The late Byron Nelson, popularly considered one of the greatest professional golfers of all time, and his wife Peggy, were positively delighted with their painting by artist Milbie Benge. The huge 30” x 40” oil painting, displayed on a bedroom wall of their Texas ranch, was a landscape of a mountain scene, aptly titled “Mountain Majesty”. Positioned on the wall so it was the last thing they saw before turning out the light, Nelson said looking at the painting evoked the feeling that “it’s been a wonderful day”. The dawn of the next day brought the morning light and the painting took on a different nuance, conjuring up a feeling of optimism and the conviction that the day ahead would be a beautiful one. Undoubtedly stirred by Benge’s painting, Nelson took her aside at an art auction to confide his insights.
Benge, a classic landscape artist, says for Nelson to take the time to reveal his heartfelt perceptions about the painting is “invaluable to an artist”. Widely acclaimed throughout the United States and parts of Europe, Benge has attracted collectors such as celebrities Nelson and Barbara Stanwyck, and public entities like Baylor University and the Texas Commerce Bank. Benge possesses the uncanny ability to delicately convey the beauty of nature to the viewer in her captivating rural landscapes. Benge says, “I think I am enthralled with nature; I love being outside. From the time I was a little child, being outside was very important to me. And somewhere along the line I started drawing and it occurred to me that maybe I could draw a tree or whatever.”
Benge’s father was a Baptist minister and a missionary, working with migrant farm workers, first in Texas, then later in California. The family moved frequently as he set up churches throughout the two states. After the Depression work was scarce and he needed a day job in order to support his family. Benge’s parents moved from Texas to California, such as those migrants immortalized in John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. Benge was born in 1941 in a small hospital at the migratory camp in Arvin, California. During World War II both of her folks found work at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard. After the war, her dad was hired to work at a housing project in Sacramento. She says, “We finally settled in Sacramento so that’s where I grew up. But I think moving around, seeing the countryside has always been in my DNA.”
Painting and drawing started for Benge during her high school years. “I had a teacher who was very encouraging,” she recalls. “I started seeing things through her eyes. We started doing watercolor and different mediums. That was the first time I really remember thinking ‘Oh I might want to be an artist!’”
After graduation from high school, Benge enrolled in a couple of art classes at American River Junior College in Sacramento. However, fate intervened and she me her future husband, Reed. They were married after a six month courtship and moved to Kentucky, then eventually settled in Texas. “That’s where I took my first art workshop and I started learning how to paint with oils,” she states.
By taking part in several workshops led by well-known artists, Benge became schooled in a range of techniques and developed a familiarity with an assortment of art mediums. “From being exposed to different artists, I realized oil was my medium,” she says. “I believe that’s what I enjoy the most.”
Benge employs her favorite medium to paint her favorite subject matter: landscapes. “I think my goal, when I first started getting a little more professional in my technique of working with oils,” she notes, “was when I would travel, I wanted to paint what I saw, whether I was in New Mexico, California, the mountains, the seashore, I just wanted to paint that. My goal for a long time was to travel and paint what I saw and I’ve pretty much been able to do that as I look back.”
Somewhere along the line, Benge became intrigued with plein air painting. Simply put, a plein air painting is rendered outside, in natural light, rather than in a studio. The term comes from the French en plein air, meaning “in the open air”. After participating in several plein air painting workshops with noted artists, Benge was ready to take the plunge and try plein air painting on her own. She and her husband rented a house in Taos, New Mexico for a month, where she was able to break in her new portable easel. “I painted every single day while I was there, at least one painting, or maybe two, and it really opened my eyes to more color and kind of broadened my scope of what I wanted to paint,” she explains. Benge estimates that she was creating about forty-four plein air paintings per year during the height of her career.
