Recent Work: May 2018

April 2018 was a productive month—I completed about 21 small paintings. These are some of the paintings I did near the end of that sprint.

It was interesting to see changes in my technique even over that short period of time. I stuck to some recurring themes and thereby got to practice those things over and over again.

An oil painting of sunset over Bainbridge Island by artist Simon Bland

Sunset over Bainbridge Island. 6x12, oil on linen panel. 2018

A larger version of a 5x7 I painted two years ago. Another chance to explore the fading light at sunset.

An oil painting of tress in Discovery Park by artist Simon Bland

Trees in Discovery Park. 5x10, oil on hemp panel. 2018

Here you can see that I've been working on techniques for getting the airy feel of light coming through the tree foliage. You have to go back and forth between the tree and the light spaces a few times until it looks right. I did all of this with a painting knife.

An oil painting of tress at the cliff edge in Discovery Park by artist Simon Bland

Trees on the Cliff at Discovery Park. 5x10, oil on linen panel. 2018

I used a brush in this painting, mostly in the foreground. The left to right slope is somewhat made up: it looked more interesting this way.

 A painting of Puget Sound by artist Simon Bland

North Puget Sound. 5x7, oil on linen panel. 2018.

The last of the very small paintings I did for this event. I like to represent the surface of the water by breaking it into a few distinct areas with a loaded-up painting knife. It always looks better if I don't try to fuss over details.


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