What does it mean to live a creative life? with Anne Belov
"Keep making art till I drop dead"
Warami and welcome to the What does it mean to live a creative life? series.
I don't know about you but growing up I never would've believed living a life of creativity – actually earning money from writing and art! – was possible. Yet here I am with my debut picture book out in March 2025 with two more on the way. The possibilities feel endless and it's incredibly exciting! But it's also tricky to manage writing and art along with my editing work and being a parent. Let's not even get started on other things like being social and looking after my health. It's a juggle, and I never quite feel on top of it.
But, I am working on figuring out how to better juggle all the things, and a big part of that is by reading and learning from others. So, in this series, we'll look at how fellow creatives are living a creative life and what that means to them. We all measure success in different ways and we all have differing priorities, but there's much we can learn from one another, so let's dive in.
Meet Anne …
has devoted most of her life in the pursuit of being an artist. Starting from childhood, and continuing on through summer and Saturday art classes as a teen, eventually getting a BFA from Philadelphia College of Art (which is now the defunct University of the Arts) and an MFA from the University of Washington in Seattle. Moving from the east coast to the west, she eventually settled on Whidbey Island, a haven for artists, yoga instructors, small furry creatures and trees.Anne, what creative things do you do? Tell us about your creative pursuits whether you classify them as your job or hobby or side hustle, we'd love to hear about all of them.
I’m a big believer in creative cross training. Not only do I work in multiple painting mediums (right now primarily oils, but also egg tempera, watercolor, acrylics, printmaking, and colored pencil) but I also believe that other creative things you do have a positive effect on your primary creative pursuits.
Although I haven’t played music for years, I played clarinet in high school, and then later in a post grad school Sousa band, primarily made up of musicians who were active in the Seattle Contra dance and English country dancing scene.
My main alternative creative activity is my online comic series The Panda Chronicles.
I’ve been making these comics since about 2008 and started putting them online and publishing collections of them around 2009 or 2010. I started writing and drawing them during the economic crash of late 2008 when the bottom dropped out of the painting market. I’ve clawed my way back to some level of solvency in the 16 years following that economic disaster. Drawing panda satire helped me deal with the depression that the sudden collapse of my income caused. Painting has been my day job since 1988 and the panda satire is definitely a side hustle of sorts, although not a terribly lucrative one.
At the beginning of the pandemic, I started making needle felted pandas and other animals. It became both a good way to stifle anxiety and a pretty good side hustle when painting sales were slow.
Where are you at with your creative pursuits right now? How do they fit into your life? If more than one, is one a main priority?
Painting and printmaking are definitely my main priority, since that’s what pays the bills. I try to publish a couple new cartoons each week, but I don’t always make it. I have a small but dedicated base of panda satire fans who await new ‘toons each Tuesday and Thursday.
I’ve also tried to get into the children’s writing and illustrating world but that has not been as successful. I ended up self publishing a wordless picture book about 10 years ago. Called Pandamorphosis, it is about a cat whose little girl companion loved pandas so much, that one night the cat accidentally wished herself into becoming a panda. Pandas from the panda cam escape through the computer and chaos (and hilarity) ensues.
I developed the habit of taking my coffee upstairs and working on that story for an hour before I started my day’s work in the painting studio. I have continued that practice for working on my comics, and that is a really nice habit to have continued.
What does living a successful creative life look like to you? Are you living that right now? Or working towards it?
I do think I have had the luxury of pursuing a creative life. While in school, and for about 7 years after grad school, I worked typical art supplementing jobs: restaurants, retail, warehouse worker and delivery driver for Starbucks, back when it really was Starbucks. The combination of regime change at Starbucks and the realization I was never going to do more than break even on my art expenses if I didn’t pursue art full time, led me to quit my menial day job and give it a try.
I want to say here, that I am old enough to have gone to school at a time when tuitions were substantially lower, and loans and scholarships were available so that I was able to pay back my loans while working restaurant/retail jobs and still have time (by generally working 7 days a week) to make art. I am sad that those days are gone and I really don’t know how young artists and writers today can fulfill their creative destiny.
I think that part of how I managed it was first, being lucky to be healthy, but also by deciding that there were certain things that I was probably never going to do. I bought my house when I was 44. Until then I managed to live in inexpensive rentals with roommates, and when I moved to the island, I lived in an old farmhouse with bad heat and no insulation, but my landlords were great people, didn’t charge me exorbitant rent, and I supplemented my rent taking care of their horses when they traveled. I love my life. I work in my studio most days, spend time bludgeoning the nature that surrounds my house into submission, and spend time with my friends. I belong to a group that goes sketching together every week, although I will not attend if I have something exciting going on in my studio that I’m working on.
Are there obstacles you feel are in the way of you living a successful creative life right now? If so, what are they? What do you think would help move past those obstacles?
The biggest obstacle for me right now is lower energy. Since the beginning of the pandemic, stress and anxiety has had an effect on me. Not to mention the daily drama of politics and feeling depressed at the outcome of the 2024 election. Trying to not listen to as much news and work in the studio and garden. Since taking a class on monotype, I’ve had a bit of an energy surge with the excitement of doing some new processes in my work. Also, I am old ha ha! 🙄🤣
How do you prioritise your creativity? Do you want to prioritise it more or are you content with where you're at?
I’m pretty good where I’m at right now. Along with trying to ignore the news, I’m on the internet less, so that translates to getting more work done.
Do you have short- and long-term plans for your creativity? If so, what are they? If not, do you think you need one? Why/why not?
Keep making art till I drop dead.
What's one big dream you have for your creativity? Share your wildest, grandest dream even if you think it's unattainable.
Back in 2015 I started working on a graphic novel series, for middle grade, based on characters created in my panda comics. It is a detective novel with some art history involved, and a back story about a panda that goes to France in the late 1800s and becomes a famed model to various impressionists. Despite the best efforts of my agent, it is as yet unpublished and he probably thinks I’m dead. My dream would be to find a publisher to want this series, and to get to do the books in the manner to which they deserve. It really is hilarious. You’re going to have to take my word on this.
Do you have any exciting news/events etc. you'd like to share?
I had a very successful painting show at the Rob Schouten Gallery on Whidbey Island this summer. Next July I will take part in a group show at the Fountainhead Gallery in Seattle. I managed to get through today without needing a nap.
I’m interested to hear what kinds of things have helped others create through stress and anxiety, so feel free to drop into the comments with your thoughts on that and on Anne’s creative life.
Connect with Anne and her work
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This is number 21 of 24 essays/posts for the challenge created by Claire Venus over at Sparkle on Substack. You know what? I might just make it!
You can read more about the challenge here.
I acknowledge the Darkinjung people as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which I am writing from today. I walk, talk, write, and create with respect on this land, and I acknowledge the enduring connection the Darkinjung people have with this Country; I thank them for their care of this Country, and I pay respects to the Elders past and present, and extend that respect to any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people here reading or listening.
Thank you so much, Melissa-Jane! I was very happy to see I did not embarrass myself after all! Looking forward to reading the rest of the artists who you interview for your series. Making art is definitely an activity that thrives on solitude, but coming out of my burrow every once in a while and hearing from other artists is crucial, to my mental health as well as chatting about what kind of pencils they like!
Yes yes yes to what you said about the importance of other creative pursuits! Also I love your pandas.