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Writer's pictureAnnie Mason
5 min read

Meet the Artist - Belette Le Pink


Meet the Artist. The place where I introduce YOU to an artist through a virtual interview. Our featured artist is Belette Le Pink. *Note The images in this post link to Belette's product shops.




 

Belette Le Pink

Madrid, Spain



  • Who are you, and what is your background?

Hi, this is Leticia, the person behind Belette Le Pink. Based in Madrid, Spain, I´m 43.

I come from a humble family with no relation to the arts or cultural aspirations, but from them, I learned to face life´s adversities through hard work and I don´t give up.


I studied Art and Illustration in Art School, but I am mostly a self-taught artist inspired by wildlife and daily life.



I started doodling when I was 4, just before I started writing. I used to copy cartoons I watched on TV (Hanna Barbera, Anime, Disney…) because I will always be fascinated by animation.


Because I grew up in a small city, my contact with nature was truly wildlife documentaries and the small parks and forests on the edge of town. For some reason, I have always felt connected with animals since my childhood, and I enjoyed illustrating hunting scenes of eagles, wolves, and lions… and reading Jack London´s novels. I wrote some books I illustrated by myself about doggy adventures and this kind. I was a lucky girl living in the wonderful '80s, a really creative and positive era.


My dream was to be a wildlife filmmaker and visit faraway places with my camera and sketchbook, or a Disney animator, creating wonderful characters more than a famous “artist”.

It is because of this I planned to study Biology until my 14th birthday when a neighbor of mine, who had been a painter in her youth, gave me an oil painting set and I started to paint more seriously.



I was inspired by the art of the Dutch artist Rien Poorvliet, famous for his illustrated books on wildlife and the Gnomes. I also liked classics Dutch like Vermeer (I love the wet on wet oil painting) Goya, Renoir, Pre-Raphaelites, Klimt, and avant-garde artists like Franz Marc,

Chagall, and whatever artist or illustrator, good or bad has a personal identity.


I started my illustration studies preparing to become a cartoonist or animator, and in the 90s, many animation studios were available in Spain. Still, due to personal circumstances, I needed a regular job, and I had to pause my artistic career for many years, leaving the art apart for free time and occasional commissions.

Meanwhile, I participated in many Local and National Exhibitions, Shows, interviews, and contests.

I have never been a portraits-or-painting artist only because I love to catch the movement, and maybe it is because of this that my sketches are always unfinished, leaving the imagination close to the lines. I identify more with audiovisual media. I have also studied music for many years, and music broadened my understanding of life, feelings, and the arts.

In 2010 I resumed my artistic studies learning Graphic Design, Advertising, and audiovisuals (examples).

And it was in 2017 when I decided to leave my regular job to try an artist career again, and this is how Belette was born.


  • What is your favorite medium?

Although I now use mainly digital painting, my favorite mediums are wet-on-wet oil painting and crayons, collage, and mixed media. I love the fresh watercolor style, ink sketches, and all the techniques with the expontaneous look.

I intend to introduce the traditional art concept and effects into my digital art to make it warmer and more organic.







  • Has your practice changed over time?

This question is related to what we have talked about previously. I started drawing with what I had available: crayons, markers, gouaches, pens, and colored pencils when I was a child, and with watercolors, inks, and oils as a teenager.

In the early 2000s, I discovered the art of Annette Messager and her installations, and I was fascinated by exhibition art and the tridimensional possibilities. I realized that two dimensions were not enough for me. In addition, I discovered digital art possibilities and learned to use motion graphic tools and animation. I don´t believe the different types of art compete; they are complementary, and each medium has a kind of magic, utility, and expression. It's experimenting with them; our creativity does the rest.


  • What do you most enjoy painting?

Well, this is obvious (laughs) animals and wildlife.









  • What is the strongest memory of your childhood?

I have many childhood memories, but they all seem so far away, as if they weren't mine. Nothing in particular, but maybe one of them was my tonsil operation when I was 3-4 years old. I remember everything went dark, and then I was eating ice cream.





  • What jobs have you done other than being an artist?

