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 just came back from a family vacation, eight wonderful days in Riviera Maya, Mexico. Beach, sun, food, drinks.  Ahhhh, the life!  Needless to say no time to paint. I didn't even pretend I was going to, in fact I just brought a sketch pad and pencils. Turns out it has been a week full of fun and activities, and my art tools did not make it out of the hotel room. However, while waiting at the airports, I kept myself entertained making quick sketches of few fellow passengers. On the plane I found some interesting images on the Airline's magazine, and sketched those too.  :) I loved making use of that otherwise boring time at the airport and plane!  PS: I brought coloring and writing activities for my kids too, which kept them busy scribbling, so they did not drive daddy crazy. :)   

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...

"French waitress" 7" x 8.5"  watercolor on paper This is my humble contribution to the "A day not wasted" site painting challenge.  I'm still on my watercolor journey, and this is my first person painted with watercolors. Thanks Lee for great monthly challenges, you always get me try something new, which leads to some learning experience. :) To see the reference photo and other entries click here .

"Lily Pond Study" 6" x 6" (15.2 cm x 15.2cm) Acrylic on Canvas Panel I painted this for the Artistic Sentiments painting challenge. Thank you Dana Marie for another nice painting opportunity. An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching. Mohandas Gandhi

"Poppy-ing up Tulips" 9" x 12" Acrylic on Canvas Panel colorful paintings I know they look like poppies, but they are tulips, acting like poppies and tricking my mind up to the very end! I tried to simplify shapes and I played with colors and lines.  What started as a suburban front yard scene, ended up as a Tuscan landscape, and a quite colorful one for that matter! Style-wise, I can see I'm heading somewhere, and I kind of like the direction. Color, shapes, and lines that kind of make sense but don't have to be realistic. What's that called? Folk art? Contemporary? Not sure. BTW, the laptop is still out of order but the Tractor (see previous post) stepped up to the task and accepted to run my camera's software, which can do some very basic image editing, and here you have it! .. and the Tractor earns its respect! :))

Look at me... Such an innocent face!  ;) I am suspect number one in the case of attempted murder of my husband's laptop.  His beloved MacBook Pro is badly agonizing, not able to even open a browser, and apparently it's very likely my fault even if I don't recall doing anything bad to it. But I was the one spending more time during the day using it, so I see his point. Currently I can only use " the tractor ", the old beyond imagination pc that we keep for the children, but they refuse to use because it's too slow, and whose loud noise when processing, reminds me of a farm tractor. I so hope that we can fix the laptop AND show my innocence! (but most of all fix it!) Until then I will be much limited in my posting since the tractor does not have any image editing software, and not even microsoft office. I think the solution is simple: guilty or not, I need to get my own computer! :))