Robie Benve Art

This is a better photo of my latest plein air painting, done at a local farm. The last post did not have the final painting, only work in progress shots. "I'll Be Bright With You" 9"x12" Oil on linen panel $250 I found this lovely view at the OSU farm, it’s very close to my house, yet I had never thought to paint there before, I wasn’t sure it was allowed, but they were super friendly and excited about the idea of an artist painting the farm.  I ended up going back a couple of times to finish the painting. The second day the sunflower heads were already drooping down, but I have the shapes already in place, so it was easy to keep going.

"Red Glow" 9"x12" Mixed Media on canvas SOLD Here is another mixed media painting that started from a very random underpainting, full of colors and textures, and then I decided to turn it into a bright sunset on a rocky shore. I created the ground texture with paper of different kinds, including paper doilies, and with peelings from the dry palette. I painted over with acrylic paint, using various brushes and some home-made stencils for interesting patterns. I really like how it turned out. It makes me smile. :)

Last week an artist friend saw my latest paintings and told me that the colors reminded him of Wolf Kahn's work. Uh? Honestly I had no idea of how his work looked like, so I googled it and... I loved his colors and the simple shapes in the composition. Here is a small painting inspired by what I saw. "Standing Tall" 6"x6" Mixed Media on canvas $40 Thanks for stopping by.

Here is a colorful abstract painting that took several days to finish, mainly due to the size and the many layers of paint, paper, fibers, stencils, etc. setting my 30 paintings in 30 days on a slow mode. "Sunbright" 24"x24" Mixed media on canvas SOLD Below are some images showing the Step-by-Step of the initial stages, with a super random abstract design that I used as starting point. Stage 1 Random abstract shapes I still had no idea of what the painting would become. I was just trying to create some interesting patterns. Stage 2 I decided I wanted to make it a landscape with trees and a stream. I start drawing the main lines of the landscapes, that at this point may seem to add confusion, but they make sense to me. Stage 3 I get out my custom made stencils and start adding patterns for the leaves, the water, and the grass. Can you see them? It's still confusing... Some detail shots. I used thread from an old fabr...

"City Hub" 9"x12" Mixed media on canvas Framed $225 Available at Marcia Evans Gallery 8 E Lincoln St, Columbus, OH 43215 Guess what? Another mixed media study of the Short North, in Columbus, OH. Experimenting with acrylic paint, fabric, paper, thread, and custom made stencils. The fun continues. It may seem that I'm going in a totally different direction, but it's still me, just having fun and exploring. :) Thanks for looking.

On Saturday, I attended a mixed media demo with the talented and creative Susan Rossiter.  Six lucky attendees gor the opportunity to experiment with a stretched canvas and lots of top notch art supplies. She showed us the way, and then let us get super creative. I came home with a very colorful and textural abstract painting, and I worked a little bit on it in my studio because, being me, I wanted to "see something" in it. So I turned it into a path in the woods, with the light Shining Through . Shining Through Mixed Media on stretched canvas 8"x8" SOLD Susan had all kinds of acrylic paint, brands Golden and Liquitex.  Heavy body, fluid, spray, acrylic ink, gel medium, cracking paste, and who knows what else. I only used a few things and I was already full of wows. She also had all kinds of paper, embroidery thread, and other things to create textures and patterns, like paper doilies. One think that I did not use were her beautiful stencils and the s...

It has been a while since the last time I ventured outside to paint, and last week I did it two days in a row, attracted by a lovely view of sunflowers at a local farm. I had to go back twice because the first day it was super hot and I had to escape after an hour or so. Note to self: don't wear long jeans on a hot day! I got captivated by the view of the farm building through the sunflowers. After laying down some general shapes with the brush, I switched to palette knife painting, I love the texture that it creates.   Lots of bugs around me, this one seemed to particularly enjoy the painting. At a good point, almost done, but needs still some work. I'll post a photo of the final painting in a few days. I have the feeling that when I'll look at it with fresh eyes, it might needs a few small adjustments here and there.

All right, this painting-a-day-thing is getting out of hand, it seems like the technique that I'm using requires me to invest a couple of day at least in each painting.  BUT, I'm having so much fun that I'm not even thinking of abandoning this trajectory. :D So here are two more under-painting "completed", one is more advanced than the other, I'll work on them more tomorrow and in the next days. They are both going to be scenes of the Short North District, or so it seems right now, Here you go: Greenish under-painting, mixed media 10"x10" This one could become the Short North Scene that I have in mind, or something else. We'll see. The other one I actually took two photos, one earlier in the stage, and one at the end of the day. Orange(ish) under-painting Mid stage 9"x12" Orange(ish) under-painting Later stage still 9"x12" This is already heading towards the Short North scene, several elements start ...

I worked two days on this. Yesterday I did the abstract underpainting using the mixed media elements, today I added layers of acrylic paint using brushes and custom made stencils. "A Bright Tomorrow" 10"x10" Mixed Media: acrylic, paper, fibers I already posted the under-painting as yesterday's work, but below is a reminder of what it looked like at the initial stage. I liked the clean look of the first stage, did I ruin it adding all the patterna and colors? I hope not, because I like the final version of it too. the mixed media under-painting for "A Bright Tomorrow" It felt god to go back to my favorite subject, a sunset on the beach, and this time I just did it from my head, without looking at a reference photo. Total freedom. :)

I've been starting my mixed media painting with a very random abstract under-painting. Some days I make only the under-painting and leave it be until I get an inspiration on how to continue. Today I made this, on a 10"x10" stretched canvas, using acrylic paint, tissue paper, thread, and acrylic peelings from a dried-up palette. Wat will it become? Abstract under-painting 10"x10" Mixed Media At some point I started seeing a sunset on a beach. I think I'll develop it in that direction. Unless, as I add layers, I start seeing something else, then I'll change direction. : ) Here is the link to the 30 in 30 challenge site , where most participants post a thumbnail of their daily painting, with a link.  Thanks to Leslie Saeta for creating this wonderful challenge, what an incentive to paint and an opportunity for artists to network!  

"First Lights of the Evening" 8"x10" Mixed media on canvas SOLD For this month I've switched from oil painting to mixed media, and I'm having a blast! It took me more than a day to complete this one, and I can still see things that I'd like to tweak, but that's how my life as a painter is, I could go on adding details and changing things forever, it's hard to stop and call it done. The 30 in 30 challenge is a good incentive to move on to the next piece; it might be underdone, but at least it's not overworked. :) The mixed media includes, acrylic paint, custom made stencils, tissue paper, and thread. I am behind on my 30 paintings in 30 days challenge, but I'm hoping to catch up before the end of the month.  Fingers crossed! Thanks a lot for stopping by. Blessings.

"Gotta Have the Guts II" Acrylic, paper, fibers, and markers on canvas 24"x24" I had a lot of fun making this painting. I started from a completely random abstract painting, and then built this image on top, using paint, tissue paper, fabric, and markers.  There kind of is no wrong-doing when you use mixed media, everything you add to the painting can become something else with a few more layers of abstraction. The result is an abstract representation of an intestinal cell, as seen through a transmission electron microscope. The elongated forms represent the microvilli.  Each cell has thousands of microvilli, to maximize the surface area available to absorb the nutrients from the digested food. I find that super-fascinating. I actually made this and its companion piece, Gotta Have the Guts 1, for a specific juried show that was calling for art inspired by science. And they both got juried in, how exciting!! The show is: Hypothes...