A Valentine's Day Gift
Simon Bland: 30 Jan 2016
Hannah and Nikko. 24x30, oil on linen. 2008/9
These are our (now deceased) dogs Hannah and Nikko. I painted this as a Valentine's Day gift for my wife in either 2008 or 2009.
It was done in a rush, going from start to finish in just two days, whereas I would typically work on something like this for a couple of weeks. As a result, the brushwork is loose, the paint is applied freely, and the color mixtures were made up on the fly.
It's rare for me to work like that on a large canvas because the quality of the outcome is left completely to chance. In this case I got lucky, everything worked out, and it's been on our family room wall for the last seven or eight years.
Simon Bland: 30 Jan 2016