Robie Benve Art

"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...

I’ve been working on a harbor painting for a while now, on and off. It started as a realistic painting, and then it turned into a more contemporary one. Kind of in the middle of that transition I decided I would portray the scene half in the sun, and half in the shade. That’s when I started having value problems .  Picture 1 with color I was using warmer colors in the sunny areas, and cooler ones in the shade, but I soon realized that some warm hues have a darker value than cool ones, and focusing on temperature instead of value can really spoil all you are trying to do. Every painter knows the squinting technique to see values, but squinting has its limitations. What helps me a lot is using the “desaturation tool" . Here is how it works: I take a digital photo of the artwork, I download it into my computer, and I desaturate it using Photoshop (many other image editing software can do it too). Then I really see values. Picture 1 desaturated What I s...