Robie Benve Art

--> “Nutty Squirrel” 5" x 7" (12.7 cm x 17.8 cm)  Acrylic on canvas panel --> On first trip to the USA, I went for walks in Frederick, MD and at the end of each day I was proud to report in detail to my boyfriend how many squirrels, groundhogs, blue jays, cardinals, etc. I saw. I was in awe looking at the wildlife on the city streets. You just don’t see these kind of urban wildlife in Italy. That was in 1997. Now I'm married to that boyfriend, we live in Columbus, Ohio and have squirrels and chipmunks running like crazy in our yard, (I even saw a couple of opossums the other day) and these nutty squirrels eat all the bird food and even broke a couple of feeders fighting over it. Nevertheless, they are cute, and the point of having a feeder is to get wild animals coming to it, so I’m complaining, but not too much.:) I just wished they stopped digging holes everywhere in the yard! Jokingly we say we have squirrels with Alzheimer...

--> " 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".

" --> --> "Cat on Red Chair" 10" x 10" (25.4 cm x 25.4 cm) - Acrylic on stretched canvas  NFS Prints Available I painted Dreama’s cat! Yayyy! I painted a catalicious painting!  : )))  I’m so happy! It took Ms. Dreama Tolle Perry to make me participate into the DPW challenge . I have been thinking of participating in one for such a long time (even downloaded the reference a few pictures, even started on a still life and messed it up…) anyway, this is it! Thanks Dreama! I am very proud of how this turned out. :) "The dog may be wonderful prose,  but only the cat is poetry." French proverb  

"Canoeing in fresh water #2"  8" x 10" (20.3 cm x 25.4 cm)    Acrylic on canvas pad OK, I just had to repaint it! I started over on a new canvas, and this is the result. I learned that I have a hard time making my brush strokes rich and generous, the way I like it when I see other people’s work.  I tend to play it safe diluting the paint. I started from scratch and forced myself to load that brush more.  Not quite where I’d like it yet, but I like number two better. And you know what? I think I improved, and that must be  a GOOD thing. :)  “You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result” Mahatma Gandhi   A nice canoe ride with a good friend paddling along in a beautiful scenery. What a dream. I could not resist trying this painting challenge for the ‘Monthly Painting Challenge’ . I fell in love with the color of the water in the reference picture, and tr...

 5" x 7" (12.7 cm x 17.8 cm)  Acrylic on canvas panel Once upon a bird, there was a black one who liked to live in open grassy areas, but one day he flew to a marsh in the middle of the forest…. What happened then?  No one seems to know. Rumors say he met a cute mate and started a family that loved to live in the shady forest; others state he missed the grassy landscape so much he soon flew back to his flock and had an adventurous life. I am so lucky that I got to paint him in the exact moment when a life-changing thought stroke his mind… even if I don’t know what that thought was, that reflection brought to the decision that determined his future. One thing is sure: he never regretted his choice and he lived happily and singing ever after. This painting was submitted to the DAPT panting challenge. It should soon appear on Lela Stankovic’s web site . A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song. Chinese Proverb

5" x 7" (12.7 cm x 17.8 cm)   Acrylic on canvas panel This lovely dog has been a pleasure to paint. I love her expression, the sparkly eyes and how it looks like she's excited and happy, I imagine her breathing joyfully and fast, as happy dogs do. Her name is Zoe, and she belongs to Lee A. Brown, professional photographer and artist. Lee took a great picture of Zoe and posted it on the A Day Not Wasted web site, challenging artists to paint or draw her, trying to catch her personality. I love Lee’s challenges. He got me painting my first person ever – the saxophonist- and now my first dog!   If you want to see the painting challenge web gallery click here . Prints available at FineArtAmerica

5" x 5"  (12.7 cm x 12.7 cm)   Acrylic on stretched canvas SOLD                          I made some progress on the “hands” painting, but then I decided to set it aside for a while, because it wasn’t going very well… maybe a break will help. :) So I went to tackle the painting challenges from my favorite sites. What a productive day I had yesterday! I was stuck inside for all the rain, and it felt so good to paint and be creative! These cherries are for the Lela Stankovic’s challenge.  I liked the way they lean on each other, almost seems like they are rubbing their foreheads together, thus the title. To see the reference photo and submissions by other artists on the DAPT website click here . One must ask children and birds how cherries and strawberries taste. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe