Blogs by Anne Belov

Pigments, Perspectives, and Pandas || Pssst. Can I interest You in A Vermeer?

by Anne Belov in Blogs, Visual Art

This weekend marks the fifth year of Forgeries@Froggwell and, in my not-so-humble opinion, it’s going to be a doozy of a show. What began as sort of a visual bón mót has grown to be a much-anticipated biannual event.

The question of “why” always comes up when I talk about the show. One answer is that it’s a whole lot of fun, not to mention a challenge. I can’t answer for every artist in the show, but for me, it boils down to a couple of things: I think that visual artists learn by looking rather than reading about how to do something. Trying to replicate what they see visually requires lots of trial and error, decision-making, and experimentation.

Pigments, Perspectives, and Pandas || Second Acts and Early Exits

by Anne Belov in Blogs, Visual Art

The other evening, at a Whidbey Life Magazine get together, Harry Anderson reflected that there were many people who had moved to Whidbey for the “second act” of their life. It made me think about Kent Lovelace. He spent decades being a printmaker, but eventually, he was ready to move beyond that into full-time painting.

You could say that Kent had gone well past the second act and was on the fourth or fifth, as he moved from printmaker, to gallery owner, back to contract printing for other artists, and then to painting and a new life on Whidbey Island.

The things I remember about Kent are these: That he was always generous with praise for other artists’ work, that he was kind, and that he was never afraid to take his art in a completely new direction from where it had previously traveled.

His early exit was a cruel one. I’m so sorry there are no more acts in this play.

Pigment, Perspectives, and Pandas || Through the Looking Glass

by Anne Belov in Blogs

I recently returned from what I would have to call a very improbable journey. When I first dipped my toes into the fast-moving stream of social media, it was reluctantly and with great trepidation.

What if everyone out there is a complete weirdo?
What if no one reads my blog?
What if they think I’m a complete weirdo???

I started my blog (The Panda Chronicles) to share my panda cartoons with a wider audience than whoever I could catch unawares in the produce aisles of Payless, waving a stack of cartoons in the air.

Pigment, Perspectives, and Pandas || The Best of Times

by Anne Belov in Blogs, Feature, Visual Art

Even at the best of times, an artist’s income is precarious. What is hard, especially in times of social upheaval, is when you want to contribute, but your income can barely stretch to your mortgage and groceries, let alone a generous donation to an organization you believe in. So I was really excited when I read of cartoonist Sara Gliddon, who had come up with a great plan to generate donations for the ACLU. She started the ball rolling and many other comics artists took her idea and ran with it, so I did too.

Pigment, Perspectives, and Pandas || What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been

by Anne Belov in Blogs, Humor

I, like many people these days, have been somewhat out of sorts. Okay, that is an understatement. I have been stressed out, depressed, and despondent like I haven’t been since my post-college boyfriend dumped me for one of my best friends. My cupcake consumption is WAY up. It’s been that kind of month. Can you stand one more post about…um…you know what?

Pigment, Perspectives and Pandas || A Work in Progress or How a ‘Bear of Little Brain’ Started My Career

by Anne Belov in Blogs, Humor, Visual Art

My earliest memory of seeing artwork that inspired me to become an artist did not come from a museum or a gallery. I think the first artwork that I ever saw that made me say, “I want to do that!” was my copy of “Winnie the Pooh” by A. A. Milne, illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard.

Pigment, Perspectives and Pandas || Bright Shiny Things

by Anne Belov in Blogs, Feature, Visual Art

BY ANNE BELOV August 17, 2016 Okay, Okay. I admit it. I have magpie tendencies, collecting objects that I like or that I think may have use for down the road. When you add the magpie tendencies to the packrat predilection, you have a crisis brewing. Part of the problem is that I’ve lived in […]

Pigment, Perspectives and Pandas || Busy, Busy, Busy

by Anne Belov in Blogs, Humor, Literary, Visual Art

You hear it everywhere you go: I’m so busy; I’m too busy; my children have a packed schedule; Lunch? Let me look at my calendar… I think I have a Tuesday next August. Does that work for you?

Pigment, Perspectives and Pandas || Sitting on Top of the World

by Anne Belov in Blogs, Visual Art

When I first got out of graduate school and headed off into what passes for the real world, I had many ideas about what success would look like.

