Robie Benve Art

Vibrant Portrait III Acrylic on Paper I have been having so much fun doing these colorful portraits at the figure drawing/panting class! We had the same model and the same pose for three weeks, and each weeks I did a colorful portrait of her with acrylics on paper. Seeing other artists drawing with charcoal vine, kind of made me miss drawing the figure with charcoal, but this colorful experimentation is too much fun. Next week we'll have a different model, that will keep her pose for three weeks again. I can't imagine giving up color for now, I plan of doing three colorful version of that model too. Thanks for stopping by!  :)

"Brick House" 6"x6" Oil on Gesso board Available I tried to paint this house in the German Village in the spring but was not successful. I went back to Schiller Park this week, and tried again, this time on a smaller gesso board, and some miracle happened, because I quite liked the final result. :) Painting en plein air is lovely, I usually prefer natural landscape subjects, but mainly because buildings and structures are quite challenging to paint - for me. When I tried painting homes before I got this inner friction between my natural instinct to paint tightly, and the will to paint loosely, and often what comes out is none of the two. As we say in Italy the result "non e` ne' carne ne' pesce" (it's neither meat nor fish). lol This time I focused on the pattern of ligh and shadow, and I enjoyed painting it! :)

Vibrant Tree V 6"x6" Acrylic on stretched canvas I'm getting the hang of these vibrant trees, I can tell because I can paint them faster now. :) Mixing paint on the canvas instead than on the palette is always risky: you never quite know what each stroke brings, and you can easily create muddy colors. But it's fun! Sides of the canvas are 1" deep and painted dark, ready to hang on a wall or brighten up a shelf. :) Re-posted in Sep 2014 - Had to delete the original post (I forgot what date it was) because something weird was going on with traffic and scripts...

"Over the Rooftops" Oil on panel, 11"x14" I went "big" today. Instead of a 6x6 I painted an 11"x14". After a period of painting on location, this is a studio painting, made from a reference photo that I took this summer Italy, however my strategy has been to paint it like it was a plein air painting, quickly and loosely. This way I avoid painting too tight and I can finish it in a day, despite the bigger size. I feel like it has all the elements I wanted to incorporate, so I am posting it, though I'm not sure if I will retouch some things when I look at it again. Often, after the my eyes get some rest from a piece and I come back later with a fresh look, I see all kinds of things that I did not see while I was  involved in the painting. For reference I used a combination of the two photos below, a landscape in Veneto, the region of Italy where I come from.  

"Path in the Prairie" 8"x10" Oil on Gessoboard NFS Today I was finally able to join the COPA (Central Ohio Plein Air) group in one of their Saturday outings to paint on locations around Columbus, OH. Many Saturdays I tried to paint with them, but life has been taking me other places. My view when I was painting "Path in the Prairie" The prairie at Brandon Woods Park were gorgeous with yellow goldenrod, and the sun made them truly glow. :) A few of us decided to paint the same path :)

"Vibrant Portrait II" Watermedia on Paper Today at the model drawing/painting class we had same model and same pose as last Friday (It's a 3-week pose), everyone kept the same spot from last week so those who were continuing a painting could have the same angle. This is why this looks very similar to the one from last Friday - that you can see in a previous post-  though it's a brand new painting. I love doing these experimental colorful portraits! I try to use color temperature and value to make believable portraits, with unbelievable colors. So much fun! "Vibrant Portrait II", Detail I love painting colorfully, so exciting!  Next week I'll do another one, maybe changing position, and having a different view of the model, I heard some people won't be there next week, I could take their spot, we'll see.  :)

"The Outhouse" 6"x6" Oil on Board Sold I went to a local farm yesterday, and looking for something to paint I saw this cute little building, and soon realized it was a vintage toilette - well, there was a big sign in front of it that said so, lol - built in 1872. The outhouse was shaded by trees, and the dappled light on the side caught my attention, so I decided to give it a try. Now, considering that painting buildings is not my forte, and that light spots are challenging, I have to admit I am pretty pleased with the results. Painted completely on site. I have this thing now that when I paint en plein air, I don't like to tweak things in the studio. So, unless there are major issues that require extra brushstrokes, I don't touch up the painting after I leave the location. That's one more reason why I paint small: there is no way I can finish a bigger piece in a couple of hours. :) Have a wonderful and creative day!

"Magenta Sunset" 6"x6". Watermedia on Canvas Sides painted dark Another one of my Vibrant Brushstrokes series. I really enjoy the spontaneity and fun of creating small paintings with this technique. I usually listen to very upbeat music while I paint colorful and vibrant paintings. For "Magenta Sunset" I had my Latino playlist on, and alternated brushstrokes with dance moves. Good thing my studio walls can't talk, lol!

