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.
Wrigley
by Simon Bland / 28 Dec 2013
Wrigley. 18"x18", oil on linen. 2013. A commissioned portrait of Wrigley. I took the reference photos on a sunny day in her back yard. She is a very photogenic lady and we had plenty of shots that would have been suitable for a painting. In the end we chose the one that showed off ...
A Sketch of Blazer
by Simon Bland / 28 Dec 2013
Blazer. 18"x14", oil on linen mounted on board. 2013. This portrait sketch of Blazer is one of the holiday commissions that I completed this year. I managed to get some nice photographs of Blazer at the stable and the early December light was perfect for his light coat. The background fo...
A Plein Air in Black and White
by Simon Bland / 02 Nov 2013
Stonehedge Antiques. 8"x6", oil on linen. 2013 The fact is that some paintings don't go as well as others. It was raining in Hillsboro, the light was dim, and I had spent an hour and a half painting a scene that looked like a brown mess. In frustration, I scraped the canvas, turned 90 degrees ...
The Rooster at George's Mill
by Simon Bland / 01 Nov 2013
George's Mill Rooster. 12"x9" oil on linen. 2013. I visited some local farms over the Loudoun Farm Tour weekend looking for some residents to paint. The rooster at George's Mill was molting and had lost most of his tail feathers so I sketched out a three-quarter view of him. I put most o...
A View of Short Hill
by Simon Bland / 30 Oct 2013
A View of Short Hill, Hillsboro, VA. 7"x11" oil on linen panel. 2013. In this painting I was trying to capture some of the early fall colors that I saw at Stoneybrook Organic Farm in Hillsboro. The paint-out day was heavy overcast and rainy so I worked on this back at my studio. My goal ...
Oakland Green Farm
by Simon Bland / 30 Oct 2013
Oakland Green Farm , Lincoln, VA. 9.5"x6" oil on linen panel. 2013. This week's outing with Loudoun Sketch Club was in Lincoln, VA. It turned out to be a fine day with lots of sun and cooler temperatures. I did this small painting entirely on location and (somehow) didn't make any ...
Rascally Rabbit
by Simon Bland / 29 Oct 2013
9"x12". Oil on linen, mounted on panel. 2013. This is the rabbit that ate all the Swiss chard in my garden earlier in the year. I was able to get close enough to him to catch a couple of photos before he took off - with a tummy full of chard, no doubt. I painted this very minimally, and ...
Three New Portraits
by Simon Bland / 13 Oct 2013
Gadget (Blue), Bailey (Lavender) and Nikki (Ochre), 11x14 oil on linen. 2013. I painted these three papillons with different color backgrounds because they will be hung next to each other on the same wall. I wanted to make the arrangement of the portraits an artistic display in its own right. ...
Almost sold out at Waterford
by Simon Bland / 06 Oct 2013
A great weekend at Waterford Fair with 9 paintings sold, including the paintings "Portrait of 798" and "Barnyard Dance". Thanks to all the volunteers who made this such a great show and the patrons who came out to participate over the course of the weekend....