Pigment, Perspectives and Pandas || Living with Nature

by Anne Belov in Blogs, Gardens, Visual Art

Getting outside to garden for at least one hour a day is essential for those of us who spend our working lives seated at an easel or in front of a computer screen. And when I say gardening, what I really mean is bludgeoning nature into submission.

Pigment, Perspectives and Pandas || The Season of Light(s)

by Anne Belov in Blogs, Visual Art

For some reason, people like to call this time of year the season of light. Really, it is the season of dark, as far as I’m concerned. This time of year, I question my judgment, for making the decision to move, and then stay in the Pacific Northwest. These short days lead to endless introspection. They lead to turning on as many lights as possible. Maybe it’s actually the season of lights, come to think of it.

Pigment, Perspectives and Pandas || We’re Gonna Have a Resolution

by Anne Belov in Blogs, Literary, Visual Art

Is it a bad thing to admit that I was just reminded that I had a post due and that it was due…um…tonight? Do I need to make some Fall Resolutions to recommit to my previously organized ways?

‘Forgeries at Froggwell’ set for Friday, July 31 through Sunday, August 2

by Anne Belov in Feature, Gardens, More Stories, Visual Art

You can hardly throw a rock on Whidbey Island without hitting an artist, (or, for that matter, a yoga instructor.) But while we’re well endowed with contemporary artworks, you have to travel quite a long way to enjoy great art from past centuries.

Pigment, Perspectives and Pandas || Taking The Long View

by Anne Belov in Blogs, Gardens, Visual Art

I’ve been thinking about trees recently. I moved into my house almost 15 years ago and—like many garden-obsessed Northwesterners—immediately started planting things, especially trees.

“I own the dirt! I can plant trees!” (…trees being a long-term investment, of course).

Pigment, Perspective, and Pandas | The Idea Factory

by Anne Belov in Blogs, Humor, Visual Art

People want to know, especially about my cartoons, as they have no idea how I thought that up, and just what it had to do with pandas in the first place.

On the Road Again, with Pigment, Perspective, and Pandas

by Anne Belov in Blogs, Literary, Visual Art

Dec 10, 2014 On the Road Again… When I make comics, it’s hard sometimes not to feel like I am engaging in a lesser form of art making, if indeed it is even part of the art world at all. Comics? Puh-leeze! Is that what you went to art school for? If comics were serious […]

Pandamorphosis at Clinton Library Holiday Event

by Anne Belov in Literary, Member News, Visual Art

Dec. 10, 2014 Anne Belov will sign and sell her latest book, “Pandamorphosis,” at the Clinton Library Holiday Festival. She will also have all of her “Panda Chronicles” series books for sale as well. The event takes place at the Clinton Community Hall, 6411 Central Avenue in Clinton , from 2 until 4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. […]

Virtual Gallery Nov. 2014 | Shaunna Baganz

by Anne Belov in Virtual Gallery, Visual Art

Nov. 1, 2014 What? It’s November already? Where did the summer go? As we say farewell to the sun-filled, warm days of summer and move into the gray soggy darkness that is November and winter in the Northwest, we also say farewell to the Virtual Gallery feature. We wanted to go out in a blaze […]

Virtual Gallery Oct. 2014 | Evelyn Woods

by Anne Belov in Virtual Gallery

Oct. 1, 2014 October marks the beginning of the winter for me, yes, I know there are actually over two months to go before winter really sets in, but the shortened days, the chill in the air, and the leafless trees are the writing on the wall that remind me that the shortest days of […]

Pigment, Perspective, and Pandas | What Day Is It Anyway?

by Anne Belov in Blogs, Visual Art

BY ANNE BELOV Sept. 18, 2014 There are so many different “Special Day” designations that it’s hard to keep them all straight. For instance, this Saturday, Sept. 20,  is International Red Panda Day (who knew?) a day to celebrate those cute little critters that sort of look like red-headed raccoons and are no relation whatsoever […]

Pigment, Perspective, and Pandas | Creative Independence Day

by Anne Belov in Blogs, Visual Art

If you think about it, all of us who work in the creative pursuits are really independent contractors. Whether we show our work in a gallery, perform with an orchestra or dance in the streets, we owe it to our audience—not to mention to ourselves—to march to the beat of our own drum.

