VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese sand paintings will be exhibited in Birmingham city, the UK, on July 7, under the Pure Art program.

Pure Art is among events of West Midlands region to welcome the visit by Queen Elizabeth II on the occasion of her 60th anniversary on the throne.

Vietnamese artist Thuy Van has created a large-sized sand portrait of the queen, 1.25x0.9m, based on the original oil painting “Elizabeth II” by Leonard Boden, for this event.

The artist used 10 colors of sand, 8 of them are natural colors. Only two are artificial colors, in order to make the color of the queen’s royal robe to look natural. The portrait was completed after two months, weighing up to 160 kilos.

Enframed sand paintings appeared in Vietnam over ten years ago. This is the first time this unique art is being introduced in the UK. The event attracted the attention of some famous people in the UK.




Millionaire Kevin Green was very interested in the sand portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and agreed to be a speaker at the exhibition, with a presentation entitled “Art and Commerce.”

Another artist – Tri Duc – will join the event by a 30-minute performance to tell about the 60-year life of Queen Elizabeth by sand paintings.

To prepare for the show, Tri Duc read a lot of books about the queen and carefully selected music in order to bring about an unforgettable feeling to British audience.

Pure Art, jointly held by the UK-based OST Ltd and Vietnam’s Phuong Vy sand painting company, will be the opening for many other programs to introduce Vietnam’s unique fine-art handicrafts in the UK.

Compiled by Mai Lan