Meet Chie Russell

We recently connected with Chie Russell and have shared our conversation below.

Chie, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

When our first son was in preschool, he had a chance to take an art class as an afterschool program. I signed him up and one day, he brought home a small bottle with a beautiful sand design in it. When I saw it, I was so impressed with his art. I had never seen that kind of art. It was so beautiful, gentle and unique. His teacher told me that it was called “Sand Art” and her daughter would have workshops soon. I signed up immediately for the workshops. At that time, she and the Japanese group who brought the technique from Vietnam were trying to establish a Sand Art association in the US, so they gave us free workshops to introduce this new art. I learned the basic technique from them and after that I’ve been practicing very hard on my own for the past 5 years. After they closed down the association, I still continued to practice to improve my skill. When I saw sand animal portraits made by my Vietnamese maestro, my heart trembled in total admiration. I’d like to make a portrait like his piece one day. That’s why I’ll keep practicing forever.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I make pets & wild life animal portraits out of sand. Making their fur is sometimes very challenging, but it’s really fun. Unlike drawing or painting, I cannot go back to erase mistakes easily, so I have to make sure everything is right before moving forward, I always have to think how the sand will move and how I need to move the bamboo stick. It’s always a fight against gravity. A facial expression can change even if one grain moves, so I really have to be careful how to move the bamboo stick and keep gravity in mind all the time. Although it’s one of the most difficult parts, making an animal’s eyes are the best moments for me. The moment I can see the life in my portraits is a thrill.

I use very fine powdered sand which you cannot find at retail stores or art shops. I also use special glass frames to make sand portraits. I have a various sizes of desktop or wall hanging frames. I can also add customized wood frames if the customer desires.

Even thought my portraits are made out of sand, I pack them very well during the process and use a special glue to seal it. I have a lot of experience in shipping around the country and overseas without issues. However, I understand many people worry about the shipping, so my art pieces have a 100% guarantee with shipping (only US), so if it arrives in any damaged condition, I’ll remake it for them at no cost.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

I’ve never thought I could be an artist because I always had a complex with drawing, even though I’ve always loved art. However, when I saw Sand Art, I fell in love with it and I decided to do it immediately. My advice is to believe your inspiration and if you feel like you have something special, don’t hesitate to try it.
The most important thing is to never compare yourself to others and never give up. It’s not an easy thing, but one thing I can say is that “persistence pays off”. That’s it!

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?

Until a couple year ago, I was concentrating on making portraits like photos. One day, I realized, why would people buy portraits, even if they have pictures of their pet? What is the difference between paintings and Sand Art? I’ve been thinking every day, the whole time. I was checking out a lot of portraits made out of pastels, oil painting, water painting etc. And then I started feeling the artists’ soul in their art pieces. People buy a portrait because they love their favorite artist’s texture, touch, color expressions etc. I finally realized that I needed to change my sand portraits’ style. I don’t need to make portraits as pictures. The realism is good but I have to express my artistic soul into my art pieces. No matter what media I use, if people love my art, they’ll order it. After I realized that, I made a portrait of a pair of cats with all my soul, and it was a mega hit. The biggest in my art history. The SNS’ view is still growing and received so many positive comments and shared by media. I’m so glad that people like my art pieces. Making a sand portrait takes a long time but I put my heart and soul into each piece to create a one-of-a-kind portrait.

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