OLD Whidbey Life Magazine

Tag: oil painting Whibey

  • ‘Still Life, Still Water—Paintings by Anne Belov and Jacob Kohn’ continues at Rob Schouten Gallery

    ‘Still Life, Still Water—Paintings by Anne Belov and Jacob Kohn’ continues at Rob Schouten Gallery

    August 12, 2014

    Step into the realm of the seasoned painter.

    Rob Schouten Gallery presents “Still Life, Still Water” featuring the paintings of Anne Belov and Jacob Kohn continues through August 27.

    As island artist Belov moves along the continuum of her long painting life, her work, she says, “is the same, only more so.” In other words, in more than 35 years of painting, Belov gets deeper into the style and skill that is undeniably her own.

    Belov continues to explore the ancient medium of egg tempera, using egg yolk to bind powdered pigment in order to create her colors. The paint is applied in many thin, translucent layers, using small brush strokes. The finished painting achieves a lustrous quality, which she finishes with oil glazing to bring an additional richness to the finished painting.

    "Considering Vermeer" is an egg tempera with oil glaze painting by Anne Belov.
    “Considering Vermeer” is an egg tempera with oil glaze painting by Anne Belov. (photo courtesy of the artist)

    Tipping her hat to the great Dutch masters, this artist admits a fascination with depicting everyday life. “The still moment becomes the still life and everywhere I go, everything I see, becomes a subject for painting,” she said. 

    Whether it’s a street scene from home or Europe, or a naturalistic still-life of a kitchen sink filled with dirty dishes, Belov captures the authentic moments of the human condition. 

    This painter can also be playful. In her painting titled “Considering Vermeer,” Belov sticks her modern toe in traditional waters.

    “This painting portrays two women, studying a Vermeer painting of a woman pouring from a pitcher of milk, in the Rijksmuseum,” Belov said. “They appear to be taking notes or sketching, as you can see the corner of a notebook in one woman’s hand.” 

    Rich color, a stunning use of light and a natural affinity for the subjects of everyday life combine to make Belov’s paintings an enjoyable and wholly relatable viewing experience. 

    Speaking of experience, Seattle artist Jacob Kohn has long experience as a professional painter, in addition to his continued work as a professor in the Department of Design at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. In this show of new works, Kohn dives ever more deeply into his myth-like theme of water and its dreamy, floating, flowering plant-life. 

    “I have returned time and again to the realism of nature as a subject because it provides me with a visual language that best expresses the abstract energy and emotional color that I find essential in my art,” Kohn said.

    #2-RSGallery-Earl Grey by oil by Jacob Kohn
    “Earl Grey” features the colorful plant-life on water that is the delightful subject of Jacob Kohn’s work. (photo by Bret Corrington of Artist Eye Studio)

    The shifting forms created by moving water, the vibrant plant-life colors, the rich contrasts of pattern and hue in nature and the effects of light on water give this artist plenty of elements for inspiration.

    “I’m a colorist,” Kohn said. “I love color and create my own colors, of which I use about eight to make-up my palette for all the paintings.”

    Those colors are further emphasized by Kohn’s playful titles for these news paintings, some of which reflect his tea lover’s sensibility, including “Lemon Zinger,” “Darjeeling,” “Earl Grey” and “Vanilla Spice.”

    “Still Life, Still Water” opened Friday, Aug. 1 and runs through Wednesday, Aug. 27. 

    Rob Schouten Gallery, a premier showcase for Whidbey Island and Northwest artists, is located at 765 Wonn Road, #C-103 at the historic Greenbank Farm. Gallery Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.  For further information, call 360-222-3070 or email info@robschoutengallery.com.

    Pictured at top is Anne Belov’s “Radiance,” oil on linen. (photo courtesy of the artist)

  • Necessity, the mother of invention and Bob T. Panda

    Necessity, the mother of invention and Bob T. Panda

    BY PENNY WEBB
    Whidbey Life Magazine contributor
    Sept. 15, 2013

    Call it a mid-career detour.

    Anne Belov, renowned painter of lush still-life and landscape, had a change in genre around the time that the economy took a nose dive in 2008.  So she did what any self-respecting artist would do, she started a cartoon about pandas.

    That’s right.  Pandas.  She’d loved them as a child, visiting the Nixon pandas at the National Zoo.  But, it was leafing through The Atlantic sometime in 2007 and reading about the Panda Research Center in China that got her truly inspired.

    arrangement in Black, white, and gray 72 res (432x372)
    Anne Belov’s “Arrangement in Black, White and Gray,” oil on paper, is an homage to James Abbott McNeill Whistler’s painting titled “Whistler’s Mother.” (All photos courtesy of the artist)

    She started drawing a panda named Bob; Bob T. Panda that is.  He’s a nice guy, who thinks well of people, but he’s not the brightest bulb in the box.  And, he functions as straight man in a comic peopled by other pandas and a very bright, put-upon cat, named Mehitabel.   The strip is rich with social satire.

    “It started out as a fun way of helping my mental health as I watched the fine art market tank,” Belov told this reporter recently, while sitting in her bright and airy island studio.

    “But, what it really did was create this other avenue to be creative.  It also drew me into writing, which I’m really enjoying.”

    What started as an interesting side project has taken on a life of its own.  As Belov became more obsessed with all things panda, she learned more and more about their current state of affairs in the world.  Bob T. Panda became a mouthpiece of sorts to educate readers about how pandas live outside of a Disney film.

    She started a blog called “The Panda Chronicles” in which Bob and his friends deal with current affairs and tick off Mehitabel.  Bob then got his own Facebook page (Belov still doesn’t have her own).  It turns out there are a LOT of “pandafiles” out there, paying attention to Bob’s every move.  It was time to write a book.  Or two.

    Anne Belov wheel-of-pandas-front-only-cover-flattened-100-res-5-221 (491x500)

    “The Panda Chronicles Book 1: Your Brain on Pandas” was soon followed by “The Panda Chronicles Book 2: Wheel of Pandas.”  “Book 3: Nobody Expects the Panda Kindergarten” is due out this October.  Belov is one busy panda wrangler!

    But, she had her doubts at first.

    “I definitely had moments when I thought, ‘What am I doing drawing pandas?  I should be painting instead!’ But, really what I was doing was building new pathways,” Belov said.

    “I really feel like anything you do that taps into your creativity, no matter what direction, feeds your creativity. I like to call it cross-training. When I’m drawing pandas and writing the strip I’m flexing different muscles and when I come back to paint, I’m less constricted.”

    Though pandas are a huge part of Belov’s current work, her lifelong love of painting has not wavered.

    Where you'll find me
    Anne Belov’s “Where You’ll Find Me,” oil on linen.

    “As a painter, I am always trying to get better.  As a mid-career artist, I see my most serious paintings coming in these next 30 years. Getting better at this stage is measured in very small increments, but I am always improving and always learning.”

    And, Bob?

    Belov smiles. “Bob has lots of potential!”

    And, in this market, it’s always good to diversify.

    Check out these links to see more of Belov’s work:

    Penny Webb is a writer, a musician, a garden designer, and a mom.  She is currently harvesting tomatoes, working on her memoir, and enjoying the having the kids back to school.