By Nicklaus Lovelady
Henry Daily Herald (McDonough, Georgia, USA)
nlovelady@henryherald.com
Manicures, pedicures, and works of art?
At Happy Nails in McDonough you’ll get a bit of it all thanks to owner Sophy Pach.
In the eight months Happy Nails has been open, the full service nail salon has attracted customers from all over Henry County because of their nail technicians. But the customers who come in get to see more than the art that’s done on their toes.
That’s because Pach’s number one hobby is painting. And while customers get their nails painted, Pach spends hours chit-chatting and painting her beautiful portraits.
“I did this one yesterday in about two hours,” Pach said Thursday morning as she put the finishing touches on a large painting of a woman in a prairie. “If I have time I can finish one in a single day, but sometimes it’s hard between the cleaning and things.”
Pach is originally from Cambodia and moved with her family to the U.S. in 1984 when she was nine-years-old. She said she learned to paint and sculpt growing up poor in her native country.
“We couldn’t afford toys so we would pull clay from the ground and make our own dolls,” She said. “And we didn’t have paper and pencils, so we drew in the sand with our fingers then erased it with our feet and drew again.”
The walls in her nail salon are full of pictures she and her sister Lina Khive have painted. Most of the portraits Pach has drawn come from her imagination.
Some are painted in acrylics, some in oil, color pencils, and some even have traces of nail polish.
“My plan is to open up an art gallery one day. If this area continues to grow I would like to open it somewhere around here,” Pach said. “This area is already growing and I’m looking forward to it growing more.”
Pach said she is going to get her art appraised and then begin selling them on eBay. Currently most of her art sales come through word of mouth.
Word of mouth is also how her shop has grown in the last year. Customers such as Chrisheena Campbell of McDonough said the nail technicians are some of the best.
“They really take their time with you,” Campbell said. “Plus, I don’t like going to those ‘bougie’ shops. I like a shop where the people are going to treat you nice and talk to you. That’s why I like this place.”
At Happy Nails in McDonough you’ll get a bit of it all thanks to owner Sophy Pach.
In the eight months Happy Nails has been open, the full service nail salon has attracted customers from all over Henry County because of their nail technicians. But the customers who come in get to see more than the art that’s done on their toes.
That’s because Pach’s number one hobby is painting. And while customers get their nails painted, Pach spends hours chit-chatting and painting her beautiful portraits.
“I did this one yesterday in about two hours,” Pach said Thursday morning as she put the finishing touches on a large painting of a woman in a prairie. “If I have time I can finish one in a single day, but sometimes it’s hard between the cleaning and things.”
Pach is originally from Cambodia and moved with her family to the U.S. in 1984 when she was nine-years-old. She said she learned to paint and sculpt growing up poor in her native country.
“We couldn’t afford toys so we would pull clay from the ground and make our own dolls,” She said. “And we didn’t have paper and pencils, so we drew in the sand with our fingers then erased it with our feet and drew again.”
The walls in her nail salon are full of pictures she and her sister Lina Khive have painted. Most of the portraits Pach has drawn come from her imagination.
Some are painted in acrylics, some in oil, color pencils, and some even have traces of nail polish.
“My plan is to open up an art gallery one day. If this area continues to grow I would like to open it somewhere around here,” Pach said. “This area is already growing and I’m looking forward to it growing more.”
Pach said she is going to get her art appraised and then begin selling them on eBay. Currently most of her art sales come through word of mouth.
Word of mouth is also how her shop has grown in the last year. Customers such as Chrisheena Campbell of McDonough said the nail technicians are some of the best.
“They really take their time with you,” Campbell said. “Plus, I don’t like going to those ‘bougie’ shops. I like a shop where the people are going to treat you nice and talk to you. That’s why I like this place.”
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