When I was a child, my family was Catholic. My mother often took me to church, listened to melodious hymns, and especially admired the statues of the Virgin Mary, the Lord, and colorful portraits of saints... All of which gave me my first artistic impressions.

 

At the beginning of my junior high school year, my uncle gave me the book  "Self-study of Fine Arts" published by Hanoi Publishing House, written about great painters such as Nguyen Gia Tri, To Ngoc Van, Nguyen Tuong Lan, Tran Van Can. At the same time, the book had instructions on learning about the laws of perspective, neutral and cold color tones, and basic drawing lessons, and I studied it myself... In 1991, when I was 16 years old, I first painted a set of paintings of the Way of the Cross for the church, size A1, including 12 gouache paintings on paper, commissioned by Father Kiem.

 

   At the age of 18, I went to Hanoi with my high school friends and took the entrance exam to the University of Industrial Fine Arts. Being trained and educated in drawing, color composition, and specializing in fashion. During my student years, I occasionally went on sketching trips with some friends in the dormitory. After graduating, I focused on doing the social work that was needed, creating a life for myself, and designing 3D stage shows, interiors, exhibition booths, and advertising films.

 

   In 2010, during a trip to my maternal hometown, Hai Phong City, I accidentally passed by the city exhibition hall at that time, where there was an exhibition of paintings, and saw very good paintings by Hai Phong artists, and decided to go into the field of painting.

 

   After a period of struggling with work and life, now picking up a pen to draw again, the first painting I drew was quite clumsy, the colors and composition were getting used to 3D, so the painting seemed "innocent".

Through further research of documents, articles on the internet, and some art books, as well as the Facebook technology page, I have come to know many aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, and friends in the painting community and exchanged and learned how to create my own style. In addition, I have also met, interacted, and participated in exhibitions with art groups: UNESCO Fine Arts Hanoi, Group 60+, Viet Art Space (VAS), Street Watercolor Sketching Group (USK), and established the Silk Color and Vietnamese Silk Color Groups.

 

   The Silk Color and Vietnamese Silk Color Groups, consisting of artists specializing in silk painting, have successfully organized the first "Silver Fragrance" exhibition at 29 Hang Bai (Hanoi) and are continuing to prepare for the exhibition at the City History Museum. Ho Chi Minh City in early 2023.

   In addition, the group also has field trips to the homeland's frontiers: in Ha Giang to explore Dong Van Stone Plateau, Lung Cu King Meo's house, Ma Pi Leng and Hoang Sieu Phi, where the land and sky are gifted, majestic nature blends with people; in Ca Mau, there are gentle, honest people, cool climate, crisscrossing rivers, blue sky, white clouds, golden sunshine, rows of cajuput trees, water coconuts, fruit-carrying boats running busily on the river; in Can Tho, there is a folk saying "Can Tho has white rice and clear water".

 

   If I hadn't gone into painting, my life would probably be boring, just struggling with my laptop and event and exhibition clients. Entering the art path also takes a lot of time and work. However, with inspiration and passion for creativity, there is also more joy, more colleagues, and more money to travel, which CEO experts call "intellectual enjoyment".

   People often say: that artists are often "crazy". It is true to some extent. But for art lovers, it is completely normal. To have a word about the rain, you cannot just sit at home and imagine the rain and draw it, you have to wear a raincoat and go out to see what the street scene looks like in the rain. Hold up your phone and stand in the middle of the street to take pictures from different angles to get a satisfactory picture, then add more colors and exaggerate to make the scene more sparkling. When the summer sun is harsh, people run to avoid the sun, and stop their vehicles in the shade; painters go to take beautiful sunny scenes as creative materials...

 

   The beginning of my creative process was like when I was in school, I drew whatever I liked. Then gradually I realized that I should focus on a topic, for example, the streets of Hanoi, in the memory of my student years cycling to school and work in the rain and sun of Hanoi. I spent a lot of time drawing the streets and alleys of Hanoi, creating a series of paintings “Hanoi on rainy days”.

 

   In 2018, I had a solo exhibition with the theme “Hai Van Pass”, a topic that I love. The first time I went on a train to the South with my sister and passed through here, the mountains, forests, and sea were so beautiful. I chose this topic because it seemed that no artist had paid attention to it. Leisurely three days riding a motorbike from Lien Chieu, Da Nang up the winding mountain pass 21km to Lang Co - Hue, going back and forth to experience, admiring the curves, the sunlight shining through the pine forests, and the trains going to the South and North curving through tunnels and cliffs. Three days on Hai Van Pass with me in front of the majestic natural scenery was so short…

 

   Watercolor is my hobby. With watercolor, I painted both portraits and landscapes during field trips with the UNESCO Group in Bac Son, Lang Son; with the USK Group in Hanoi, Hai Phong, Hue... When drawing watercolors, you have to feel how to make the colors clear, calculate where to draw lines, where to spread, where to have light colors, and where to have dark colors.

   When I was used to drawing watercolors on paper, I started to switch to silk painting. Honestly speaking: when drawing oil paint, acrylic, and watercolor (on paper), freely and swooshing, silk painting is almost completely different, if anything, only swooshing in the sketch.

 

   When talking about silk, I immediately think of something traditional, the quintessential value of Vietnamese culture and art. So what subject and painting method should I choose to absorb and enrich the traditional value of silk painting, creating a different impression of silk paintings for viewers? Having loved folk songs and traditional music since childhood, in my silk paintings, folk musical instruments, artists, and palace maids began to appear, then decorative motifs such as the bright moon, phoenix tails, etc. I am currently drawing some “miu miu” compositions, aiming for the upcoming year of the Cat.

 

   Vietnamese silk painting has achieved many achievements, valuable works that cannot be lost over time. Today, the country is developing, and the level of art appreciation of the public is increasing, contemporary artists regardless of age need to create unique silk paintings, worthy of the tradition of silk painting art of our country, bringing Vietnamese silk paintings to a new level, comparable to Japanese, Chinese, Korean silk paintings; continuing to be the honor and pride of Vietnamese visual arts.