Inspired by everything from nature and animals to rain and snow, to haunting music and poetry, to sorrow, Saigon-born Thu-Thuy Tran wanted to be an artist since childhood, though didn't learn to draw until entering high school.

From that time on she began to sketch faces. While her main education focus was literature, she spent all of her spare time poring over art books and learning about artists she would come to admire - Michelangelo, daVinci, Terbruggen, Monet, Friedrich, Durer, Rockham and Dore.

After completing her BA degree from California State University at Long Beach, Thu-Thuy enrolled in a watercolor painting class. Yet like the drawing classes she had taken previously, she was restricted to following rules and felt stifled by the structure of the classroom. With practically no fine art background, she taught herself to paint and draw - stimulated by her fascination with the watercolor medium.

"The transparency of the colors has soul," she reflects. "Perhaps the brush strokes mix with water in a way that they become individuals. It is very sensitive and delicate."

The range of her subjects, from whimsical tropical fish to delicately rendered and detailed leaf species, to sensual close-up florals or animated giraffes and frogs, are evidence of this serious and dedicated artist's prowess.

While completing her Master of Arts degree in English literature, Thu-Thuy continued to develop her own style of painting.

"When I paint," she says, "I would like to bring what I see into a beautiful or meaningful image. Perhaps I want to capture the beauty of nature and transfer it into something poetic, something that makes the audience think, as he or she looks at the painting. My goal is to create images that haunting beneath, but romantic and bright on the surface.

Thu-Thuy's work has been exhibited at LA's Pageant of Arts, LA Art Fair, Interior Space Exhibition, and Asian Women's Art Network.

Currently she teaches art to children and adults, illustrating journals and notecards, and successfully selling originals of her art.