The Daydream Hills

This painting was commissioned by a dear collector of mine. He had an empty wall in his living room and a green sofa set. After watching a video of the space, I spent quite a bit of time thinking it over. He’s a foreigner, someone who loves grandeur – nothing too feminine. Both he and his wife are collectors of my work. It might sound funny, but they’re actually two separate collectors, each with their own taste, even though they’re married.

His taste in art is completely different from hers. She tends to like the same kind of paintings I do -feminine, serene, and delicate. He, on the other hand, being Western, has a more distinct and bold preference. The first piece he collected from me had a clear European post-impressionist influence. So even though his brief was quite open – just something majestic and not too feminine – painting for a foreigner living in Vietnam, and creating a space that truly resonates with him, was still quite a challenge.

Although he didn’t ask for a sketch, I painted a small one as a birthday gift, which I shared a few weeks ago. The response I got was: “We don’t dare say anything!” So that was the end of my attempt to get feedback – I just had to dive in and paint.

This painting gave me so many emotions during the process. The upper half is made entirely with colored lines – one wrong move and it would’ve been ruined. I didn’t use this effect in the small sketch. But instead of being tense about making mistakes, I found myself truly enjoying the act of focusing on each flowing line, and painted that entire section in one sitting before moving on to the rest.

If you ask me what place this painting depicts – is it Da Lat again? – my answer would be: no, it’s not. I don’t even know where this is. It’s a place born entirely from imagination, both Asian and European at once – don’t you feel that too? Maybe because I’ve wandered so much and seen so many beautiful places, they’ve all seeped into me in this oddly layered way. But above all, it’s a bright, peaceful, and poetic place.

I’m grateful to the collector for giving me the opportunity to paint something I truly enjoyed.

After I posted this painting on Instagram, a British artist messaged me to say how much they loved it. They’d been following the progress since I shared the trial version. In her message, she told me that both she and her husband really loved the final piece. So maybe, just maybe – it is the kind of painting that speaks to Western tastes.

View full specifications of the painting here.