Category: featured
This collection of articles focuses on different aspects of the painting experience and they document my own art journey. They are broken out into different category pages to help with navigation.
Older posts are shown first.
Preparing Linen - A Short How-To Guide
by Simon Bland / 13 Apr 2016
In this blog post I show you how to prepare and prime linen and cotton canvas for painting. This step-by-step guide will help you create your own high quality painting surfaces for a fraction of the cost. ...
How Do I Make My Own Painting Panels?
by Simon Bland / 21 Apr 2016
Some tips and techniques for making linen and canvas painting panels for a fraction of the cost of store-bought....
How Can I Make My Own Oil Painting Mediums?
by Simon Bland / 29 Nov 2016
Some recipes and methods for making your own oil painting mediums....
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....
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?" ...
Writing an Artist's Statement
by Simon Bland / 31 Mar 2018
This article is about the what, why and how of writing an artist's statement. I show how a typical artist's statement can be improved by making it shorter and more specific to the artist....
What is Liquin and How Do I Use It?
by Simon Bland / 22 May 2019
For this blog post I wanted to talk about using Liquin in your own oil paintings. Although the information available online has improved in leaps and bounds, I think this will help to bridge the experience gap that new artists might have and prevent some easy-to-make mistakes, too....
Setting Up a Contemporary Still Life
by Simon Bland / 16 Jun 2022
In this blog article I attempt to deconstruct the set up for a still life painting by the British artist Euan Uglow....