Robie Benve Art

"Dowtown Columbus" 24" x 36" (61 x 91.4 cm) Acrylic on Canvas SOLD In the 2 1/2 years Columbus, Ohio has been my hometown I learned to love the Dowtown area, even if my life revolves mainly around my suburban neighborhood. I took the photo that inspired this painting during the yearly Columbus Arts Festival, I was walking among artists' booths when I saw the stunning view and I had to stop to take pictures. I used large brushes and I let the paint mix on the canvas rather then pre-mixing colors; a technique that presents some risks, because it's hard to plan the results of each stroke, but it's fun. Throughout the process I kept repeating to myself "Don't worry. Let the paint be paint", like a good karma. :) One day I will have to go and paint the downtown landscape en plain air , until then I'm using photos. Maybe in spring I'll be braver and paint on location, but in this freezing winter climate photos come very...

For the longest time I felt crippled on Blogger, I could not leave comments in blogs that have the embedded comment form, including mine. I could not respond to the nice people that took the time to leave comments on my own blog. I'd write my note, and the moment I hit "post" the comment would disappear, vanish in digital mystery. Today I finally took the time to research it and discovered that I had unchecked  "accept third party cookies" in my browser settings. As soon as I checked that little box again Abracadabra! I could leave comments again! I wish I looked into it months ago!!! It took a special day like 12/12/12 to do it. :) Now I need to get back into the wonderful habit of leaving comments. :) 

"Downtown" 8" x 10" (20.3 x 25.4 cm) Acrylic on Canvas SOLD This is a landscape painting of my city, Columbus, OH, rendered with my latest passion: the vibrant brushstroke technique, like the trees on the previous posts. It is a study for a much bigger piece. It helps to start small and then tackle the bigger size, it feels (a little) less intimidating. New technique and big size can be a lot to handle. I haven't being posting on the blog in a while, not because I have been unproductive, but because I'm mainly drawing, writing, and experimenting with paint nowadays, and I rather not post my experiments. I love the perceived freedom when I make art knowing that is for no-one to see. It gives me the courage to dare, be brave, make mistakes. One of the fun things I've been doing lately is checking out art books and DVDs at the local libraries and immersing myself in the world of art knowledge. So fascinating!  I'm reading, admiring, and...

I find something very liberating in allowing myself a short time span to complete a painting, and it's even better when I am using an inexpensive support, like this canvas paper, much cheaper than stretched canvas, but still with nice texture and tooth. When I paint these vibrant trees I don't mix paint on the palette, but I load my brush with different colors and let them mix on the canvas. You never quite know what the exact result will be for each brushstroke, and this makes it so much fun. I love those trikes of different hues on each stroke, and the colorful ground color peaking throu and unifying the painting. As the previous Vibrant Trees, this also has been inspired by my recently discover of the book Vibrant Acrylics , by Hashim Akib. Thank you Hashim!

Aerial (or atmospheric) perspective has always fascinated me. I love looking at the colors fade and observing the shifts of values  in the distance. It keeps me entertained when I drive, and  captivates me when I look at art. Reading about aerial perspective in art books inspired me to write an article about it and share it on hubpages.com. If you wish to read it,  click here.

"View of Tulum" 18" x 24" (45.7 cm x 61 cm) Acrylic on Stretched Canvas, Framed $530 Last year we went to the Riviera Maya, and it was the first family vacation for the four of us ever, unless you count when we go to Italy to see our folks, but that's home, different from a full blown vacation. We had a wonderful time, and I took several photos. This is one of my favorites and I have wanted to paint it ever since. Finally I completed the painting. It took me a while, I got frustrated and I set the painting aside for several weeks, and then brought it out again to continue painting with fresh eyes. Seeing it next to the photo, it looks quite different, starting from the sand that is not as white, but when I tried to paint it clear, the big light area was getting too much attention, distracting from the rocks and the ancient building, which I wanted to be the center of interest. So I darkened the sand and changed few things accordingly. Looking ba...

Vibrant Tree 6" x 6" Acrylic on Canvas " I found this amazing and inspiring book on acrylic painting at my local library: Vibrant Acrylics, by Hashim Akib. Oh, was I inspired! I know I have a long way to go before I can paint as vibrantly, loosely, and instinctively as Hashim Akib, but I simply love his technique of starting from colored grounds and let the paint mix on the canvas. I painted this small tree following his tips and advice. My colored base is mixed from cerulean blue, phtalo green, and titanium white and I let it see through in between brushstrokes. I love how that effect can unify a painting. It turns out the book was only a 14 day lease, and someone else had it booked it so I could not renew it so I had to return the book to the library. Considering to make the purchase...