Robie Benve Art

After a (too) long time of little painting and even less writing on my blog, I am to the point I need to dig in and get busy! Me at the Kim Casebeer Plein Air Workshop few days ago. I have just taken a wonderful workshop with Kim Casebeer, amazing plein air painter, in which I learned a ton, and all this new concepts and theories in my head need to get tested and practiced on canvas; the only way to do it is to paint, paint, paint. What better way to flex my painitng muscles than to join the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge launched by Leslie Saeta, for the month of September? As scary as it sounds, I'm in!  With two children ages 8 and 11 the fall season gets crazy on its own, all kinds of activities starting up, and finding time to paint is challenging. The fall craziness is an extra reason to embrace the challenge, because if I don't have to paint, I will not find the time to do it. Painting every day, small paintings by the way, will be sooo good for me.  Dail...

A nice walk on the beach at dawn: priceless. I am not a morning person, at all. But if the reward is a walk on the beach, with the sun rising, the seagulls calling, and the waves gently accompanying the rhythm of my feet, I'd get up early any  time. I took this photo on Saturday morning, round 6 am in Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy. On the left you can see the caterpillar cleaning the sand, like every morning. That's another thing I love about early mornings: to see the business of trash colectors, street cleaners, beach staff, etc. What a clash with those that have not seen a bed yet, still out from the night before, walking around in a more or less advanced state of drunkenness. I was there breathing in the morning air, enjoying the different sounds and smells of the morning activities, the sun rising, a new day blossoming... And here and there seeing young people un the streets, unable to function, who knows what they had ingested during the night.  Sad, really, seeing ...

One of the doodles I made this summer - Love my sketchbook! I turned 44 few days ago. 44….   Who would have thought I would have felt like this at 44? When I was a kid I imagined myself in the future, and the thought that in the year 2000 I would have been 31… so old, I thought!   AhAh! Now I think it’s hilarious, because at 31 I didn’t even know who I was yet. I feel like with the 40s come self-awareness, and I am finally comfortable being ME.  In my 40s , I finally learned to acknowledge others opinions, but not to care about them too much, especially the negative ones.  I don’t think my way is better than others, most people are living their life much better than me. But I like how my path it’s going, and I learned not to care if you disagree, still very challenging at times, but priceless skill. I finally understand why my mom kept telling me that the mean girls in school were “just jealous”. Of what? I though. They seemed to be pr...

"Towards the Light" 18" x 24" - Acrylic on canvas Currently showing at the "Elusive Nature" show at the Upper Arlington, OH municipal building. As every summer in the last few years I am in Italy. My Italian vacations are different from most people, I don't frantically visit cities and monuments, but I just enjoy spending time with my family. To tell the truth I feel kind of guilty spending days in total laziness, but it's so nice! We have been here six days and only today I got the feeling that "well, maybe we should do something". I'm in the town where I grew up, the neighbors are still exactly the same ones, only older. The gossip did not change much either, there is always someone cheating on the spouse, mistreating their elder parents, or just acting weird. The kids love seeing the grandparents. How comes my parents didn't spoil me growing up as they do with my kids???  lol    It's a good va...

"Hope" 18" x 24" Acrylic on canvas $650 Available at the Columbus Cultural Arts Center Store I love walking in the woods. Every time I take a walk in nature I feel regenerated, it's always a marvelous experience with plants, animals, sounds, and smells to observe and experience. I feel like I don't do it often enough! The path in this paining leads to the light, to a promising place, full of hope. I hope you like it. :) Thanks for stopping by. Ciao

"Towards the Light" 18"x24" Acrylic on Canvas SOLD - Prints available In this season of reawakening I joyfully enjoy the daily miracle of life sprouting  at each corner. Winter is over and I can finally stay outdoors, enjoy the fresh air, and recharge my batteries. Closeness to nature always recharges me, the trees, the plants, and the smells are balm for my soul. The chirping of birds tickles my heart. I'm completely fascinated. About the Painting I started this landscape painting by creating some texture with modeling paste mixed with acrylic paint. Then I kept mixing modeling paste to the acrylic paint, and applying it with brushes, painting knives, and splattering techniques, experimenting all the way. It has been a fun-filled painting process. :) It's the second path in the woods that I paint, and I am working on a few more. It's such a beautiful metaphor of life and hope, I love to paint paths in the woods. :) Click Here for ...

One of my Doodles Considering that - I have three painting started, and they are all 18 x 24, which for me is on the big side, - I go to two painting classes and a figure drawing class - but I don't post photos from that because nipples and glutes don't do well with a general audience (I don't even show them too my kids, they are still young and would probably think it's weird that I draw naked people) - I love my volunteering, and doing things with the kids, seeing friends, cooking, gardening, and (sometime) exercise... So much I love to do, and in spring somehow everything seem to blow out of proportions, and it becomes hard to juggle. Just to add some extra fun to the mix, I found A LOT of awesome photos on wikimedia commons that have a royalty free license, and so I can paint them. I'm so happy about these last additions to my reference portfolio, on top of all the ones I already had from my own photos. I really have to make the time to paint more!...