Category: tips
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.
Tips for Taking Better Photographs of Your Dog
by Simon Bland / 18 Jun 2013
The biggest limitations to using a customer's own photos as a reference for a painting are usually quantity and quality. Here are some suggestions for taking better photos of your favorite family members....
Painting Tip #1: A Simple Way to Improve a Sky Painting
by Simon Bland / 12 May 2017
For an artist there is nothing better than having good paintings on hand, ready to sell. And turning an old painting into a better one will make you happier than finding money in an old coat pocket....
Painting Tip #2: Simplify the Landscape
by Simon Bland / 15 May 2017
This is an older plein air painting that I reworked in the studio. I simplified the composition and added a few sheep for added interest....
Painting Tip #3: Add Light to a Painting to Make it More Interesting
by Simon Bland / 19 May 2017
Some revisions are made to a plein air painting of a fishing boat....
Painting Tip #4: Move the Center of Interest
by Simon Bland / 24 May 2017
In this blog post I discuss the concept of a center of interest and the way it can be used to improve a painting....
Painting Tip #5: Let the Paint Transform the Landscape
by Simon Bland / 31 May 2017
This painting was inspired by a blog post by the artist Anne Kullaf and the work of Philadelphia artist Mashiul Chowdhury...
Three Alternative Ways to Paint a Green Background
by Simon Bland / 21 Sep 2017
In this blog post I present some options for handling the bright green backgrounds that often occur in reference photos of animals....
Painting Animals in the Landscape
by Simon Bland / 30 Sep 2017
Throughout my painting career I've painted both animal and landscapes. Yet, combining the two has always been difficult. Over the summer I spent some time on a series of paintings with animals in them. In this blog post I talk about what I learned and my experiences in painting these pieces....
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?" ...
Extended Block-In Method for Landscape Paintings
by Simon Bland / 14 Mar 2019
This article describes the way in which I've enhanced my block-in techniques to create a more fluid and abstract base for my landscape paintings. ...
Three Lessons I Learned About Seascape Painting
by Simon Bland / 10 May 2019
A look at some new seascape paintings and a brief discussion of some of the basic principles involved in creating them....
An Easy Way to Rescue Failed Paintings
by Simon Bland / 19 Jul 2019
One advantage of painting on panels is that you can occasionally salvage a painting by removing part of it with a saw. In this blog post I show some of the pieces I recently created by cropping down old paintings....
Working From Photos: New Paintings Summer 2021
by Simon Bland / 25 Jul 2021
This article shows some of my recent work—all painted from reference photos—with a description of how I tried to get beyond the photo in each case....
Using Blender to Create Artist's Reference Images
by Simon Bland / 03 Nov 2022
In this article, I set out to examine whether models created in Blender can be used as reference images for traditional artwork....
A Short Guide to GIMP 2.10 Plugins
by Simon Bland / 29 Jan 2024
This article provides a brief guide to getting started with automated image editing in GIMP. ...
Increasing Your Exposure—Studio Safety for Professional Artists
by Simon Bland / 31 Mar 2024
Did you ever wonder if there was a single thing that could differentiate professional artists from amateur artists?...
Data Analysis of My Art Business
by Simon Bland / 21 Jan 2025
For the entirety of my career as a professional artist, I've kept detailed records of all the work I've created. This is a basic analysis of the data....