Robie Benve Art

Keeping on the "Think-Positive Path" Pays Off 2020 has been a challenge under many aspects. However, as far as my artistic happenings, I can't complain. I've been lucky. Me in my studio painting  The Scioto Deer  I received many blessings this year.  How comes? Why me? I think most of the opportunities that came along in this crazy pandemic months have found an open door with me because I strive to look for the positive in people and in situations, and I am always ready to deal with the unexpected. Thinking Positive Helps One thing that really helped me stay sane during the pandemic is that I make an effort to entertain only positive thoughts. It's not always easy. It's a process that involves choosing to avoid negative thoughts and then catching yourself while thinking about bad things or bad outcomes and consciously changing gears. I Trust the Process When I am worried about something, I have two courses of action:  If I can do something about it, then I cho...

March Sky Mixed media: paper and acrylic on wood panel 8"x10" see on my website I'm a big Harry Potter fan, I've read all the books several times, and of course watched all the movies, even more times. I love the fact that the Hogwarts March music score (from my kids' practice sheets... shhhh ;) is still visible under this night view of the LeVeque tower in Columbus, OH. There is a lot going on in this little painting, and it reminds me of the busy night life of the city. I really enjoy the challenge of creating semi-abstract mixed media painting using layers of paper, paint, and creating unexpected patterns with my hand-cut stencils.

OMG, MY PAINTING IS ON A MURAL IN THE SHORT NORTH!! This year, I have been blessed with my art on a billboard ( see  previous post ) and now on a mural. Wow! My excitement might be slightly visible in the photo below... You know those times when you see other people accomplish something and you think, yeah, but they are amazing, I'm not even hoping for that. I'll do my own little thing. And then BOOM! it happens to you? Exactly. Wow. I'm enjoying every moment, don't wake me up yet, please. I'm very exited to that one of my paintings has been made into a mural in the Short North Arts District in Columbus, OH. The Colosseum Installed at 685 N. High St. on the South side of ROOH restaurant, facing Chase Bank. The Colosseum Mixed Media on wood panel 12"x12" Sold Thanks so much to the Marcia Evans Gallery for submitting my painting for the mural! And thanks to the Short North Arts District for sponsoring this wonderful program. This year is the seventh edition...

I like to have several pieces at different stages of completeness  and switch from one to another according to the inspiration of the moment.  My Home Studio Has Always A Lot Going On I took this picture a couple of weeks ago, while I was assessing 17 pieces that were all at different stages of done. I like to work on several pieces at the same time. It allows me to switch to a different painting any time I get stuck or my attention span is gone, and I need a break. Believe it or not, changing the painting on the easel feels like a break.  It gets my brain to rewire, start fresh. Placing a new image in front of me presents a new set of problems to solve and decisions to make. What would look good? What would enhance this picture? What colors should I mix and where and how can I apply them? How can I use my stencils in a way that is unpredictable and makes sense at the same time? Usually I have 3-4 pieces that are work-in-progress, but lately I have started many paintings,...

Happy me in front of the ArtPop Street Gallery billboard featuring my painting "It'll Be Grand". Oh my, there are times when you hope for things, you want them very hard, and everything goes wrong. But there are other times when you think "that sounds interesting, I'll give it a try" and you get the the best results.  The first time I applied for the ArtPop Street Gallery Columbus, in 2019, I thought I had a strong piece, but did not get selected. It was a little disappointing. So, this year I applied again. Even if I had very low expectations, I tried to do it right. I chose a piece I really liked, I cropped it just right, and I made sure I followed all the technical requirements of the online submission.  Then I moved on and kind of forgot about it for several weeks. The Advantages of Submitting for a Juried Art Competition I think submitting for any juried competition is a win-win, especially when, like in this case, there is no submission fee. It takes a...

"Music for My Heart" 10"x10" paper, fibers, marker, water-soluble pastel, and acrylic on wood panel. See it on my website I love to use music and patterned paper in the starting layers of a painting and then use transparent paints in the areas where I want to keep them visible until the end. Music for My Heart has music paper and starred paper still showing through. I also used yellow tissue paper to create the yellow circles, and I love the energy they emanate. It was a fun project. I love the process of observing where I am in the different stages and add things as they seem needed. I also enjoyed the challenge of balancing the abstraction of the piece with the realism of the heart drawing. Blessings to you, thanks for reading. May your heat be always strong and pure.

"Circle of Life" 10"x10" paper, fibers, markers and acrylic on wood. Available on my website During the making of “Circle of Life” I experimented with intuitive painting and mixed media.  There are lots of layers of paper, fibers, markers, and acrylic paint. As I worked on it, it kept changing. Sometimes, I fall in love with some details in the early stages, and it's hard to let them go and cover them up with the next layers. The great thing is that, even when a layer is covered up, it served by informing the process, and some parts of it might still be visible at the end, contributing to the overall look of a piece. April 2020, what a time in our lives! To all that are stuck at home waiting anxiously for the end of the social isolation, I wish you good health, love, and peace.  I hope you get many opportunities to enjoy the little things.  Some aspects of what we are experiencing now will make us better people, we might even miss parts of th...

