Today we’d like to introduce you to Diane Belgrod.
Hi Diane, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I am a contemporary painter living and working in San Diego. Aside from a few art classes over the years, I am a self-taught artist. I am a mother to two young children, ages 3 and 5. My partner and I moved here from New York at the end of 2019, found a cottage by the beach in OB and started our family, all just before the pandemic.
I am a stay-at-home mom, and I work from home in my home studio, which for the past five years has been an ongoing negotiation of time and space. Until very recently, when the kids started school, I mostly painted during their naps, since it was the only time the studio (our living room!) was available to me. As they got older and stopped napping, I learned to be patient and deliberate with my practice, and with myself. I had to be more creative with how I worked, and some of the pieces ended up taking much longer to complete.
I recently finished a series of large-scale acrylic on canvas paintings, called Paint The Mother (2022-2026), which is my reflection of my first year of being a mother. In this series, I am reflecting on themes of isolation and connection, joy and fulfillment, representation, self-realization, and personal power.
I have also started a new series of abstract works, titled Before Form, large-scale acrylic on canvas paintings, which explore the gathering of energy through color before it becomes fixed into form. This work extends my broader practice, including my Paint the Mother series, which examines the lived experience of motherhood. Across both bodies of work, I am interested in how meaning arises through embodiment, change, and pressure, whether in the body or in landscape.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has been anything but a smooth road, but I can’t imagine arriving at the depth of feeling that I hold without all of the struggles we endured and the inner healing and growth that I went through.
When our kids were born, I knew I wanted to be home with them as a stay-at-home parent. I loved the time I spent with them, and I am very grateful for it. It was also challenging in many ways. It was especially hard being pregnant and having my first child during Covid, which added to the sense of isolation. Mostly all of our family lives on the East Coast, so we didn’t have much of a physical support system here, though I am so grateful for their emotional support.
I am also very grateful for the community I have found here in OB, for my art practice, and for my partner and my children, who have opened my heart to such a deep love and taught me so much patience. All of these challenges have enabled me to deepen my strength, my sense of self, and my practice, for which I am very thankful.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a contemporary painter working mainly in large-scale acrylic on canvas. I am interested in the powerful undercurrent of the creative force, how it moves within us, how it reveals itself in our society, and how our relationship to it shapes the world we live in. I recently completed a series called Paint The Mother, a body of large-scale acrylic paintings that explores my experience of motherhood, including themes of identity, joy, isolation, cultural expectation, and the division of domestic labor.
I am also working on a series of abstract works, called Before Form, large-scale acrylic paintings that explore the gathering of energy through color before it becomes fixed into form. Each piece is made quickly and intuitively within a few hours and is not revisited once complete. I allowed each work to arrive as it wants to, stopping at the moment it felt present but not fully resolved.
My works arise from an intuitive sense of what I want to paint, the colors I feel coming through, and the form they want to emerge as. In my most recent series of works, I am exploring how meaning arises through embodiment, change, and pressure, whether in the body or in landscape.
I am most proud of my connection to my inner voice, which I have worked to strengthen throughout my life. This connection allows me to feel grounded and aligned with my creative practice. I listen to that knowing and work closely with it. When I paint, I am in a direct conversation with this inner voice, and it guides my artistic choices. My energetic signature is held within my paintings, and it makes me so happy to be able to express myself and share that in my work.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
Something surprising that most people who know my artwork may not know is that I am also an intuitive channel and healer. In the past I kept my artwork separate from my intuitive work, but they are branches of the same tree. My creative expression is a reflection of the energy that moves through me. I love working with and deepening this connection.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.dianebelgrod.com
- Instagram: @dianebelgrodart
