Today we’d like to introduce you to Juliette Belmonte.
Juliette, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was born in Costa Rica, but I moved to the United States when I was a child. I have moved a lot throughout my life but have just recently committed to Florida by buying an old fixer upper in the historic district of Jacksonville. I studied graphic design in college, but I ended up never using my degree and instead pursued a career in painting. Later in life, I studied painting at the Art Institute of Chicago and The Art Students League of New York. After studying and teaching classical portraiture for many years, I started to combine my love of classical painting and my love for collage and found object art. This has led me to my current practice of paintings made with mixed materials.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No!
Is there any such thing as a smooth road? Sounds boring?
I always knew I wanted to be an artist but it was by no means a straight shot for me. In between childhood and my relatively comfortable position as a working artist there was a million awful jobs, a couple of good ones, working for “exposure”, hours and days of sitting in my studio looking at blank canvas, crippling self doubt, rejection, lack of studio space etc.
I can look at all of these with a sort of warmth and affection now as I see they were all a necessary part of who I’ve become. I anticipate creative challenges in the future and can now see them as part of the larger process. The weathering of the storm.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I learned to be in an art studio all day long from my mother- who was a nurse that eventually became a full time artist. She did a lot of collage work before everyone was doing collage or before I had heard the term mixed media being thrown around. It was a natural progression for me to go from classical painting to collage and back again. It wasn’t until I had fully immersed myself in portrait painting at the Art Student’s League of NY that I started to combine my two loves into one canvas.
For over ten years I have been making painting with a combination of materials including acrylics, oils, pencils, and markers and incorporating fabrics, papers and found objects.
It is important to me that the mixed materials are meaningful to the painting in some way and not About the materials. For instance if I find a crushed can or a red ribbon while I’m out on my daily walk- the opject will work itself into the painting and into the story that I have invented in my mind of the current subject. However, my aim is always to integrate the materials or found objects into the painting as seamlessly as possible.
My paintings are almost always a combination of people I know coupled with complete fantasy. The familiarity of the subject gives me a solid foundation to start from and allows my more imaginative side the freedom to come out.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
I am resilient and willing to change- happy to make mistakes and learn. I try not to get stuck on any idea of myself or even worse- someone else’s idea of me or my artwork. I’m up for the whole thing- the ups and the downs. It’s a wild ride and I bought a ticket for better or worse.
And I stay off of social media! 🙂
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.juliettebelmonte.com
- Instagram: @juliettebelmonte
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/JulietteBelmonteArt
