A Blog About Oil Painting
Welcome to my blog. Here you'll find me rambling on about all sorts of things related to art in general and oil painting in particular. There's even a recipe for dog cookies hidden away somewhere.
Like the rest of the site, this section is still a work in progress and I will be making it tider and easier to navigate in time. There is a lot of content, so using the buttons below may help you to get around. Newest posts are shown first.
Sketch Marathon Day 26: 26th Avenue Sunset
by Simon Bland / 21 Jun 2016
26th Ave Sunset. 8x10, oil on linen panel. 2016 And so, I think it's appropriate to bring the sketch marathon to a close on day 26 (with a painting of 26th avenue), although, in truth, I likened it more to the actual battle than a foot race. I learned a lot by working intently to produce as much mat...
Sketch Marathon Day 25: Late Evening
by Simon Bland / 06 Jun 2016
Late Evening. 6x9, oil on linen panel. 2016 In this sketch I experimented with a painting knife that I've had for over 10 years, but never used before. It's shaped like a putty knife with one of the corners cut off. The sky and color scheme are based on a sunset that occurred last week, although I'v...
Sketch Marathon Day 24: South Lawn
by Simon Bland / 03 Jun 2016
Field Study: South Lawn. 5x7, oil on linen panel. 2016 I managed to get outside and do a little sketching at the local park this afternoon. As this is a just a field study, I spent most of my time trying to get the colors and values right. On the treeline I found that less is more - the single ...
Sketch Marathon: An Online Article
by Simon Bland / 02 Jun 2016
Bob Bahr of Plein Air magazine did a nice feature on me in their online magazine, Outdoor Painter. Here's a link to the article: http://www.outdoorpainter.com/one-of-the-earliest-uses-of-plein-air/...
Sketch Marathon Day 23: Japanese Tea Bowl
by Simon Bland / 30 May 2016
Japanese Tea Bowl. 8x8, oil on linen panel. 2016 To paint this tea bowl, I started by making a careful, painterly rendition of it on the panel. Then I blended the entire surface with a painting knife and worked to resurrect something that resembled a tea bowl from the resulting mess. It's not quite ...
Sketch Marathon Day 22: Listening to Obscure Podcasts
by Simon Bland / 27 May 2016
Ascent. 6x9, oil on linen panel. 2016 It was interesting to find how little color was needed to make this sketch work. I was expecting my palette to look like a peacock, but it ended up being full of grayed-out and browned-out piles of paint. The value range is just two or three value steps, I ...
Sketch Marathon Day 21: Chickening Out
by Simon Bland / 26 May 2016
Looking Back. 8x8, oil on linen panel. 2016 I've been working intensely over the past three weeks to develop ideas for new paintings and most of these have been landscapes or seascapes. For a change, I decided to spend today on a sketch for a chicken painting that I've been meaning to do for a while...
Sketch Marathon Day 20: Painting in the Sand Dunes
by Simon Bland / 25 May 2016
In the Dunes (plein air). 7x11, oil on linen panel. 2016 Continuing in my quest to develop ideas for new paintings, I worked outside at Golden Gardens Beach today. The light and sky were basically the same as they were in winter, but the temperature was much more pleasant. I found a great place to p...
Sketch Marathon Day 19: Lupins
by Simon Bland / 24 May 2016
Lupin Meadow. 5x7, oil on linen panel. 2016 I walked past this meadow yesterday and made a few notan sketches. In the studio this morning I worked up a sketch on a scraped down panel....