Tran Thi My Hanh, who now lives on Dong Ke Street, Hoa Khanh Bac Ward, Lien Chieu District, Da Nang, uses common pebbles to create stunning works.

Hanh is creating a pebble painting

She was passionate about painting when she was a little girl. She was so deeply impressed by a painting of a rose that she managed to draw step by step to produce such an work. Encouragingly, her painting was highly praised by everyone. “Perhaps since then, my passion for brushes and paints has engraved in my life”, said Hanh.

From early in her childhood years, Hanh always brought home some interesting-looking pebbles for play after she wandered by nearby springs. Growing up, Hanh still kept the habit of collecting lovely stones and she came up with the idea of creating eye-catching paintings on pebbles.

Hanh picks and sorts the stones based on their sizes. All collected stones have to be diligently cleaned and dried. Next, an outline needs to be created on a blank canvas, which could be made of paper, wood or fabric. It was on this layout that stones are affixed using glue. The final steps include the decoration of the stones and other materials.

To create an image of a lady in her work, for instance, Hanh envisages specific ideas, sketch the girl, appropriately arrange the pebbles and snail shells, and colour them in an attractive manner. One of the most difficult steps is how to recognise the shape of each stone and finds the right combination to illustrate real-life images.

Hanh uses common stones to create exquisite art pieces with her collection of more than 30 pebbles-studded paintings till date. Hanh said she started out with these paintings merely as a hobby. Her first paintings were made to be hung in her house, presented as gifts for friends and relatives, or used for Facebook updates.

Recently, after posting eye-catching photos of her artworks on a social network, her paintings were much loved by many people, many of whom started placing orders. What a good luck coming to her as she can live with her passion for the art of stone painting while still making money.

Given her talent and great endeavours, the 35-year-old woman indeed endows the stones with soul. Combining acrylic colours with pebbles and other material available in real life as including buttons and snail shells, Hanh created numerous beautiful artworks.

Having pursued the painting profession for over 15 years, her emotional attachment to pebbles, along with her creativity and dexterity has never ceased. 

By NAM BINH-Translated by A.T