Like many of us, I have had many jobs not related to art. I have been a shopping assistant in a printer shop, a food store, and a store restocker. I also worked as a manufacturer in factories and warehouses. I was mostly a telephone assistant in a call center in many areas like the help desk or searching for people with debts. I learned so much about people and met many different people from different nationalities there. I made many friends, no matter the kind of job, many of whom have had similar situations in life or worse. No matter what you studied or what you wanted to be, we all are in the same boat.


  • What has been your favorite response to your work?

I am most pleased when someone tells me that they feel motivated to create art, and my art, my animals, or my words inspire them.





  • Professionally, what is your goal? What´s your best advice for someone wanting to start as an artist?

I would like my illustration art to somehow impact people's consciousness and spread the love for animals, wildlife, nature, and the environment. Humans are part of nature, too, even when it seems we refuse to accept that we are just one more species on this planet. I am so happy when somebody writes a comment about how they enjoy discovering new animals and being able to contribute in some way to reflect on respect for nature, the environment, and humanity itself through my small actions. Small steps matter; baby steps are the beginning of big changes. I know it's a very hackneyed saying, but it works: I am a small artist now and willing to walk the needed. This is my recommendation for those who want to be an artist or whatever they want: success is never guaranteed, but I believe it is better to accept the frustration of not being a big artist or having too high expectations than to regret not having even tried. Just do it; only time will tell.






































 

Thank you so much, Belette!


Readers, you can find Belette at lots of shops, and you can check them from this site:


Be sure to check the Print-on-Demand sites for many products with Belette's wonderful designs: Society6 or Redbubble or Zazzle (select your language).


Social Media:




While you're shopping, why not buy Belette a cup of coffee? Click the icon here: ⬇️














 

Visit all the MEET THE ARTIST posts



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Writer's pictureAnnie Mason
2 min read

12 of My Favorite Art Books


An artist doesn't work out of a vacuum. My ideas come from things that I see or dream. Yet, the ideas need to connect to the technique. The creative process has been studied by many, for example, The Five Stages of the Creative Process. I don't dwell on this, but I am sure I go through each stage. I don't analyze my process. I know that I do prep work, an idea "incubates," I do have "aha" moments, I evaluate what I'm going to do and what I need for materials, and I carry out a physical process, combining materials, technique, visuals, and the final result.




I don't often head for the myriad of art books that I have. More often than not, I have the images in my head before I start my work. A sketch, some pencil work, and I am off and running. I often work from my photographs, even if I have the objects in front of me (a still life). But art books do charge my batteries. Flipping through pages sometimes is enough to give me ideas for how to get a certain effect.


So here is my list:



I don't draw/or paint many people. Why is this my number 1? Well, for me, it's a desire to know figure drawing. As an art student at the Universidad de las Americas in Mexico, we had to draw every major muscle in the body and then overlay the skin to draw that body part. Whew. I still hear the professor: "The deltoid muscle raises the arm to a horizontal plane."



These books vary by level and are available in Paperback, Kindle, or Hardcover.









By Carrie Stuart Parks and Rick Parks. Paperback.



By Mark Millenbrink. Available in Kindle and Paperback.



By Caroline Linscott. Assorted lessons. Paperback.



By Gordon MacKenzie. Hardcover. Intermediate.


By Claudia Nice. Kindle, Hardcover, and Paperback.



By Emma Lefebre - Paperback, Kindle, and Hardcover.



By Rosalie Haizlet. Paperback.



By Saunna Russell. Paperback.



By Marina Bakasova. Paperback.



By Peggy Dean. Paperback.



By Ann Mortimer. Paperback. 18 Books.








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Writer's pictureAnnie Mason
4 min read

Roots, trees, and family

You know me as an artist. You've seen my subjects and my techniques. Between managing my artist blog, working in my home art studio, editing a website (actually two because I admin for a local non-profit's webpages), painting almost daily, producing a line of greeting cards, and marketing, I admit my plate is full. However, now and again, I shift gears and tackle the ubiquitous task of researching the family roots.


I have done this throughout the years. My family traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah, on vacation, and a block of time was scheduled to stop at the famous Family History Library.

This was in the early 1990s, and this was still the best way to get information.


I recall the 3 hours that I sat at a microfiche reader, scrolling through a rather large screen on a massive machine until my eyes glazed over. Yet, I did find smidgens of info on my grandparents' arrivals in the United States.


