Golden Age, Silver Screen - ACEO

Inspired by footage in vintage films from the Golden Age of Egyptian cinema, this little piece of art will be sure to delight appreciators of classic Raqs Sharqi. I was drawn to create a small homage to the elegant ladies of the silver screen after viewing some clips of such notable bellydancers as Tahiya Karioka, Samia Gamal, and Naima Akef. The particular dancer depicted here has just made her entrance accompanied by a swirling veil. Her smile is contagious.

This image is nearly monochromatic in shades of soft, warm greys, sparkles of antique white, and black linework overlaid on toned paper, evoking the look of an aged black & white movie.

Available at my Etsy shop!

Tribal Fusionista - ACEO

This ACEO features a feisty tribal fusion bellydancer. She's adorned her arms with fishnet gauntlets and kuchi cuffs and her hair with a peacock feather and a vibrant poppy. Her burgundy hair and costume forms a striking combination with the teal background, and her figure is accented with a bright shade of lime green. I do not encounter too many fusion dancers who play zills in their performances, but I love zills and have a habit of incorporating them into my work.

Dancing the Tides

Poet Joshua Gage has written pieces inspired by my artwork before, this time he took my little drawing Drum Solo in Blue as a muse (and was kind enough to mention it). You can find his poem published in the Summer 2009 issue of Goblin Fruit: Raqs Sharqi. Enjoy some bellydance-themed verse :)

Zils & Lilies - ACEO

A sister drawing to the previously-posted Gold & Paisley image, this delightful little piece of original art depicts a tribal style bellydancer with lily-adorned hair zilling away to a Middle Eastern rhythm. A sweet shade of sunset pink highlights the dancer and some details in her costume, and a border of purple frames the image.

Both this ACEO and Gold & Paisley utilize the same techniques and are similar in style; they were created almost as a pair within days of each other. I'm not thrilled with this piece (the hands, although intended to be highly stylized turned out really wonky) but it was fun to make.

media • pen and ink; markers; watercolor; acrylic
size • 2.5 x 3.5 inches

Gold & Paisley - ACEO

Tribal bellydance is often described as being very earthy and grounded, and I feel this little piece of art expresses those aspects of the dance well. Warm colors and organic patterns inspired by paisley designs lend themselves to that theme.

The essential line work forming the dancer was drawn with a large bamboo pen dipped in dark blue ink which was then shaded with markers in hues of brown and terra cotta. The image was then accented with acrylic paint in a sunny shade of goldenrod.

This drawing is in a slightly different style than my previous bellydance-themed ACEOs. It is not as tight and precise. The bamboo pen lends a very loose, fluid quality to the drawing which I really enjoy.

media • pen and ink; markers; acrylic
size • 2.5 x 3.5 inches

Drum Solo in Blue - ACEO

I've illustrated some Tribal style bellydancers, and I thought it was time to turn my attention to a more traditional Raks Sharqi theme and draw inspiration from lovely Cabaret style bellydancers.

This dancer in a blue, turquoise, and teal bedlah displays some of the exuberance I've seen in live performances where the dancer is truly enveloped in the music. As the title indicates, it's meant to illustrate my favorite type of bellydance pieces, the drum solo. The powerful rhythm of the doumbek becomes a visual pattern emanating from the drum, and nothing exists but the beat and the dance.

Although it cannot be appreciated in the digital version of the artwork, there is a special treat which can be experienced when you see the original. I used touches of slightly metallic acrylic paint to highlight some line work in the image, so that when you see the original from different angles it has a pretty shimmer effect. This touch seemed really appropriate for a Cabaret style dancer to suggest the glitter of the sequins and the sparkle of the beads their costumes.

Media: pen and ink; watercolor; acrylic
Size: 2.5 x 3.5 inches

Sword Dancer - ACEO

This ACEO is inspired by some Tribal bellydance sword performances I have seen recently, namely a double sword piece that Belladonna performed at the BellyJam last month. I've seen dancers use swords before, of course, but none of the previous ones I've seen were that dynamic; the other performances I've encountered typically followed a formula of "pick up sword, balance on head for a few minutes while doing some slow moves, remove sword and continue." I was so impressed that I bought Belladonna's DVD Sword Stylizations to try to incorporate a sword into my own practice. It would help to actually have a sword though - and I'm working on that part! I purchased a lovely copper-colored saber from Audrena's International Bazaar and have been patiently (okay, maybe not so patiently) awaiting its arrival for a few weeks. If the blasted doorbell for my apartment was actually functional, I believe I would have received it today but alas I have to wait until tomorrow when DHL redelivers it, but I digress...

In this image, a dancer decked out in her finery of cowries and coins displays her saber. This piece's subtitle is "brought to you by the number seven." My boyfriend noted while this piece was in progress that the negative space around the dancer is in the shape of a seven.

I really love the color scheme of this piece. I've been obsessed with orange as of late, and this piece provided me with an excuse to indulge in that color family. A delicate line of nearly florescent orange traces its way around the figure and sword. Elsewhere in the image there are rich vermilion, burgundy, and gold tones.

Media: pen and ink; markers (highlighter and Sharpie); watercolor; acrylic
Size: 2.5 x 3.5 inches

Modern Orientalism - ACEO

This is an ACEO, an acronym which stands for Art Cards, Editions and Originals and denote small pieces of artwork 2.5 inches x 3.5 inches in size, I began late Sunday night and completed Monday. It's a homage to contemporary Tribal Fusion belly dancers and to the Orientalist trends in art over the past few centuries, particularly in Art Nouveau style pieces and in the art of people like Erté.

I really enjoy the theme and hope to explore it a bit further in future ACEOs. I don't think this is my best work, but I wanted to show that I am in fact still alive and making artwork! While this particular piece has been purchased, I do have other bellydance-related ACEOs in progress.

Tribal Bellydance in Art

I discovered the following lovely drawing on the blog of Portuguese illustrator Joao Lemos. It features a sequential art/comic book format line drawing of some tribal bellydancers (judging by the costuming and coordinated movements at least, but you never know) balancing swords in the lower panel and a dancer in the upper panel who, I think, is working with a veil. On close inspection, one of the dancers in the lower panel is also playing zils! Yay for beautiful representations of bellydance in the graphic arts!

You can see more of Joao's work by visiting his blog.

Lunar Zils

I've been taking bellydance classes for the past few months (prior to that I had been teaching myself via books and DVDs), and I absolutely love it both as an artform and as exercise. The other day I discovered that my bellydance teacher Simone has a website for herself under construction called "Moon Goddess Bellydance" and I found the title really inspiring. I have numerous sketches for graphics, like this one, as well as logos relating to it. I may actually show them to my teacher one of these days, but in the meantime they've provided me with an interesting personal assignment to get my creative juices flowing. In this case, the circular form of a zil, or finger cymbal, cradles a lunar crescent.

The original is pen and ink which has been refined in Photoshop.