For the past 8 years, Nguyen Duc Du (31 years old) has been presenting calligraphy combined with 3D paintings every Lunar New Year.
In 2017, his first work - a 3D calligraphy of the word "Loc" on a winding peach branch - made a strong impression on Ho Chi Minh City's calligraphy street. To complete this work, Du had to discard 5 drafts and invest more than 50 million VND in materials.
"Just displayed on Ong Do Street, a customer immediately bought the painting for more than 20 million VND. Although it did not recoup the initial cost, I was happy with the reception from customers, so I have no regrets," Du shared.
This year, Du continues to bring 3D embossed paintings with calligraphy, which can glow at night.
"The glowing paintings are a new feature in this year's Tet works. They are very lively, with a modern look mixed with a bit of tradition, attracting the attention of visitors," Du said.
To complete a 3D calligraphy piece, Du needs at least 15 days and goes through many meticulous stages.
The first and most difficult step is to come up with an idea from the words to the painting. He has to sketch it on paper so that when he executes it, the tree curves into calligraphy letters naturally.
Next, choose the Lo Ban ruler and a beautiful bow for the picture frame according to feng shui.
Then, he chooses the material (wood or fabric) as the background for the drawing, uses stone powder and paint to create 3D relief to create shapes according to the strokes of the letters.
From shaping the tree, Du manually molds the flower with clay to create the most natural shape and embosses it onto the painting frame.
Next, color the overall picture, choose suitable proverbs to highlight the theme of the picture and apply glowing paint to the picture as the final step.
Du said that this Tet holiday, customers must order many days in advance to get the goods.
"For example, for the word 'An', I will find poems and folk songs that connect with the word," Du said.
Currently, Du makes two types of paintings: the high-end type made on natural wood costs more than 20 million VND per painting, and the regular type on plywood costs about 4 million VND. In addition to embossing apricot and peach blossoms for Tet, Du also embosses mascots suitable for that year.
Walking around the calligraphy neighborhood, stopping at Du's booth, The Toan (31 years old), a calligraphy lover, said he was very impressed with the calligraphy combined with 3D paintings of apricot and peach blossoms.
According to Mr. Toan, this is a good, lively creation that does not lose the spirit of calligraphy. "Drawing apricot and peach trees into calligraphy is quite unique. The words have pictures and are very suitable for spring colors. Calligraphy innovation is easy to get into people's hearts," he said.
For Du, calligraphy helps him become more perfect in his way of living as well as his perspective on life. Sometimes after finishing a painting, he finds a petal he is not satisfied with, so he immediately throws it away and starts over. "Everything has to be perfect, I don't spare time because the important thing is that my work has to be beautiful," Du said.