Years later, here we are. The 2022 research is from my living room with a click of a name; add any other information I might have, and BOOM! up comes something or nothing...and you start again. It's a far cry from taking hand notes. My primary websites are Ancestry.com and familysearch.com. Both offer wonderful search features, certainly more pleasant to use than the tedious methods of the past. I favor Ancestry.com because my subscription gives me many options to dig deeper to find those "roots."









How can I tie my art to my foray into Genealogy? It begins with memorabilia and photographs. Among my mother's items is a passport issued by the War Department, Washington D. C. This is Stella. We called her "Babka" (grandmother).

woman Stella Wozenski Gutowski
Stella Gutowski passport issued by President Warren Harding


Grandma was a "Gold Star Mother." She lost a son in WW1, and in 1933, she and a group of other Gold Star mothers were able to travel by ship to the areas in France to visit the gravesites of their lost ones. Julius Wozenski (my mother's stepbrother) lies in Oise Aisne American Military Cemetery in northern France.


The Pilgrimage was the last of the Gold Star groups to visit the hallowed ground upon which their loved ones were buried. Records show that 81,155 members of the American Expeditionary Forces gave their lives during World War I.


Another relative noted that Julius Wozenski also has a memorial in my hometown of Westfield, Massachusetts. On my next trip back, I will visit the site and pay my homage to his memory.


















A small card with the photo of the original grave cross at the site.




In amazingly good shape are pressed flowers, more than likely taken from the site, lovingly kept in the booklet, and more than likely laminated at a later date.



As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission on product links in this post but have no extra cost to you.















My grandmother emigrated to the U.S. in 1913 at the age of 22 with two stepchildren in tow, and then married and added two more children: my mother, Helen on the left (age 3), and her brother, my "uncle Steve." on the right (age 2)


My grandmother's home smelled like laundry because she bleached, washed, and steam-ironed local businessmen's shirts.


She also knew a few words in English, but my mother would mostly have to translate most conversations about her grandkids into her native Polish.




You have met my maternal grandmother, Stella Wozenski, who later married a Gutowski. My paternal grandmother was Wolozemski, who married a Chrzanowski (my maiden name). You get the picture. My AncestorDNA is 69% Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland & Lithuania, 37% Baltics, and 4% Germanic Europe.




My parents' wedding April 29, 1942



I married a Mason. My husband's family tree is so much easier. His mother's line is Pugh, and a total volume of genealogical publications makes things easier.



Charles Newton Pugh

We have a charcoal drawing of my husband's maternal grandfather, Charles Newton Pugh (1862 - 1936). Does one wonder what prompted this formal portrait? I don't have a date, but it's in relatively good shape, and the mat is almost pristine behind the glass.



l to r: Russell, Charles Newton, Lucy (Martha in her arms), Loring, Francis, and Bessie Pugh

The picture above was taken on the family farm in West Virginia. Russell (far left) was 16 years older than Martha, my husband's mother. Families were bigger and brought up to be hardworking, proper, and resilient.



It's amazing how much I feel connected to my ancestors, or even my husband's ancestors, because of the resemblance or stories passed on to others. Ancestry now has "hints" when their database finds something that will give you a possible match.


These are cleverly in the shape of a leaf. (family trees, get it?)

The hints allow you to click each one and compare existing information or verify those you have input and check the veracity.



Genealogy is time-consuming, and I can't do it for any length without taking a break. There is a lot of checking and re-checking. Have I found the right "Jonathan Martin" Mason?


It is fun but takes patience and perseverance. I love to feel a connection with my ancestors. The Mormons trace their family trees to relatives who can be baptized by proxy in the temple.




It does give me great pleasure to learn a new fact about my mom, grandmother, or great-uncle that I didn't know. Technology has very much improved the process of finding information. Ancestry.com is amazing. Links to the census years, newspapers, high school yearbooks, marriage and death certificates, Social Security, and City Directories are common. The microfiche of years ago is a click to a hint from other users or searches you haven't considered.




  • Ancestry.com is the world's largest online family history resource, with more than 2.7 million paying subscribers. Ancestry users have created over 47 million family trees containing approximately 5 billion profiles. Clicking links in this post may generate an affiliate commission at no extra cost.





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