Arriving to Vietnam

This was the first piece I created since moving to Vietnam. I am based in HCMC and as anyone would tell you the most striking and noticeable scenes are all those bikes. It is quite phenomenal how they flow through in organized chaos. I love the movement, craziness and colour so thought I’d try to capture that in my paintings. This was the first attempt.

Then I decided to try an adapt my Ghana style to a Vietnamese scene. There are actually a few similarities and of course many differences. I do miss the fabrics, beads and smiles of Africa however Vietnam offers pavements, trees, markets, restaurants, awesome food and of course my favourite sight the scooters and their loads. I love the balloon sellers, scooters piled high with flowers, plants and goldfish!

I still wanted to try and capture the flow of the traffic so this is the first of my “new”style. I still love having one detailed figure to pull you in and define the setting but I had so much fun capturing the traffic. As I painted I swished my arms around like the brush was the bike traveling through the canvas. This painting was sold but it is still one of my favourites.

Organized chaos but also occasionally grid lock traffic. I wanted this piece to be more dynamic and have a slightly woven feel to it. As this is a smaller canvas there was no space for rollers or texture so you could say this is the first of a completely different style.

I have always wanted to play with a white stark background and now that I am not using the rollers in this piece I decided why not. I am very happy with the balloon seller and the shape of the traffic. I wanted the cars to be stylized but am not sure if it really worked. There is gold on some of the balloons so when the sun hits the canvas is shines.

This is more like my Ghana paintings with the use of rollers, texture and quotes. It sold to a friend living in Venezuela so it is now in rather an exotic location!

Combining both styles again with the use of rollers, quotes, traffic and the focal point. I am really happy with the figures on the bike because they truly capture a daily scene here in HCMC. I started using very similar colours in my paintings so I tried to make this one more neutral.

This is my current painting in progress. I was playing with an iPad app and loved the results so much thought I’d try to capture it in paint. Of course the app looks completely different however the effect with the bubbles and patterns have given it a mystical feel. The mood is light, happy and airy. The food seller is a seller I saw in the Mekong. As there were a few images to catch up on I have kept the descriptions brief.