A Blog About Oil Painting
Welcome to my blog. Here you'll find me rambling on, unassisted by AI, 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.
By the Trains at Carkeek Beach
by Simon Bland / 02 Feb 2016
At Carkeek Beach. 9x12, oil and cold wax medium on linen panel. 2016 After getting an early start in the studio and putting in a few hours of painting I headed to the beach at Carkeek Park just north of Ballard. There were few clouds in the sky so I was able to make the painting about the ...
Alki Point
by Simon Bland / 01 Feb 2016
Alki Point. 5x7, oil and cold wax medium on linen panel. 2016 After seeing this view during a ferry ride to Bremerton, I did a small charcoal sketch of the scene. Since then I've made a few attempts to create it in paint, all of them abandoned. Today I decided to try again, this time on a small pane...
A Cold Morning on Lake Union
by Simon Bland / 01 Feb 2016
Lake Union (plein air). 8x10, oil and cold wax medium. 2016 On my way to the studio this morning I stopped off at Lake Union Park in Seattle to do a small study of the view across to University District. It was cool to watch the seaplanes landing in front of me while I worked. Although I am very par...
A Valentine's Day Gift
by 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 t...
A Windy Day
by Simon Bland / 22 Jan 2016
A Windy Day (plein air). 9x12, oil on linen panel. 2016 Today, while our old home on the east coast is forecast to get 24"+ of snow, I managed to get out and paint on a beautiful, partly cloudy day at one of my favorite spots on Golden Beach in Ballard. I'm still trying to get the hang of the sea an...
Kid Stuff
by Simon Bland / 21 Jan 2016
Sea Study. 5x7, oil and cold wax medium on linen panel 2016 When I was 5 or 6 I went through a period of painting nothing but boats on the ocean, usually with a small island thrown in for good measure. I'm not sure why I felt this was such a compelling subject, but I suspect that it had something to...
Some Forgotten Studies
by Simon Bland / 16 Jan 2016
In my studio I have a stack of sketches and studies. It's essentially a pile of doodles and ideas, things that I've hung on to in the anticipation that they can eventually be turned into real paintings, or things that might be helpful as I work on something further down the line. I created these stu...
Clam Bay Studies
by Simon Bland / 10 Jan 2016
Clam Bay Study. 8x10, oil on linen panel. 2016 This small study was a way to experiment with a different approach to the blue-gray colors of the seascape. Using a palette of black, alizarin and yellow ochre, I proved to myself that it's possible to paint the coastline without using a blue. &nbs...
Gloucestershire Old Spot
by Simon Bland / 06 Jan 2016
Gloucestershire Old Spot. 20x28, oil on linen. 2016 It's becoming a tradition that I start off the new year with a farm animal painting. In all honesty, I haven't seen any farm animals in Seattle yet, but I have enough reference photos from Virginia to let me do this for the next several centuries. ...