Today we’d like to introduce you to Diane Belgrod.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’ve loved making art ever since I was a kid. Somehow though it has always been an elusive endeavor for me. I wanted to pursue art in school, but was steered away from it. I guess it was considered a less practical pursuit than other areas of study by the teachers where I grew up, in Long Island, New York. I went to college in New York City at New York University and studied Communications with a Studio Art minor. I think at that time I still didn’t have the courage to claim art as a career or even a passion, but it was always there under the surface. I went to Florence, Italy for a semester and for the first time really felt like I was home. I started to find my artistic voice, but still not my artistic courage. After that trip, I didn’t draw or paint again for ten years. A psychic once told me I was creatively blocked and that made me mad, and made me cry.
A few years later I found a group of people who ran a small live model drawing session in Brooklyn and everything changed. The art came pouring out. They became my art friends and my community. We had shows together and they inspired and encouraged me to keep working. I remembered telling one friend I wanted to take a painting class and he said, you don’t need a class. You just need to paint. Aside from all of the art I made and showed with friends, the highlights of my art career included my first solo show and being a part of the Every Woman Biennial, which featured over 600 women artists.
I have continued painting, discovering new approaches and techniques. I have a few different styles and mediums I like to work in, but lately I’ve been mostly painting abstract figures in acrylic. I’ve been really inspired by the idea of excavation and pairing that with my use of color; trying to go deeper into the endless infinite self and finding what colors fit the discovery of that moment and trying to translate that language of feeling into paint.
Just before the pandemic I moved to California, which has always felt like my true home and been a lifelong dream, and this past year I had a baby, Jack. I paint as much as I can, mostly working in acrylics and watercolors since they are safer for the baby. I miss oils but I’ll get back to working with them soon.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
It hasn’t been a smooth road for me at all when it comes to making art but I’ve come to really appreciate the obstacles and challenges. I realize more and more that everything moves in a circular manner; our paths and time, and that everything seems to happen right when it should. Not always when we want it to, but when it is actually the best time for us to experience something. Self doubt has always been the biggest challenge for me when it comes to making art, and a lot of things in my life. I was intimidated to call myself an artist and spent too long comparing myself to other people I thought were better artists and that stopped me from making art for a long time. I’ve danced in a circle around my love of making art for my whole life, like it was a bottomless pit I was too afraid to get close to, like it would swallow me whole. And I finally jumped in it. And there was nothing scary in there! It was beautiful. And it’s bottomless so I’m still falling, but it’s really fun. Anytime I feel that old nagging of self doubt, which makes a great barrier to anything, I try to remind myself there is nothing to doubt. It’s just me and the paint and the brush and everything else is just in my mind. That helps when I feel that old feeling creeping in. And I think there’s the pressure and the problem of art being entangled with business, which is not bad in the sense of someone liking your work and showing their appreciation through financial compensation, which allows the work to continue, but more the grossness of the art world as a commodities market and the internal and external pressure to display success in a career through financial success. That can get in the way of just making the art, which isn’t about any of that! That other stuff comes after. I try not to let that chatter interfere as much as it definitely used to.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m an artist working in watercolor, acrylic, oil and ink. I started out working with just ink and water and that was a great way to really connect with what I was drawing, because it was monochrome and I was just focused on the image and using tones and the water to make the art. I then moved into watercolor and realized how much I was missing color in my work. The color and the line of the form are my favorite part of making art. I also like to leave some things undrawn, a line unfinished for example, to leave negative space for the image to be filled in by the viewer’s imagination. I used to mainly work on paper, but now I mostly work on canvas, and I have been really into larger canvases. For subject matter, I like to paint abstract figures and landscapes. I’ve been really interested in the idea of the Divine Feminine, how everything is born from that energy (like in a feminine/masculine yin/yang sense) and the way that energy is interpreted, like a language, in the world. I’ve been trying to find a way to express that through paint, especially through the use of color and space. I’m most proud of allowing myself to change styles even when people have told me they like a certain style, that I should continue to do that, etc. I’m most interested in learning who I am through painting as a medium, and for me I need to trust that my growth includes change, and to let change happen in my work when it’s asking to come in. Sometimes that makes it hard in the sense that a lot of artists are known for one style, like a visual calling card, but that’s not why I’m making art, so I let it flow where it wants to. I’m very proud of the work I’ve made and the shows I’ve been in, and the people and communities I’ve become a part of.
How do you think about luck?
I love this question. I’m a Sagittarius so I believe luck is always coming! When I think of luck I think again of circular time and everything lining up when it should. Doors are always opening- or a good San Diego analogy would be, there are always waves coming, and if you miss one, there’s another one right behind it. I believe the universe is conspiring for us to grow and thrive, so when we are ready to step through a door, a whole chain of events unfolds. Seeing the door is lucky. Knowing to go through it and take that step in bravery. When those things come together, beautiful things happen. I just finished working on a children’s graphic novel, Mila on Purpose: #Growyourcircle, which is not something I’d ever done before, but an old friend of mine who had started a publishing company reached out to see if I’d be interested in illustrating it. It was such a great and challenging experience! I feel lucky to have had the opportunity. Showing in the Every Woman Biennial and having it written about in The New York Times felt very lucky to me, for having been included with that incredible group of artists. For me, so much about luck is also about connection and I love when through our connections we make lucky things happen for each other.
Contact Info:
- Email: dianebelgrod@gmail.com
- Website: www.dianebelgrod.com
- Instagram: @dianebelgrodart
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/air_port
Image Credits:
Diane Belgrod
