Benoit Philippe

About the Artist

Benoit Philippe is a Parisian born artist who works with oils, pastels, and watercolors. Benoit moved from Paris to Swindon with his family in the late 1990s. He paints in oil, watercolour and pastel and was one of the organisers of the Swindon Open Studios in 2009.

With art running in the family, his grand father and father were painting as well as his brothers and sisters, it was natural for Benoit to start drawing and painting and he could try his hand on oil painting early, as all the materials were readily available. Benoit thus started oil painting at the age of twelve. Two years later he participated in his first group show and has carried on ever since.

Benoit is inspired by light and colour. His aim is to “draw with light”, to take an ordinary scene and show that it is something interesting and beautiful.

For his oils, Benoit combines studio work and sessions outside. Plein-air painting allows him to capture the sense of space, light and to feel the mood of a place. Scenes come to life with instinctive brush strokes during an intense session of a few hours. The work is then brought into the studio where colours are modelled and glazes enhance the first impression captured outside. Benoit also combines studio and outdoor work with watercolour.

Benoit's painting is figurative and influenced by colourist and impressionist artists such as Monet, Sisley and Pissarro. Other influences are Turner, Henri Moore, René Magritte, Alberto Giacometti and living artists like David Curtis and Ken Howard. Benoit states that he trie to remain open to all forms of art and is always curious to discover what past and present artists have produced.

More of Benoit's work can be viewed on his excellent art blog entitled My French Easel.