Robie Benve Art

"Downtown" 8" x 10" (20.3 x 25.4 cm) Acrylic on Canvas SOLD This is a landscape painting of my city, Columbus, OH, rendered with my latest passion: the vibrant brushstroke technique, like the trees on the previous posts. It is a study for a much bigger piece. It helps to start small and then tackle the bigger size, it feels (a little) less intimidating. New technique and big size can be a lot to handle. I haven't being posting on the blog in a while, not because I have been unproductive, but because I'm mainly drawing, writing, and experimenting with paint nowadays, and I rather not post my experiments. I love the perceived freedom when I make art knowing that is for no-one to see. It gives me the courage to dare, be brave, make mistakes. One of the fun things I've been doing lately is checking out art books and DVDs at the local libraries and immersing myself in the world of art knowledge. So fascinating!  I'm reading, admiring, and...

I find something very liberating in allowing myself a short time span to complete a painting, and it's even better when I am using an inexpensive support, like this canvas paper, much cheaper than stretched canvas, but still with nice texture and tooth. When I paint these vibrant trees I don't mix paint on the palette, but I load my brush with different colors and let them mix on the canvas. You never quite know what the exact result will be for each brushstroke, and this makes it so much fun. I love those trikes of different hues on each stroke, and the colorful ground color peaking throu and unifying the painting. As the previous Vibrant Trees, this also has been inspired by my recently discover of the book Vibrant Acrylics , by Hashim Akib. Thank you Hashim!