Robie Benve Art

"Self Portrait" 11"x14" Acrylic on canvas Cool, my first self portrait!  :) A few times I tried to pint myself looking in the mirror, but boy is it hard to keep the same expression. AND I found out I look terribly serious when I paint! So after a few failed attempts in the last year or so, today I finally decided to paint from a photo, and it has been MUCH easier. I did this today in short and hurried time periods between kids activities and errands, a true daily painting, started and finished in an afternoon (with many breaks). I have to say the breaks helped me getting back to it with fresh eyes, they actually made it easier. Overall I like it. Does it look like me?  I'm not sure, I'll have to ask my family, they'll usually tell me exactly how it is. : )

"Scioto River" 12"x12" Oil on Board SOLD This is one of my daily paintings for the month of September. 30 days of painting, even though I will not end up with 30 artworks, because some days I am working on bigger pieces - I don't actually get to finish one a day. I really enjoyed painting this landscape, for many reasons. Here are a few: I love this location for plein air, it's at Scioto Park in Dublin, OH. I was able to cover a 12"x12" completely with paint in a relatively short amount of time, which means I am becoming more confident (thus fast) in my painting decisions. The day was just gorgeous: sun shining, light breeze, birds everywhere, including a blue heron and a bald eagle (for real!). The magic of painting outdoors: you get to experience and appreciate the surrounding nature. I had fun rendering the rocks and the water with paint. Both are always a challenge, but I embraced it with positive attitude and I liked the results.

As member of the Central Ohio Plein Air (COPA) I was invited to paint at the grand opening of a local farmer's market store "Fresh Thyme". What a wonderful event! The store staff is lovely, there was live music, a chef competition, balloons, free samples, great sales. A great environment to paint, full of the positive energy I love so much. I had planned to paint something else, but when I set up my easel next to the salt water taffy display, I couldn't resist to challenge myself to paint a cellophane bag of candies. Not as easy as it may seem... I think I did pretty good for being "alla prima", wet on wet, and painted while conversing with the wonderful customers and staff members. (photos below) Selfie at the painting event I was in the great company of Tom Rodgers painting the produce display Bill Westerman Candice VanSchoyck painting pumpkins My bag of salt water taffy painting, almost done

"Magenta" 6x6 Oil on board I am painting every day, I promise!  I just fell behind with the posting. :) This is the painting from a couple of day ago. I did it quickly and with light heart, and I like the result, very "a la prima"  :)) I had fun toning the board magenta and letting the color come through. This small painting will be part of my solo show at the Columbus Cultural Arts Center this October. Coming up soon!!!  Sky High!

"Summer Blooms" 12"x12" Mixed media (oil and acrylic) on board, unframed Available This painting has been an experiment, with the purpose of troubleshooting a problem. First I painted it with acrylic paint on a very smooth gesso board. The smoothness made the paint slide everywhere, showing too many transparencies. Even with several layers of paint, it still looked like there was not enough and the painting was not finished. So I thought I could try painting over it with oils. In fact you can paint over acrylics with oils, though you can not paint with acrylics, which are water-based, over oils. Oils are thicker and more buttery, and they solved the problem of the thin look. I am happy with my solution. :) I may do more with this mixed media technique! In fact I have another painting similar to this one (same composition but flipped horizontally) that I did with acrylics, and somehow it looked more finished. I may go over with oils on that one too,

"Featherlike" 8"x10" Oil on masonite, framed Available Here is my painting for today, a thin and colorful cloud that seems to have been sparsed by the wind. Sometimes I have a hard time coming up with a title, but this one has been in my mind from the start. Featherlike will go to the group of paintings that will be in my solo show in October (I know, isn't that awesome??) at the Cultural Arts Center: Sky High. Here is a preview of the card for the show: I'm very excited and a little nervous about it... my very first artist reception!

Me and my work-in-progress cityscape Today I went to a local park thinking I was going to paint something natural, like this side of the park The scene I thought I was going to paint from But I was taking a class, see, and the teacher did a great demo on the busy cityscape across the street from the park. I did not want to paint it. The busy scene did not inspire me. At first, that is. Then I actually took a photo of it and realized that cropping out all the junk, or some of it, it looked ok. So I decided to give it a try... and so I did my daily painting of a cityscape. Hurray for my challenge-embracing self! Unfortunately the painting served as landing surface for my supply bag in the car, and when I got home the paint was smooshed around in parts. So I did not take a photo of the final painting, but I may be able to mend it tomorrow and post it. The cropped scene that I painted

"Christ the Redeemer" 11"x14" Oil on Masonite $210 As I am working on bigger paintings today for a show that is coming up, I am posting a painting that was not actually completed today, but I hadn't posted it yet. This is going to be in a show starting next week: an exhibit of works by members of the Worthington Area Art League, and I am submitting Christ the Redeemer and my Autumn Walk. There is going to be a reception on September 13, from 2-4. I'm looking forward to seeing all the artworks and meet the artists. The Church at Mill Run is at 3500 Mill Run Drive, Hilliard, OH 43026 Left is how it looks framed. The other painting that I'm submitting to this show is a large acrylic landscape: "Autumn Walk" 24"30" Acrylic on canvas $650

"Sunny Waves" 9"x12" Oil on canvas Available And here it is, day one of the September daily painting challenge! I have considered doing all kinds of different themes for this challenge, but at the end I ended up painting what I love: a cloudy sky at sunset, with the bonus of being at the beach. :) Gotta paint what inspires me. The photo is not the best, will update when paint is dry. Good night!