Russian man paints pictures of Vietnam after visiting 63 provinces and cities

Russian traveler Ivan Os has a great love for Vietnam and has conveyed that feeling through a series of sketches of the places he has visited.

Ivan Os has no Vietnamese roots and has lived in many places around the world before moving to work in Binh Thuan in 2015.

He has traveled from the South to the North and back three times by motorbike. Each trip lasted from one to three months. He said that the cost of travel per day was about 400,000 VND, which is not a large amount for him. Freelance work also allows Ivan to comfortably make trips across Vietnam.

Ivan took a photo at the dinosaur spine of Ta Xua, Son La.

In the first years, Ivan spent time exploring Binh Thuan, then neighboring cities and villages such as Da Lat (Lam Dong), Nha Trang (Khanh Hoa), Phan Rang. His journeys became longer and longer because the more he learned about the country and people of Vietnam, the more fascinated Ivan became. This was also the premise for his cross-Vietnam trip.

In the summer of 2020, Ivan traveled alone on a motorbike from Mui Ne (Binh Thuan) to Da Lat, along the coastal provinces of Vietnam such as Phan Thiet, Khanh Hoa, Da Nang to the northern provinces such as Ninh Binh, Quang Ninh, Hanoi, Cao Bang, Son La, Lao Cai. In about three months, he drove to the most remote northern mountainous areas and filled Google maps with landmarks, totaling about 7,000 km.

He is good at taking photos, filming and often recording documents on his travels. However, Ivan never thought he could draw. Three months ago, he drew his first picture of Hanoi in a coffee shop near the hotel he rented. From then on, Ivan realized he had "some talent" for painting and started drawing more.

"I like to sit in cafes and draw. Ancient architecture is a subject that always attracts me," he said.

Ivan believes that the landscape of Vietnam has helped him reveal his "artistic talent". Having lived here for 8 years, Ivan has learned more about the cultural and culinary diversity and witnessed the "incredible" development speed of Vietnam. This has inspired him to record interesting moments of life here.

However, Ivan is no longer interested in technology and wants to "return to nature". Painting helps him find peaceful moments in a busy life and brings emotions that technology devices have difficulty conveying.

There are many schools of painting but Ivan just likes simplicity. He has a few sheets of drawing paper, pens, water colors and everything fits in his bag so he can easily paint anywhere.

Ivan’s paintings are drawn in sketch style. Some are painted on the spot, while others are drawn from photos taken by Ivan. To date, Ivan has painted about 30 paintings of Vietnam, mainly of places such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Hoi An.

Each painting takes a different amount of time to complete, some only take an hour, while others take a whole week. Ivan says he doesn’t focus on finishing one painting, but often works on several at once. This method helps him improve his creativity and avoid focusing too much on just one thing.

Ivan was most satisfied with the painting of a house with a typical yellow paint color in Hoi An (Quang Nam). He said he did a good job of recreating the gentle atmosphere of the old town because he had the opportunity to fully experience the quiet old town space, without any tourists, while "stuck" in Hoi An during the pandemic.

That is also the reason why he painted many pictures of Hoi An. In addition to this picture, Ivan also painted boats on the Thu Bon River, the Japanese Covered Bridge and street vendors in the old town.

In the near future, Ivan plans to travel to the northern mountainous regions to learn more about the culture of ethnic people to use as creative materials. In addition, Ivan also plans to use gold leaf to make the painting more impressive. He dreams of publishing a book of drawings about Vietnam if he can go far in his painting career.

Tu Nguyen

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