my   child’s own path in life.    In this painting I wanted to show a mermaid relaxing in the water as the sun shines on her with the white dove of peace soaring above her, knowing all is well.

I hope all are enjoying summer,  whether you are home relaxing or off on exciting adventures!

 

Peace Dove Rising

Peace Dove Rising – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Peace Dove Rising  is my new painting.  Each year in honor of International Day of Peace (Sept. 21st) I paint a white dove.  It’s a day is observed by people all over the world to encourage peace within and among nations. Last year’s painting was a night scene which I titled, Darkest Before Dawn because at that time things appeared bleak.  This year I felt like painting a happy, uplifted dove.  It seems to me that progress is being made.  There have been new major agreements occurring between nations.  Leaders, political and spiritual, are shining light on major problems in our world in which we the people can come together and  solve. 

My husband and I took our daughter up to New York City for college three weeks ago and are adjusting to being empty nesters,  it feels good to be settling down a bit and getting back to painting.  If you are interested in learning more about the International Day of Peace  and events occurring check out this link: http://www.internationaldayofpeace.org/

Purchase print here:  Peace Dove Rising

Darkest Before Dawn

Darkest before Dawn – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Darkest Before Dawn is my new painting.  Each year around the International Day of Peace I like to paint a dove of peace.  I’m a little behind the curve as the date was on September 21st but better late than never.  I decided to paint a dove flying at night as lately it seems that there is a continuous stream of bad news in regards to world and national events.  It is my feeling that the negativity that we are seeing and that many are experiencing will pass sooner rather than later and that actually many positive things are happening under the radar of the sensational news.

With the new season I seem to be settling down and better able to focus on painting which feels good.  May this new season bring with it more hope and peace to everyone.

The Dove and the Crow

The Dove and the Crow – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Spring is here!  The cherry tree blossoms are out along with the early flowering shrubs and  bulbs.  It’s lovely and the weather is forecast to be mild this weekend.  I plan to get some gardening in.  Here is my most recent painting, The Dove and the Crow.   I got the idea to paint these two very different birds together because I’ve been thinking about how our world needs more balance.   The white dove symbolizes peace while the black crow symbolizes wisdom and magic.   I’ve painted them looking back at one another as if they could make a connection.

There are many conflicts now between the West and East, rich and poor, progressives and conservatives, religious and secular…  After a while you wonder why there is so much extreme polarity and why people don’t work together in a balanced way.   The Spring equinox brings with it balance with the day and night being equal.  Wouldn’t it be great if we could work together through these differences to solve the challenging issues before us.  Happy Spring to All!

Dove of Peace

Dove of Peace – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Today September 21st is the International Day of Peace, a day observed by people all over the world to encourage peace within and among nations.  In honor of the day I was inspired to paint a new white dove which I’ve titled  Dove of Peace.  I had painted two other whites doves years ago and wanted this painting to match the style to the other two.  It was a joy for me to paint. This past week I’ve felt encouraged about our world becoming more peaceful.  My hope is that people are so tired of war that they will encourage governments to use diplomacy to get people working together to resolve conflicts that will bring peace throughout the world.  To learn more about the day and events occurring you can go to this link: http://www.internationaldayofpeace.org/

Happy Easter

White Dove in Flight – acrylic painting by Heni Sandoval

Love lights up the world…with its generous flames. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson