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.
Faraway Farm IV
by Simon Bland / 20 Mar 2015
Fields at Faraway Farm IV. 11x14, oil on linen panel. 2015. About 18 months ago I did a series of paintings at Faraway Farm near Upperville, VA. This week I revisited one of those plein air pieces and used it as the basis for a studio painting. To make it more interesting I re-imagined the compositi...
Sierra Lane, Looking West
by Simon Bland / 11 Mar 2015
Sierra Lane Looking West. 9x12, oil on linen panel. 2015 If you're a regular traveler to Lovettsville, VA on route 287 you will probably recognize this scene - it's the field at Sierra Lane, looking towards Short Hill/South Mountain. I wandered around in the field after a recent snowfall to tr...
Color Study for Workshop Demo Painting
by Simon Bland / 10 Mar 2015
Hannah Color Study. 8x10 oil on linen. 2015 For the people who have signed up for my workshop on 24th March I will be doing a demonstration painting using a photograph of my dog Hannah. If you would like to paint along with me please feel free to click on the link below and download the image ...
New Rooster Painting
by Simon Bland / 04 Mar 2015
Rooster (study). 20x28, charcoal on paper. 2015 Before starting a new, larger, work I thought it would be a good idea to first develop the concept with some charcoal on paper. What I'm going for is to better integrate the subject with the background. Ideally I'd like for this to be an abstract...
Spartacus
by Simon Bland / 03 Mar 2015
Spartacus. 14x14, oil on linen panel. 2015. It has been a busy last couple of days: painted this portrait, started another, finished another, made changes to two others, painted a color study, stretched and primed two canvases, then toned 6 panels. I painted this sketch portrait from the customer's ...
Painting at Woodgrove Meadows
by Simon Bland / 25 Feb 2015
Sketch Club Painting at Woodgrove Meadows. 11x14, oil on linen panel. 2015 Beginning with a gradated color wash over a simple raw umber block that was already dry, I managed to finish the final layer of this painting in one (long) day. What drew my eye to this scene was the contrast o...
Beans in the Belfry
by Simon Bland / 23 Feb 2015
Beans in the Belfry 2. 9x6, oil on linen panel. 2015. Another small one done between working on commissioned paintings. I painted this scene previously on a scrap of linen, but by not paying attention to the size I ended up with something that was too small to be worth framing. ...
A Small Chicken
by Simon Bland / 23 Feb 2015
"Folk Art" Chicken. 6x9, oil on linen panel. 2015. This little work was painted in January in between two large commissions. I wanted to explore some color relationships and paint application techniques and, generally, take a break from the big stuff. I eventually used it as a color study for a larg...
Re-work of an Existing Painting
by Simon Bland / 19 Feb 2015
Every so often I go off on a Quixotic adventure to try and rework or otherwise advance the look of a particular painting. The most favorable outcomes usually involve reworking from the design stage forward and starting with a fresh canvas. Sometimes things spiral out of control and I end up on...