June brings Buffy Cribbs and Bruce Morrow to the WLM Virtual Gallery

by Anne Belov in More Stories, Visual Art

By the time June rolls around, we Northwesterners are starved for color, so this month’s Virtual Gallery brings it to you in abundance. The work of Bruce Morrow and Buffy Cribbs shimmers with vibrant hues and tales both imaginary and real.

Georgia Gerber and Frances Wood are featured in the May WLM Virtual Gallery

by Anne Belov in Feature, More Stories, Visual Art

Spring has arrived on Whidbey Island, and creativity takes flight. Or maybe I should say that creativity is for the birds. The eagles have begun nesting at Froggwell, the swallows have returned to Whidbey, and this morning I saw that the osprey had returned to their nest on a power pole about two miles north of Freeland.

Perspective, Pigments, and Pandas | Getting Real

by Anne Belov in Blogs, Visual Art

We read about an exhibition of John Singer Sargent’s watercolors that was being shown at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Mass. We said, “Let’s go…and while we’re in the neighborhood, why don’t we go to New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington D.C. While we’re at it?”

Painters Sandy Byers and Cary Jurriaans are featured in April’s Virtual Gallery

by Anne Belov in Feature, More Stories, Visual Art

While April showers are having their way with us, we turn to two painters of the world around us, in hopes that we can call springtime weather to us just a little sooner. Or, at least distract ourselves from the storms that soak our gardens and keep us indoors.

Virtual Gallery April 2014 | Byers / Jurriaans

by Anne Belov in Virtual Gallery, Visual Art

While April showers are having their way with us, we turn to two painters of the world around us, in hopes that we can call springtime weather to us just a little sooner. Or at least distract ourselves from the storms that soak our gardens and keep us indoors. Cary Jurriaans was born in Holland. The Dutch […]

Rob Schouten and John Ursillo featured in the WLM February Virtual Gallery

by Anne Belov in More Stories, Visual Art

Some say God is in the details, or is that “the devil’s in the details?” I can never remember for sure, but you can be assured that this month’s Virtual Gallery artists have an abundance of detail in their work.

Pigment, Pandas and Perspective | ‘By the Power Vested in Me …’

by Anne Belov in Blogs, Visual Art

ALL artists, not just members, are eligible to have their work displayed in the WLM Virtual Gallery.

Pigment, Pandas and Perspective | It IS a Wonderful Life

by Anne Belov in Blogs, Visual Art

WLM has done more to raise the profile of all of us creative types than any one organization has done since I moved here 24 years ago.

Pigment, Pandas, and Perspective: The power of endorsement

by Anne Belov in Blogs, Visual Art

Having done two Kickstarter projects and assisted on three others, I’ve become sort of a crowd-funding junkie. I follow and support other projects, as well.

Pigment, Pandas and Perspective: Tidy up and create

by Anne Belov in Blogs, Visual Art

There’s a reason why so many visual artists live on Whidbey.

Fake it ’til you make it: Forgery for fun and profit

by Anne Belov in Blogs, Visual Art

Part of the fun is for the artists to create a story and provenance for their painting, thus lending credence to the idea that just maybe, it was a real, unknown great art discovery.

More generosity from the cosmos — Belov on Kickstarter

by Anne Belov in Blogs

Putting your work on Kickstarter gives you a world stage, on which we are all players.

Anne Belov on the indisputable and long-lasting value of art in schools

by Anne Belov in Blogs, Visual Art

… learning to think visually can expand our capacity to solve all kinds of problems, not just visual ones

Belov on creating histories for the characters in her cartoon

by Anne Belov in Blogs, Visual Art

At its heart, a comic is as much a written work as a visual one.

Belov on the value of connections an artist makes beyond the studio

by Anne Belov in Blogs, Visual Art

But even if you get an answer from that gallery, you still are contemplating a relationship. Proceed with caution.

Anne Belov on the importance of live art

by Anne Belov in Blogs, Visual Art

This is not one of his more famous paintings; no ballerinas in frothy tutu’s or women toweling off after a bath. It is one that is well loved by painters.

Everything comes back to this moment for Belov and her pandas

by Anne Belov in Blogs, Visual Art

You might think this is a little Three Faces of Eve-ish, but really, it’s not. You learn something in every medium, which teaches you something about the next.

Anne Belov, $$$ from the Cosmos …

by Anne Belov in Blogs, Literary

Having just completed the second of my successful Kickstarter campaigns, I thought it would make a good topic for this post. Wait a minute, hold the phone…just what in the heck is Kickstarter?