Anna May Wong oil portrait painting

Anna May Wong
5×7 oil portrait painting on a flat panel
Available here
Giclee prints are available here

This is an original oil portrait painting of actress Anna May Wong. She is considered the first Chinese-American film star in Hollywood, as well as the first Chinese-American film star in Hollywood.

I started painting what I thought would be a series of actresses a few years ago. My plan, if I remember right, was to pick 3 to 5 Hollywood stars from each decade. Turns out, I didn’t follow through on the series because I was experiencing severe burnout at the time.

I ended up only painting three actresses – Anna May Wong, Marilyn Monroe & Ali MacGraw. I’ll share Ali with you next week. The original Marilyn portrait isn’t for sale atm, but you can purchase giclee prints of her – square & rectangle.

I like how these have turned out. I’m debating whether or not to do a few more. I have a love/hate relationship with painting from reference photos. It doesn’t feel creative enough for me, and I put myself through a lot mentally as I’m painting.

For some reason, my brain gets really serious when I’m painting with oils, and I think I HAVE to copy every little detail in the photo exactly. I will spend days agonizing over the shape of an eye. Then I beat myself for being human, and not nearly as good as a machine (camera). This doesn’t happen when I’m creating the silly characters living in my head, which is why I prefer not using photos. If I can figure out a way of making it more fun, I might give it a try. We’ll see.

Have a lovely weekend.

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I’m posting new artwork every day here in my shop. Shipping is free within the USA, if you purchase art directly from me. I also sell originals & prints on eBay and Etsy. You can get some great deals on my weekly eBay auctions and/or on some of my flash sales I have on Etsy.

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