Young girl from Sapa, Vietnam

This young girl is from Sapa,  Vietnam.  She is wearing a school uniform as evidenced by the red tie. I added the conical hat or "non la" which is made of palm leaves and bamboo.  This one has the 5 pointed star from the Vietnamese flag. I saw people wearing it in the rice fields which are the background for the portrait.

Sapa is the "City in the Fog" so there were no shadows on her face. My painting partners insisted I add some to give her features more dimension. I also added the smile. Below is the original photo. The composite is ChatGBT

Woman of the Gobi

 

It's fun to get source material from a generous professional photograher who happened to be on my trip to Mongolia. Our group encountered a rodeo in the Gobi Desert and this woman was in the crowd of onlookers. Doug had an interaction with her and captured this photo which I tried to paint. 

photo by Douglas Powell 2025