Robie Benve Art

  I love teaching and I'm thrilled that I can finally offer painting classes in my new studio!    Below are some photos from two sessions of the Creative Techniques with Acrylic and Mixed Media workshop.   I was blessed with super talented students, eager to learn and have fun with paint.   My studio is in Clintonville, OH, open by appointment or during classes.   The group picture at the end of the second workshop. Everyone did such a great job! Busy students at work after my demo. These two were involuntarily twinning :) Students painting using creative acrylic techniques and mixed media. Two of the talented painitng students. Student deciding what to do next :) Amazing group of artists at work. So much creativity, everyone did something very unique.  I am planing to schedule more classes and workshops in the future. Check out my website for updates.   Many thanks to the Dublin Area Art League for sponsoring the first two workshops!

    Enjoy the freedom of working on your own individual acrylic projects while learning creative painting techniques. From color mixing, composition, and texture to still life, landscape, portraits, and more, unleash your creativity with the guidance of the instructor. All skill levels are welcome. Students drive the topics and I will demonstrate various techniques in acrylic painting; discuss different substrates, color mixing, and composition; and work with you to tailor the classes to your specific questions and goals. My art classes are non-judgement and encouraging. While painting, you will explore and experiment with your personal artistic style and various The supply list will be emailed after registration. Some shared paints will be available at the first session for you to try before purchasing your own. You may bring your favorite drink and snack.   Four weekly classes, on Mondays, 6-8 pm. Dates: April 8 - 29, 2024 Classes are limited to 8 stu...

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,...

"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...

"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...

"Short North" 8"x10" Mixed Media on wood panel (Acrylic and paper) SOLD I love the Columbus Short North with its characteristic arches. A pleasure to paint. The area is undergoing some major renovations and improvements and its getting better and better. High Street is where you find the life of the party. :) This painting will be available in a few days through Marcia Evans Gallery 8 E Lincoln St, in the Short North Arts District of Columbus, OH.

"Breathing" 8"x10" Mixed Media on panel Sold A painting from when I finally got over the shock of becoming allergic to oils and took the courage to paint en plain air with acrylic and mixed media. I loved creating this baby at Hoover Reservoir Park. The day started foggy and gray and I almost did not go out to paint. Once there, the sun came out and made it a very enjoyable experience. First, I created an abstract and colorful mixed media under-painting with paper, acrylic gel, and hand-cut stencils. Then, I picked my subject and started painting with acrylic paint and palette knife. I love how loose it came out and how the bright under-painting glows through in several spots. I think I've found a great way to use acrylics outdoors. They dry so quickly that I thought it was impossible, but this technique makes it faster and doable. Yay!!

"Going With the Flow II" 6"x6" acrylic on board $45 Second day of quick painting challenge, I had to make two pieces to actually end up with one that I liked. So I got double practice today, yay me. :) I really like the looseness of the strokes and the colors of this study.

Daily Painting Challenge Ok, this time is not a 30 paintings in 30 days challenge, this is a challenge that says "paint fast, with no time to overthink it, create a painting in 20 minutes, with no pressure to create a masterpiece, just get it done and practice quick decision making and fuss-less application. Do it for five days in a row." And day one is DONE!  :) I painted this on a 6"x6" wood panel, using acrylic paint. It took me a few extra minutes, but I was in a room with other painters and we were having a nice conversation, so I cut myself a little slack. Here it is.... "Purple Trees" 6"x6" acrylic on wood panel Daily Challenge: a 20-minute painting $45 The questions that go through my head at the end of the process: Is if finished? Do I like it? Would I call it successful? Sometimes the answers are not that straight forward, it might take a few days without looking at the painting and then, when I see it with fresh e...

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...

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...

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. :)

"Gotta Have the Guts II" Acrylic, paper, fibers, and markers on canvas 24"x24" Sold   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!!

"Gotta Have the Guts I" Mixed Media on Canvas 24"x24" Available I am very pleased that my fourth post of the month is about this piece! And #5 will be about its companion Gotta Have the Guts 2 (see next blog post). These two started me on a new mixed media technique using acrylic paint, paper, custom made stencils, and fibers. The image for Gotta Have the Guts 1 was inspired by a dramatic close-up image of the duodenum wall, obtained with a scanning electron microscope. The duodenum is where most of our digestion takes place.  I love how the blue cross-section of the villi stands out against the lining of the small intestine. I accentuated the fictional and surreal look by using color patterns and mixed media. I'm excited that it has been juried into the Fall exhibition  Hypotheses: Art inspired by the many worlds of Science , at the Columbus Cultural Arts Center. 

It's no mystery what inspired this piece of another strong woman, full of knowledge. My house is truly full of music these days. Between the kids practicing their instruments, my radio, and the Festival of the Italian Music that aired this week, it has been hard to choose what to listen to. Furthermore, my daughter shared with us her research project about how music makes you smarter and  healthier. It came as a natural thing to include musical notes and symbols with this figure. "Musical" 15"20" mixed media on paper There were a few more things that I wanted to add, but I ran out of time, so I'll keep the ideas for the next one. Below are some shots of the progress steps. beginning Drawing and ink acrylic paint Paint, markers, colored pencil, and tissue paper more of all the above almost done "Musical" final stage “Music gives a soul to the universe,  wings to the mind,  flight to the imaginati...