Monday, June 18, 2012

AWNB Performing Arts Challenge


This fortnight the theme at Art With No Boundaries is Anything Goes with the bonus round being the Performing Arts. We are playing this week with Chris Stern's (CS Designs) gorgeous images of Anna May Wong, a movie star of the '20s and '30s. Anna May was the first Chinese-American movie star and the first Asian-American to become an International star. She was also known as a fashion icon but earned her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her superb acting.

I started with an old movie reel which my husband kindly sprayed black. Because Anna May has a star on the Walk of Fame, I wanted that reflected in this piece. I embossed some gold metallic cardstock, hand cut stars and mounted them on black. The Anna May digital image was coloured with Prismacolor pencils and blended with OMS. Pearls were added to her hair next to the flowers. I printed the stamp a second time on origami paper in order to paper piece the left side so it looked like fabric.



To balance the digital image and star, and further tell her story, a collage of filmstrips printed on transparency, two cinema tickets, pearl sprays to match her hair decoration, and mulberry flowers were glued to the left side of the reel. Two hat pins and a hand made movie clapper were also added to the collection. I printed the title of one of her famous movies on the clapper to look like chalk. The other two embossed stars were added to create a visual triangle and move the eye around the piece.





This is such a fun theme and a great way to celebrate the careers of some fascinating and talented performers. I hope you will join us in this challenge. I'm really looking forward to where your imagination will take us. Remember to link back to Art With No Boundaries and to include BR (Bonus Round) in your link for the opportunity to win a Performing Arts mini phrase collection.
Thanks for visiting Anna May Wong and me.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

6 comments:

ParkNSlide said...

What an absolutely stunning piece of art!!! This belongs in one of the Stampington publications. GOOGLE Stampington submissions and send this in. Most definitely publication worthy. Ooops! I don't think they take anything that's already appeared on a blog---darn.

Paula said...

Hi Bonnie
When I first saw this on AWNB I Couldn't wait for you to add your post so I could come and see how you made it. It is Brilliant! I love it. The way you have coloured her and added all those embellishments lovely lovely artwork
Paula :o)

Ellis said...

Your creations is stunning and extra fun that you used an old movie reel for your creation, love what you have made and Anna is stunning!
Hugs, Elenor

Lori said...

How amazing is this!!! (And how cool that you had a movie reel just hanging around...) Love the pearls you added to her hair, the stick pins and flowers are especially pretty and LOVE how you told Anna May's story in your creation!

Anita Houston The Artful Maven said...

Totally fun theme for sure!!! Love this design...so original and love all the details! You have a cool stash of stuff!

Chris Stern / CS Designs said...

Bonnie, This is just so absolutely stunning, I love everything about it. You have such a great eye for detail and your work always has such depth. The old movie reel adds such authenticity, I love this one.
:) Chris / CS Designs