Robie Benve Art

"Changing Season" 9"x12" Oil on gesso board Last fall I spent a nice Saturday morning at Highbanks park, painting with a group called COPA (Central Ohio Plein Air). The group is open and friendly, and every Saturday they go to a different outdoors location, paint until about 11:30, then have a critique. I don't make it very often, but when I do I really enjoy it. As I was saying this painting is from last fall, but it was not quite finished that day, I still had a few areas of paint to fill when it was critique time. I took it home and did not work on it for a while. Part of the reason is that I had a reference photo, but it's not the same.When you see the landscape in person it's so much better! And going back was not appealing because it got REALLY cold and all the leaves had fallen. So I had no choice but work from the reference photo and finish it up. The pavilion roof gave me some trouble, the color it was did not fit in well with the pai...

"Macintosh Foliage" 6"x6" Watermedia on Canvas SOLD This morning I went apple picking!  I got a bag of delicious, juicy, and crisp macintosh apples. Apples from a tree are a total different thing than those from a store. Oh, so juicy! The very last apple I picked came off with a bunch of leaves attached to it, and looked so pretty that I was inspired to make it the subject of today's painting. So here it is, painted with quick strokes of acrylic paint, the last apple of today's picking, with its lush greens. Prints now available on my Imagekind prints-on-demand store.

"Pink Delight" 6"x6" Oil on board, unframed Available It was a cloudy day at the Frankin Park today and I really did not feel like painting a sun-less landscape, I was not very inspired to paint en plein air, until I saw this rose. It was near the sidewalk, perfect distance to be seen up-close, and it smelled delicious! So I decided to paint the rose. Now, painting roses is not easy, it is actually quite intimidating. Many times I ended up overworking the rose and trying to fix it, to the point that you could not even tell it was a rose anymore. With this pink beauty I have to admit I am quite pleased: after I was done it clearly looked like a rose, which is a big success on its own. After I was done with it I had 40 minutes left before I had to head back home, so I decided to use the paint left on the palette to do a quick and fun landscape. After all I have some catching up to do to complete 30 paintings in 30 days! Because the landscape was painted...

"Fairies' Shelter" 6"x6" Oil on Gessobord SOLD In my pursuit of the thirty paintings in 30 days challenge, I have skipped a few days... so technically this is my fifth painting even if today is the 8th of the month. And yes, I am planning on catching up - who said the 30 paintings must be one-a-day?  Maybe I can be brave and strong and produce more than one painting a day... think positive Robie, you can do anything you put your mind to!  :) I painted "Fairies' Shelter" en plein air , and the sun played tricks on me because it disappeared 5 minutes after I started painting, and came out again when I was on my way home. Do you realize how frustrating it is to have seen the warm colors kissed by the sun, in patches through the leaves above, and then everything gets dull and low contrast, and you try to render the feeling of what you saw first, without actually seeing it? Well, for a moment I thought of going back to the studio and leave ...

"Autumn Walk" 24"x36" (60.96 x 91.44 cm) Watermedia on Canvas $950 It looks like I have a thing with painting paths in the woods that lead to light, I wonder what Freud would say about this passion of mine.  :) I'm sure it means something positive, because that's how I feel while I paint paths and when I look at them: Positive and Optimistic. Every person is walking a different path in life, but we all are trying to reach different destinations, our personal goals. Walking to the light can represent many things: reaching "success", getting the job of our dreams, being able to graduate after studying so long, etc. What destination are you trying to reach? It's good to have goals in mind that act as motivators to make us do better, more. I think the important thing is to focus on the destination, yes, but without losing appreciation for the NOW, the present, the walk itself. We should avoid to live our lives always wanting what ...