Ode to the overlooked
Robert Benson, Christmas Eve in Salinas, watercolor, 10 x 20.
Watercolorist Robert Benson is continually bewitched by the often overlooked or disappearing scenes in the Northern California environment. “Sometimes I happen upon a setting, and the light and subject matter just stop me in my tracks,” the Sonoma County, CA, artist says. “I feel lucky to be in the right place at the right time.”
While light is pivotal to his landscape, still life, and figurative works, it’s especially important to his more traditional watercolors. “I’ve been focused primarily on landscapes for the past year, zeroing in on light, shadow, and values of gray,” he says. “It’s all about capturing the California light that so many other artists before me have loved.
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- Robert Benson, Beltane Ranch, watercolor, 14 x 21.
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- Robert Benson, Spring Lake Swan, watercolor, 19 x 15.
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- Robert Benson, I’m Still Standing, watercolor, 12 x 12.
“Watercolor has the reputation of being the ‘hardest’ medium in which to work, and it is, in some respects,” Benson notes. “It’s also the most freeing for me because I can work fast, loose, and crisp. I can paint a landscape featuring clean edges, lots of strong light, and shadow patterns that’s instantly recognizable as a watercolor. Or I can capture soft, gauzy light, like in CHRISTMAS EVE IN SALINAS. My portfolio now includes more of that softer, chalk pastel-like quality complemented by strong contrast values.”
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- Robert Benson, Klamath River Airstream, watercolor, 14 x 19.
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- Robert Benson, Open Mic Night, watercolor, 15 x 12.
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- Robert Benson, Green Machine, watercolor, 19 x 16.
Benson’s lifelong passion for art is grounded in an associate’s degree in graphic design from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, as well as careers in illustration and art direction over a 25-year period in Denver, CO. His passion for watercolor was established there as well, originally to replace the poster art on his walls with original pieces. “I liked the first paintings I did enough to think that I might want to try and sell my work,” Benson reveals. Ten of the 20 works he created for his first one-man art show were purchased during the opening reception, and the rest, as they say, is history. —Beth Williams
See Benson’s work at Oli Gallery, Guerneville, CA; www.bensonfinearts.com.
This story appeared in the August/September 2022 issue of Southwest Art magazine.