Category: palette
This collection of articles provides some discussion on different aspects of painting and my own art journey. Some of these posts are longer and more in-depth than my typical content.
Older posts are shown first.
Meadow Grove Farm - A Limited Palette
by Simon Bland / 05 May 2014
Meadow Grove. 11" x 14" oil on linen panel. 2014 I'm gearing up for the first of my summer shows: Upperville Stable Tour, over Memorial Day weekend and the Western Loudoun Artist Studio Tour the third weekend in June. This latest painting is a landscape that I've been contemplating for a coupl...
Plein Air With An Experimental Palette
by Simon Bland / 04 Nov 2014
Weatherlea Plein Air. 9x12, oil on linen panel. 2014 A plein air painting done at Weatherlea Farm in Lovettsville, VA. I used a palette consisting of ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson, cadmium orange and cadmium yellow medium, which is an unusual palette for me as the colors are all very stro...
Color Design Using a Sub Set of the Palette
by Simon Bland / 12 Nov 2014
Color chart for secondary and tertiary mixtures of phthalo blue, alizarin permanent, cad orange, cad yellow medium Sometimes when preparing to start a painting I have to put more thought than usual into the selection of colors. I've just started a small figurative painting of a child ...
Some Fall Studies - Exploring Color in the Fall Landscape
by Simon Bland / 03 Nov 2016
Fall Study I. 5x10, oil on linen panel. 2016 Fall Study 2. 5x10, oil on linen panel. 2016 These are a couple of studies I've done to explore some ideas for a new painting. I'm trying to create something that will fit a frame that's currently on an older, unsold work. Since I had some opportunity to...
Avoiding Muddy Colors in a Plein Air Painting
by Simon Bland / 22 Apr 2017
The spring finally caught up with me today and I got outside for my first plein air event of the year. I painted with the Plein Air Painters of Washington at Washington Park Arboretum. ...
Use an Analogous Color Scheme for Black and White Subjects
by Simon Bland / 08 Sep 2017
Animals with black and white coloration are the hardest of all to paint. In this blog post I show some techniques for making them easier to handle....
How to Paint Green Landscapes
by Simon Bland / 18 Dec 2017
In this blog post I show some ways to paint landscapes without using out-of-the-tube greens and some strategies for using greens more effectively. I will try to answer the question: "What are the best oil colors for landscape painting?" ...
Product Review: Gamblin FastMatte
by Simon Bland / 25 Feb 2020
In this blog post I explain how to use Gamblin Fast Matte and why I think it's an essential part of my paint box....