While working in her studio, Benge relies on her memory and her sketchbook to turn out a painting. She sometimes likes to employ a technique passed on to her by her mentor, A.D. Greer, a renowned Texas landscape artist. According to Benge. “The technique I learned from A.D. Greer was very freeing – the other artists I studied with were more rigid. He had a way of letting the painting unfold as he was figuring out the next step.” She clarifies, “A lot of artists say, ‘I’m going to paint this painting, start it and finish it’; that is a valid way to do it but if you kind of let go of the constraints…well sometimes, if something happens on your painting you just go with whatever’s happening. When you paint every day it’s easier to do this. You just start painting and then whatever’s on the canvas, sometimes it will take on a life of its own. That doesn’t happen too often, but when it does it’s like magic.”
Benge lives in Austin, Texas most of the year, but during the summer months and early fall, she and her husband are at home in Raton. Benge keeps studios in both places, and says she still “enjoys going to the studio and painting a little bit every day.” Benge’s Raton studio is on the top floor of a two story brick building on historic First Street. Interestingly enough, the building was once a bordello, part of Raton’s red light district in the late 1800s.
The Benges have been part of the local scene for a little over twenty years. It was a chance occurrence that prompted them to take up a semi-permanent residence in Raton. After a combined visit with friends and a painting opportunity for Benge in Montana, the couple were on their way back to Austin. Following an overnight stay in Pueblo, Colorado, they decided to drive awhile before eating breakfast. “We always like to go to the little local places to eat,” Benge notes. Driving through the Gateway to New Mexico, they discovered Eva’s Bakery on Raton’s Main Street and stopped for breakfast. “Everybody was so friendly. We had a nice breakfast, then we decided to walk around a little bit. Reed said, ‘Well, there’s Park Avenue, let’s walk down Park Avenue!’” So they walked down to the two-story brick building, which at the time housed a frame shop owned by Mel and Carol Campbell. “Of course I was looking at the frames. We chitchatted and everything. We were curious so they told us a little bit about the history (of the building),” she recalls.
During the conversation, Carol Campbell happened to mention that the owner would like to rent out the upper floor of the building. After taking down the particulars, the Benges resumed traveling. Driving along, something clicked and in a moment of kismet, “we stopped and spent the night somewhere and I called them and we leased it for a year, just to see if it would work for us,” she remembers. In the course of time the Campbells moved on, and other businesses rented the bottom area, but after a while the Benges arranged for full lease of the building. The bottom floor currently houses Mesa View Gallery, a small gallery showcasing Benge’s paintings and her son Greg’s black and white photographs and Polaroid transfers.
Benge can’t say enough good things about Raton. “I love Raton!”, she raves. “I just love the people and the feeling of the town. I’ve made so many wonderful friends here. And the climate – it’s just perfect for us to come out here and get away from the heat (of Austin).” She goes on to say, “I love the Shuler (Theater). We were involved with the theater for a while years ago. In fact for a couple of summers I helped with the backdrop. I also painted the Shuler Bear.”
More recently Benge has become a patron of the Raton Youth Development Alliance, a newly organized non-profit group dedicated to enriching the lives of youth in the community. The organization has initiated a creative process program designed to encourage young artists to teach their art to high school and intermediate students.
Although Benge doesn’t usually compete in art shows anymore, she does like to be a part of Raton’s annual InBank Art Show. In the most recent InBank Art Show, held in September, 2019, she walked away with first place honors in the oil painting division. Benge prefers to showcase her paintings in galleries. Her work is currently featured in three galleries: Marta Stafford Fine Art in Marble Falls, Texas; Scarlet’s Art and Antiques in Santa Fe, New Mexico; and Fayette Gallery in Lexington, Kentucky.
From fields of wildflowers to majestic mountains to bubbling streams to mirrored lakes to weathered buildings, each of Benge’s paintings captures an untroubled point in time. Descriptors such as “vaporous”, “dreamlike”, and “ethereal” are often associated with her artfully crafted works. “People say that my paintings look peaceful and calm and that makes me happy because that’s what I would like to bring to the world,” concludes Benge.
Local folks interested in Benge’s work may contact her art representative, Laura Brewer, at 575-445-8000.
