McIvor Lake, reflections Print

My emotions dictate my painting process. I sometimes start and finish a painting en plein-air, or re-work based on a sketch and my memory in my studio. Thin washes or thick applications, paint brushes, palette knives, household items, colors, are all used freely in the dance of creation. Growing up in Hanoi, Vietnam, I was constrained by a stifling urban city with its constant social and family pressures to perform the role of an obedient daughter and a ‘model’ Vietnamese woman. Nature gives me the strength to break free from the many layers of social expectations that imprisoned me. The sun moves quickly from sunrise to sunset, and with it all colors change. A moment, once passed, will never repeat again. This ever changing aspect of clouds in the sky, water ripples in a lake, is exhilarating and freeing. I immerse myself in the infinity of nature, and let my soul take flight. I want to capture the feelings a scene stirs in me, the strength that the warm sunlight emanates. For me, painting is an endless journey of self-exploration and growth. At 17, I moved to California to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Mathematical and Computational Sciences at Stanford University. Here, I took painting classes and practiced various forms of performance arts. After graduation, I moved back to Vietnam and went to plein-air painting workshops every year in Aix-en-Provence, France, where I studied under artist Jill Steenhuis. Then, I moved to Vancouver where I pursued a Painting Certificate from the Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Currently, I am moving back and forth between Vancouver and Hanoi, Vietnam.