Robie Benve Art

--> “Nutty Squirrel” 5" x 7" (12.7 cm x 17.8 cm)  Acrylic on canvas panel --> On first trip to the USA, I went for walks in Frederick, MD and at the end of each day I was proud to report in detail to my boyfriend how many squirrels, groundhogs, blue jays, cardinals, etc. I saw. I was in awe looking at the wildlife on the city streets. You just don’t see these kind of urban wildlife in Italy. That was in 1997. Now I'm married to that boyfriend, we live in Columbus, Ohio and have squirrels and chipmunks running like crazy in our yard, (I even saw a couple of opossums the other day) and these nutty squirrels eat all the bird food and even broke a couple of feeders fighting over it. Nevertheless, they are cute, and the point of having a feeder is to get wild animals coming to it, so I’m complaining, but not too much.:) I just wished they stopped digging holes everywhere in the yard! Jokingly we say we have squirrels with Alzheimer

--> " Tesori del mare "   ( Treasures of the Sea) 8" x 10" (20.3 cm x 25.4 cm)    Acrylic on canvas pad I can’t believe it has been so long since when I started this painting!  I posted a work in progress photo on 14 April and then I never really went back to it. The funny thing is that my children thought it was just perfect as soon as I started putting some color on the hands and shells.  They are my best fans: they think everything I do is sooo beautiful.  Got to love children!  And got to wish they never stop looking at mommy that way! Including the fact that they think I'm "The best cook in the whole wide world".

" --> --> "Cat on Red Chair" 10" x 10" (25.4 cm x 25.4 cm) - Acrylic on stretched canvas  NFS Prints Available I painted Dreama’s cat! Yayyy! I painted a catalicious painting!  : )))  I’m so happy! It took Ms. Dreama Tolle Perry to make me participate into the DPW challenge . I have been thinking of participating in one for such a long time (even downloaded the reference a few pictures, even started on a still life and messed it up…) anyway, this is it! Thanks Dreama! I am very proud of how this turned out. :) "The dog may be wonderful prose,  but only the cat is poetry." French proverb  

"Canoeing in fresh water #2"  8" x 10" (20.3 cm x 25.4 cm)    Acrylic on canvas pad OK, I just had to repaint it! I started over on a new canvas, and this is the result. I learned that I have a hard time making my brush strokes rich and generous, the way I like it when I see other people’s work.  I tend to play it safe diluting the paint. I started from scratch and forced myself to load that brush more.  Not quite where I’d like it yet, but I like number two better. And you know what? I think I improved, and that must be  a GOOD thing. :)  “You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result” Mahatma Gandhi   A nice canoe ride with a good friend paddling along in a beautiful scenery. What a dream. I could not resist trying this painting challenge for the ‘Monthly Painting Challenge’ . I fell in love with the color of the water in the reference picture, and tried to reproduce it