FOUNTAIN VALLEY : An Insightful Portrait of a Resolute Artist

As he prepares to paint, Truong Vinh Quach wedges a brush between the first and second fingers on his right hand.

“When I first started, it was difficult to paint with four fingers,” Quach said through an interpreter. “But now I’m used to it.”

Quach, 56, who was born in Saigon, was wounded during the Vietnam War when his right thumb was blown off by a grenade in 1966. He also lost his left leg and his left arm, and his right cheekbone was shattered.

But Quach of Westminster refuses to let his disability interfere with his aspirations to become a successful artist in his new country. “I would like to use my skill and talents to contribute to our society,” said Quach, who immigrated in 1986 with his wife and son after trying to gain entry to the United States for 11 years.

Quach, who graduated from law school in Vietnam, said he was afraid he would be a burden to society because of his disability. To support his family, Quach turned to painting after the South Vietnamese government fell to the communists in 1975, and he wasn’t allowed to pursue a career in law. He said he decided then that if he could sell his artwork, he’d be “less miserable.”

Since his arrival in the United States, Quach has earned a certificate in visual and fine art from Coastline Community College and has received art awards, scholarships and accolades. Quach said he has surpassed his own artistic expectations.

In a recommendation, art professor Dianne L. Walling wrote that Quach’s “talent and physical disabilities only inspired other students.”

Quach, whose father and grandfather also were artists, said his forte is oil portraits. So when Coastline officials sought an artist to paint a portrait of the school’s newest president, Dr. Leslie Purdy, Quach was selected. He said he was honored to paint Purdy’s portrait, which hangs in the college’s lobby.

Quach said he hopes to find a job using his artistic talents, so he can be “a good citizen of the United States.”