Robie Benve Art

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. :)

"Where Yesterday Meets Tomorrow" 24"x30" Oil on canvas Available Ah, this place! Every time we go to Pompei I ask to take a walk here, on the promenade of Castellammare di Stabia. The views are always amazing, especially when the sun is setting. The place is full of life, history, nature, and then there is the beach. Just in case all of that was not enough, the food and the ice cream are to-die-for. This is where my husband grew up (lucky him), and where a lot of his friends and family still live. His high school was a few blocks from this spot. I love walking there. I love it when his yesterday meets our tomorrow.

I have two paintings in the 2016 Dublin Area Art League Spring Show, and this is one of them. The other painting in the show is "Shine Your Light" (see previous post) which got an award. When I gave a talk for the Conversation and Coffee event last September, at the Columbus Arts Center, in the audience there was Inga Smith, a talented photographer, that offered to share some of her sunset pictures with me. (How wonderful is that??) She sent me some gorgeous shots of Hawaiian sunsets, and I picked one of Kamaoli Beach II as reference for this painting. "Holding Hands at Kamaoli Beach II" 20"x24" Oil on canvas Available I loved painting it, even with the challenges that I encountered; it has been fun figuring out how to render with paint the different effects in the clouds, foreground, and changes of light. Thanks for stopping by!

"Evening Beach" 5"x7" Oil on panel SOLD One more version of the beach we stayed last summer, in the small town of Briatico, in Calabria, Italy. I really liked the feeling of calm of that small beach, it was cozy and picturesque. This small painting could really be a study for a bigger painting. We'll see. :)

"Shine Your Light" 20"x24" Oil on Canvas $460 Sunshine, ocean shore, and flying seagull. What says relaxation and freedom more than that? :) OK, you may have guessed it, this painting is not a "daily painting", meaning that I couldn't have done it in one day only. However, I did finish it today, so it counts as today's painting posting, even though it took several sessions to complete. :) Sides are 1.5 " deep and painted dark, so technically it does not need a frame.

"Afternoon Beach, study" 8"x10" Oil on gesso board Available Day three of the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge, and I have completed another one, woohoo! This is a quick study of an afternoon beach, from a photo that I took last summer in Calabria, Italy. To get to the beach you had to go down several steps, and the photo was taken from up the stairs, looking down. I completed this study fairly quickly, and had fun including the figures and the umbrellas. I don't usually include people in my paintings, but simplified people are great to give a sense of proportions.

"Thinking of You" 8"x10" Oil on Board Available This painting puts me in a romantic mood. It makes me feel like I want to be there, but not alone. So I know that if my loved one was not with me, with a sight like this I would be thinking of him, hence the title "Thinking of You". I filmed the painting process for this with my phone and created a time lapse video. I am trying to get better with time lapsing myself painting, but this video turned out all right for a time lapse rookie. You can see it on my facebook page (and if you get there, make sure you like my page, then you'd really make me happy!) One question still persists in my mind: is this a sunset or a sunrise?  I really can't decide. Thanks for visiting!

"Castellammare II" 8"x10", oil on panel SOLD I took a photo of this sunset a couple of years ago  in Castellammare di Stabia, the Italian city where my husband grew up. Since then it has been one of my favorite photos from our vacation. I used the photo as fb cover, I had it printed on our family calendar, and of course I painted it, at least a couple of times. This painting was done in one morning, a day where I started out with brushes, but then I decided that I wanted to do something bold. So I painted  with a knife, in thick impasto strokes. The panel was toned orange and that still comes through in many places adding a very warm glow to everything. I love the result, it's colorful and a little abstract. Thanks for visiting! :)

"Mare Aperto"  (Open Sea) 8"x10"  Acrylic on canvas board SOLD Recently I heard many painters praising the the art of painting on location. I'm sure plein air painting has a special feel to it, the fact that you are there, breathing in the scene, and you can move even so slightly your head and perceive depth, lights and shadows at different levels makes a difference in the painting process and the end result. Most of these fellow artists are oil painters. Unfortunately acrylics dry very quickly - and it is one of the reasons why I enjoy them, so I'm not complaining - and painting outdoors make them dry even faster. I tried painting en plein air with acrylics, but I found it extremely challenging: even using the Liquitex Slow-Dri Fluid Retarder I had trouble keeping the paint fluid. Maybe one day I'll try oils, who knows? Anyway, for this painting Mare Aperto, I sure wish I could have painted on location! During the all painting time I c...

"Boats of Antibes" 15" x 30" (38.1 cm x 76.2 cm) Acrylic on Canvas (click image for bigger version) Boats of Antibes has been a personal challenge for two reasons: the big size - at least for my standards - and the fact that I let my instincts guide me in choosing the colors and the brushwork. I started the painting looking at the reference photo on my monitor screen, then closed it and balanced my visual memory and my feelings, other than trying to be realistic. My goal was to make it personal, trying to let my intuition lead me.  I imagined there was a big cloud that makes half of the harbor shady, and getting the values right has been tricky. To help with the values I took photos of the painting and desaturated them in my computer. Looking at the black & white version really helps spotting value problems. Now I think I’m pretty happy with it, and can finally post it and move on to the next personal challenge. The reference photo is...

"Trieste - value study" 6” x 6” (15.2 cm x 15.2cm) Acrylic on Canvas Panel I rendered a photo I took last summer in Italy using only 4 values. Lots of squinting and comparing. The fun was to try to paint shapes instead of details. The other cool part was mixing my own black and grays. Fun fun with this value challenge by the DPW .

--> " Tesori del mare "   ( Treasures of the Sea) 8" x 10" (20.3 cm x 25.4 cm)    Acrylic on canvas pad I can’t believe it has been so long since when I started this painting!  I posted a work in progress photo on 14 April and then I never really went back to it. The funny thing is that my children thought it was just perfect as soon as I started putting some color on the hands and shells.  They are my best fans: they think everything I do is sooo beautiful.  Got to love children!  And got to wish they never stop looking at mommy that way! Including the fact that they think I'm "The best cook in the whole wide world".