Christen Benat comes from a long line of West Texans and considers her love of art and horses to be part of that heritage. Her love of painting was cultivated by her creative mother and her grandfather fostered her love of horses. She remembers being introduced to the impressionists by her third grade teacher and beginning to paint with acrylics around the same time.

in 1985, Benat graduated from UT Austin with a BS in Communications and them moved to NYC to explore creative career opportunities. While working in advertising, she took continuing education classes at The School of Visual Arts studying graphic design, art direction, copywriting and silkscreening. in 1990 she returned to her hometown of Dallas to promote her original line of painted photo albums that were sold in shops throughout the southwest. Her experience in design and merchandising were assets in this pursuit and when she transitioned to working as a project manager for a major retailer in their visual department for almost 15 years. During this time she felt drawn to explore becoming a fine artist and enrolled in art classes at SMU and was introduced to oil painting. Benat further developed her painting skills by taking intensive workshops with Dawn Whitelaw, Peggi Kroll Roberts, Jill Soukup and others. Since 2004, she’s had a successful art career painting commissioned portraits for families throughout Texas, but she is expanding her artistic focus by painting more subjects that inspire her including still life, people, landscapes and horses. Throughout her life she has always sought opportunities to ride and enjoy horses and became the proud owner of a beautiful Arabian mare in 2008. She and her husband have been busy over the years breeding and showing a quality group of Arabians, so she is excited to to be incorporating more equine subjects into her body of artwork.

Her memberships include Cowgirl Artists of America, Oil Painters of America, and the Portrait Society of America. She lives in Celeste, Texas and when she’s not in her studio, she can be found on her farm spending time with her husband, dogs, cats and Arabian horses.