A field note
This painting was part of an education program I did for BIS school in Thảo Điền (now An Khánh ward). The real tortoise has a unique shell, shaped at about sixty degrees, allowing it to flip back onto its feet if turned upside down. A beautiful design, built for balance.
60 degree Indian Star Tortoise · 60 × 40 cm · Watercolor
Originals from $200 to $3,680, framed and shipped insured from his studio in Ho Chi Minh City.
Vultures · Cambodia
At Siem Pang Wildlife Sanctuary in Cambodia, three species of vultures still gather, not for feeding but to interact with each other. I watched from a hide for hours. They circled, landed, strutted, but never touched the buffalo carcass below. Jonathan Eames thinks some might be juveniles, just showing off. The smaller birds in the scene added a bit of lightness, like guests arriving late to a party.
Swift · Zambia
Many of us could watch falling water for hours, especially here, where Victoria Falls pours endlessly into the gorge. I was sitting in Livingstone, watching from the Zimbabwe side, when I noticed the swifts flying above the spray. Later I learned what species they were. Their wings echo the curve of the waterfalls: a quiet harmony in all that noise.
The painter
He paints the species of Southeast Asia, and above all the endangered ones that conservation campaigns rarely mention. Self-taught, in the field since 1999.
Commissions
Murals, scientific illustration, travelling exhibitions and workshops. Commissioned by national parks, hospitals, hotels and the WWF.