"Macintosh Foliage" 6"x6" Watermedia on Canvas SOLD This morning I went apple picking!  I got a bag of delicious, juicy, and crisp macintosh apples. Apples from a tree are a total different thing than those from a store. Oh, so juicy! The very last apple I picked came off with a bunch of leaves attached to it, and looked so pretty that I was inspired to make it the subject of today's painting. So here it is, painted with quick strokes of acrylic paint, the last apple of today's picking, with its lush greens. Prints now available on my Imagekind prints-on-demand store.

Vibrant Portrait I Watermedia on paper Today started a new session of my figure painting class and I had lots of fun experimenting with colors. I tried to render the beautiful model with bold and vibrant colors, using warm colors for the areas in the light and cooler colors for the shade.  Lots of decisions to make as far as color choices. The main thing was squinting at her and my painting to make sure I used value correctly. Darker colors for the shade and lighter for the light, keeping in mind that each color can be also warm or cool. So I had to juggle bright hues, temperature, and value, and hope that at the end ir made sense. My classmates said the colorful portrait looked a lot like the model, and that made me happy. Vibrant Portrait I, detail  

"Pink Delight" 6"x6" Oil on board, unframed Available It was a cloudy day at the Frankin Park today and I really did not feel like painting a sun-less landscape, I was not very inspired to paint en plein air, until I saw this rose. It was near the sidewalk, perfect distance to be seen up-close, and it smelled delicious! So I decided to paint the rose. Now, painting roses is not easy, it is actually quite intimidating. Many times I ended up overworking the rose and trying to fix it, to the point that you could not even tell it was a rose anymore. With this pink beauty I have to admit I am quite pleased: after I was done it clearly looked like a rose, which is a big success on its own. After I was done with it I had 40 minutes left before I had to head back home, so I decided to use the paint left on the palette to do a quick and fun landscape. After all I have some catching up to do to complete 30 paintings in 30 days! Because the landscape was painted

"In The Poppy Field" 12"x12" Oil on Stretched canvas SOLD This painting is a little bigger one than my usual daily paintings, in fact I worked on it for a few sittings, and it was fun to see how it evolved and changed. For example the house was not included at the beginning, but then I thought it added some interest, and I painted it in. I know I have said this before, but I'll to say it again, because it's true: I love poppy fields, they make me smile.  :) Thanks for stopping by!

"Fairies' Shelter" 6"x6" Oil on Gessobord SOLD In my pursuit of the thirty paintings in 30 days challenge, I have skipped a few days... so technically this is my fifth painting even if today is the 8th of the month. And yes, I am planning on catching up - who said the 30 paintings must be one-a-day?  Maybe I can be brave and strong and produce more than one painting a day... think positive Robie, you can do anything you put your mind to!  :) I painted "Fairies' Shelter" en plein air , and the sun played tricks on me because it disappeared 5 minutes after I started painting, and came out again when I was on my way home. Do you realize how frustrating it is to have seen the warm colors kissed by the sun, in patches through the leaves above, and then everything gets dull and low contrast, and you try to render the feeling of what you saw first, without actually seeing it? Well, for a moment I thought of going back to the studio and leave

"Dancing Light" 6"x6" Oil on Gessobord SOLD Today I went to a local park to paint, it was part of a En Plein Air painting class, and I had a lot of fun painting this small landscape scene of the woods. The challenge for me was trying to render the patches of light that came through the leaves and spotted the scene here and there. I like the result; I need to try this again. :) This was #4 of my thirty paintings in 30 days challenge. :) Here is how the painting looks framed:

"Serene" 6"x6" Oil on Gessobord Available Some days end with a placid and serene feeling to them, and those evenings make you want to look at the day's happenings with an inner smile. Every episode, even the parts of the day that seemed so hard to live, takes a different meaning under this light of serenity. It's not a sunset. It's a feeling. I love those evenings when I can truly see the positive in all things. Have a good and serene night. :) Here is how the painting looks framed:

"Blushing Sunset" 6"x6" Oil on Gessobord Available Sometimes you look up and you've just got to smile, even if the day has been tough, how can you not cheer up seeing the show the sky is putting up for you? This sunset was a wonderful but shy performer, blushing all over. :)

"After the Storm" 6"x6" Oil on Gessobord $45 Buy Now Day one of the painting challenge. The goal is to create thirty paintings in thirty days, and day one is DONE - nothing better than starting with the right foot.  :) This is the way the sky looked one evening of this summer, not sure when.  All I remember is that I was at the park near home and I stood mesmerized looking at the clouds changing shape and color above me. We had many storms  this year and most of them created spectacular clouds and amazing sunsets. I love looking to the clouds, and sometimes I even remember to take reference photos.  :)