Robie Benve Art

"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...

"The Nutcracker at the Ohio Theater" 8"x10" Acrylic and paper on wood panel SOLD A yearly tradition for many during the Xmas holidays, going to see The Nutcracker ballet by Tchaikovsky is always a wonderful experience. So many memories are made inside of the lovely and historic Ohio Theater, in the heart of Columbus, OH. I wanted to capture a loose and lively rendition of the moment when people arrive to see the show, with the warm lights and the excitement of the evening. It makes me want to check what show is on this week! :) This piece will be in the Summer Show of Art at Marcia Evans Gallery in the Short North Arts District, 8 E. Lincoln St, Columbus, OH. On view: June 1 - 30 August 2019.

"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.

"Revitalized Short North" Oil on canvas 18"x24" SOLD The Short North, the Columbus Arts District, gets better and better. Every time I visit there something new going on, and I'm not only talking about the never-ending constructions, lol. I have painted quite a few versions of the iconic arches with the glowing lights. This one it's a little bigger than the other arch paintings that I have completed so far; the bigger size allowed me to get more details in, though still trying to keep it loose. I really like how it turned out. Thanks a lot to the collector that purchased it from the Marcia Evans Gallery, in the Columbus Short North Arts District.

"Short North Lit Up" 8"x10" Oil on linen $200 Available through Marcia Evans Gallery I've been fascinated by the Columbus Short North arches and evening lights for a while. I love walking there - even now that there is quite a mess with major constructions everywhere, lol. It's a beautiful part of the city that feels very lively and it's full of restaurants and art galleries. Every first Saturday of the month there is a Gallery Hop, and when I went to the September one I took a bunch of photos for reference. This is one more painting from those images, this time in oil. Marcia Evans Gallery 8 E Lincoln St Columbus, OH

"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.

"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.

I've been having fun experimenting with mixed media recently. As a matter of fact, I found out that I love mixed media! Last February my 30 in 30 challenge was focused on mixed media, and that's when it all started. Recently I worked on three pieces (to be posted soon) using acrylics, tissue paper, fabric, markers, and stencils, and I had a blast making them! This small cityscape is also created with all those materials, and with fun. :) "Ready to Go" 6"x6" Acrylic, paper, and fibers on canvas. SOLD Part of the fun was making my own stencils with an X-acto knife. I really enjoyed turning one of my favorite views in Columbus, the Short North Arts District, into an abstract and colorful image. Another one is on my easel already! :)

I almost forgot to join the 30 in 30 challenge this year, thanks a lot Leslie Saeta for the reminder email! I have been doing the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge for a few years now, I believe this is my sixth year - wow! Hard to believe! I love it because it makes me push the "painting every day" thing, and, believe me, the extra motivation to finish a piece is truly needed some days. Yes, the posting part demands quite a bit of extra time and energy, but it's all worth it. In fact , after I complete a daily painting, I have to take a photo, crop and make some basic edits, created a blog post, and finally post a link on the challenge site. Here is the link to the 30 in 30 challenge site , if you want to see all the other entries. My first painting  for this month is a scene of the Columbus, OH Short North Arts District and its lovely arches. This was commissioned to me from nonetheless than my lovely husband, as farewell gift to one of his postdocs. ...

You know the feeling when something worth celebrating has happened in your life? That's how I felt when Marcia Evans from Marcia Evans Gallery texted me that my painting Evening Promenade had sold in 24 hours! Yee-haw! I've been working with Marcia for a few months now, I brought over a few paintings, then picked them up, brought a few more. This is the first time that something of mine actually sells through the gallery, and it feels great! As an artist, but I think most people would relate to this, it is very hard for me to promote my own work to a potential buyer. It's much easier to say great things about someone else's work, but mine? I feel too involved to "talk it up". I could sell other people's work much easier. When it comes to talking to visitors at my booth or my studio, I end up talking about all kind of stuff, more or less personal, but not much about the paintings. Travel, Italy - where I come from - food, weather, and even politics...

Every year the Dublin Area Art League (DAAL) hosts a Paint Out in Historic Dublin, Ohio. This year I was the Paint Out chair - I am also the current DAAL president, I guess I could not be less involved in the Paint Out. :) I planned it, advertised it, worked hard to create community awareness and coordinate our wonderful volunteers and the day of the outdoor painting event we got pouring rain and cold. Bummer! Thank Goodness several brave and talented plein air painter came down and participated in the event anyway. Everyone did a wonderful job! The judge for the competition was Michael McEwan, and he seemed surprised too of the great paintings entered in spite of the weather. : ) If you don't know Michael he is a nationally renown, award-winning artist, landscape and plein air painter. I painted the cute store across the street from the booth "Chelsea Borough Home" and I tried to make it colorful, notwithstanding the gray day. My efforts were rewarded becaus...

"Glowing in the Dark" 9"x12" Oil on Masonite Panel Available By nature I am a night awl. I miss all the sunrises, buy I get very active after dusk. I always enjoy taking a walk at night, and the Short North, here in Columbus, OH is a great place to walk.

"Dance with Me" 8"x10" Oil on canvas Available I am falling behind with my posts of daily paintings, but I have been painting more than it seems, I promise. :) This is the painting I completed last Thursday, started at the Cultural Arts Center in the morning, and finished in my studio at home in the evening. However, this week I had a hard time taking good photos of my paintings. My trusted old Canon Powershot broke, and I bought the exactly same one from ebay to replace it, but for some reason the same settings don't render the colors the same way the old one did. It takes more patience and editing in Photoshohp to make it look like the actual painting. So, here is last week's painting, In a moment of romanticism I decided to call it Dance with Me. :)

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

"The White House at the Corner" 6"x6" Oil on gesso board SOLD Two weeks ago there has been the 12th Annual Historic Dublin PaintOut, and I was one of the organizers. I knew that between setting up things and handling some of the registrations I wouldn't have much time to paint, so I thought a 6"x6" should be small enough for me to handle easily. However, I did not consider the possibility of my kids' piano recital being scheduled exactly on that day. But it happened. I only had a very short amount of time to pick a spot and start the painting. Then I had to leave for the recital. I planned to come back and finish later, but it started pouring, and the recital (wonderful by the way, they both did a great job!) ran longer than usual. So, I ended up not entering a painting into the competition that I had worked so hard putting together. Not even a tiny 6"x6". However, despite the weather, several of the participants were...