Here is another version of the 4-leaf-clover from the last post. "Lucky" 6"x 6" Paper and Acrylic on panel See on my website I started this one with way more paper than the previous, and at times it was hard to cover the starting ground with extra layers because I really liked some parts of how it looks in the beginning stages. First, I used some red tissue paper, and then I covered that with some fibrous green paper that I got from the art store. Then, I cut shapes out of another special paper (that I bought from the art store as well) all along using soft acrylic gel medium as gluing agent. After this, it was layers upon layers of acrylic paint, trying to keep it transparent in some places, so that you could still see what was underneath. A fun challenge!

Two things happened today in my world. 1. I started a Corona Art Challenge with a weekly theme, and this week the theme is GREEN. 2. I painted a small, very green painting. Not bad for a quiet day indoors, uh? A Wish of Love and Good Luck Paper and acrylic on panel 6"x6" SOLD Now, the people that know me, are aware of my unbelievable luck at finding four-leaf-clovers. Yep, I'm one of those people that just look down and see one. Some people, like my children (lol), are very bothered by that. I guess my eyes easily catch the different pattern of the four leaves compared to the sea of three leavers. Fact is I don't need to loook hard, most times I glance down and see one. This drives my family crazy, because they can't find it even after I say there is one. lol Anyway, this particular one was on the edge of the street at last year's Columbus Arts Festival. It had just finished raining, and I was walking home when I saw it. I took a photo an...

Birch Trees I Birch Trees II Birch Trees III    I made this trio a few months ago as a way to experiment with mixed media and color. The texture and the orange sky colors are created by some fancy special papers that we artists like to splurge on. Then there is paint, more paper, and some patterns created with my hand-cut stencils, In short, they were a fun experiment, and I really like the outcome. The three paintings, which could be purchased individually or as a set, are currently on view at the Marcia Evans Gallery in the Columbus Short North, 8 E Lincoln Ave.

"Natural Wonder" 8"x8" Mixed media: acrylic, paper, markers, and fibers. Available on my website This little guy (20 x 20 cm) is part of a small series of mixed media landscape painting done from my imagination, with no reference photo, all very similar in composition. I started creating the composition with paint and paper on a wooden panel, then I added several layers of tissue paper and paint. I also added some fibers to create the tree trunks. Below is an mid-stage photo of the process. Mid-stage work in progress creation of Natural Wonder. In this particular piece I wanted to preserve the pattern of the confetti tissue paper, so I added several layers of transparent acrylic fluid paint from Golden. The final result is very textural and has a lot of interesting marks. To apply the paper and the fibers I use acrylic soft gel medium from Golden. It serves as a glue, but it's a high quality acrylic binder, pretty much it's like acry...

Sometimes I need to step out of my usual body of work of landscapes and city scenes, which I usually paint from photo, and dive into the fascinating process of painting from life using mixed media. So, here it is, Sweet and Sour, an example of such a case. It came out colorful and fun, and I'm really happy with it. I used acrylic paint, paper, and water soluble pastels. I did not use my stencils in this, I feel like it has enough interesting marks as is. "Sweet and Sour" 10" x 10" Acrylic, paper, and water soluble pastels. SOLD From An Abstract Start I started on a wood panel that I had primed with gesso, and created a base using paint and tissue paper. Some of the paper had patterns on it, you can still be see some of the polka dots. I really like that touch of whimsical :) With An Abstract Way of Seeing Things I added paint to created the forms of the different objects, focusing on one shape at the time,  looking at things in an abstract ...

"Short North in Red" 8"x10" Acrylic, paper, ink, and charcoal on wood panel The Columbus Short North never fails to get me excited about painting it. :) Every time I go I just have to take pictures that I stash away in a reference photo folder and boy, do they come in handy! This photo in particular (see below) was taken from the car, thanks to my lovely passenger at the time. Gotta love when you have someone snapping away for you, so that you don't become a danger on the road, lol. I started with a ground of various papers, including music sheets, ink, and paint, and I built it from there. See the picture below... Start of the painting above. The mixed media includes paper, acrylic paint, charcoal, and ink. I painted most of it at the Columbus Cultural Arts Center, in a painting class. You should have seen the faces of my classmates as they approached and peeked at what I was doing, all confused by the random patterns, trying to say somethin...

Like many others of mine, this painting started with a colorful abstract mixed media base. I love to let the initial spontaneous (and crazy) elements provide a guide to the intuitive process of creating the next layers.  As I added layers of color, mainly with a palette knife, I allowed some of the base to peek through. The resulting work is vibrant and happy. The unexpected colors add visual interest and catch the viewer's attention.  "Spring River" 8x8 inches Acrylic and paper on wood panel. SOLD You can see the initial base below. I used colored and patterned paper, acrylic paint, and my unique hand-cut stencils to create a totally random ground with fun patterns and bold colors. Thy all somehow contribute to the creation of moments of surprise and fun that carry through to the final painting.  The kind-of-crazy starting point for Spring River: paper and acrylic paint. Thanks for reading, blessing! :) Sold! Thank you so much to the wonderful...