There Cannot Be a Sea

I wish this picture could be bigger but nothing else will fit. You get the general idea. Anyway, This poem "There Cannot Be a Sea" is by 2oth century Vietnamese poet Lam Thi My Da. It was written during the Vietnam war and translated for American audiences. I love the imagery in this poem and wanted to represent it true to Vietnamese tradition in art. The poem was intended to communicate the beauty of the Vietnamese people and culture and that's what I hope to achieve. I researched traditional Vietnamese art and found that they prefer to work off of dark canvases and that tapestries are a royal luxury and cultural expression. I was going for a rich, antique feel with lots of curves and movement.