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.
Finding a Creative Solution for a Difficult Painting Problem
by Simon Bland / 19 Feb 2017
Low Tide. 10 x 17.5, oil on linen panel. 2017. One of the biggest problems I've found with paintings of the shore is that it can be difficult to make them look interesting. There is a tendency (except in very specific light conditions) for everything to look flat. This headland in Magnolia is o...
Painting a Rabbit
by Simon Bland / 17 Feb 2017
Rabbit. 8x10, oil on linen panel. 2017 This rabbit is done from an older reference photo that I'd been saving (the rabbits in the local park in Seattle are domesticated ones that have been released into the wild and seem much less interesting). The palette is just cobalt blue, burn...
Safe Solvents in the Studio - Non-Toxic Choices for Artists
by Simon Bland / 13 Feb 2017
D-limonene is a safe alternative to turpentine and OMS in the oil painter's studio. In this post I discuss some of the benefits and cost of switching to this solvent....
A Painting With Strong Color Harmony
by Simon Bland / 07 Feb 2017
Fractals. 9x12, oil on linen panel. 2017 Painting's a funny business. You spend what feels like forever struggling to create something decent and then you get in the studio on a random day and paint something effortlessly. It doesn't make any sense at all. In this painting I was trying to creat...
Finding a Center of Focus and Adding Interest to a Painting
by Simon Bland / 26 Jan 2017
View Across to Edmonds. 11x14, oil on linen panel. 2017. This painting is based on a small plein air study from last winter. It was a cold day and windy enough to blow over my easel onto the rocks; I ended up doing the sketch on a setup that was held together with string. T...
How to Make Your Own Oil Sticks
by Simon Bland / 23 Jan 2017
A simple method and formula for making your own oil sticks....
How to Mount a Pochade Box to a Tripod
by Simon Bland / 18 Jan 2017
In this blog post I show an easy way to mount a pochade box onto a tripod using a few simple things that can be purchased at any hardware store....
Painting a Horse at Ayrshire Farm
by Simon Bland / 11 Jan 2017
Shire Horse Charcoal Sketch (WIP). 14x20, charcoal on paper. 2017 As I've done for the past few years, I decided to start the year with an animal painting. I've had a horse that I saw at Ayrshire Farm in VA in my mind for a while and thought this might be a good time to see what I could do with him....
Plein Air Painting Finished in the Studio
by Simon Bland / 21 Dec 2016
Carkeek Shore 2.0 (plein air/studio). 8x10, oil on linen panel. 2016. Back in May of this year I painted on location at Carkeek Park in Seattle. Although the day was really pleasant and there was no time pressure, I wasn't able to get the painting to a place where I was truly happy with it. After a ...