“My interest in art is for the organic and poetic. ... In a sense, I’m a raku painter. Raku is a way of approaching art. It’s a spontaneous, intuitive sense. You learn to take advantage of what’s happening to your work while it’s happening. There’s a lot of emotion and intuitive feeling involved to the point that you almost know when something is going to happen, and afterwards you say, ‘I’m not surprised.’”  -Tom Benton

Benton considered painting on canvas the highest altar of visual art. his paintings brought all of his art experiences — architecture, ceramics, silkscreening and monotypes — to a crescendo, an epic finale.

These paintings were often larger than five feet by five feet, and a number of triptychs were more than six feet wide. We find his familiar forms, circles and waves, but with a greater sense of depth and intensity. Benton eventually left behind the use of brushes, and worked with drip painting and color mixing with loose paints.