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Testing Langton-Prestige Watercolor Paper
I have just started testing Daler-Rowney’s Langton-Prestige Cold Press Watercolor paper. In the above video you can see my first experiments with it and my first thoughts. If the video doesn’t play you can view it on Vimeo at this link. Normally in my demonstration videos I include any photo reference or still life […]
A Look Back at the Early Days of the Pandemic
Journals remind us of things. They provide a look back. They can be a great record of the events of our lives. They provide a look back, in this instance, to the early days of the Pandemic. The Digital Armageddon I’m going through since February 2, 2021 has resulted in some losses of data—I need […]
Giving Yourself Feedback
Recently on the blog I wrote about how it’s important to ask yourself questions in your journal. It’s also important to give yourself feedback in your journal. I find it useful when I’m making portrait studies to write short notes to myself about the angles that need correction, proportions, colors used and so on. I […]
Using Your Journal to Ask Questions
A journal is for asking questions. You can ask visually, and you can also ask written questions. To me, often the most interesting thing about my journal pages is not what I drew on the page or what I noticed as I went through my day and captured visually, but the questions and thoughts I […]
On Deciding Which Version of a Sketch You Like Best…
Here’s the final version I did of this brush pen and watercolor sketch on toned (tan paper); with a little bit of white gouache for the highlights. (The cheek is actually the paper color.) Sometimes when I’m sketching I enjoy the plain sketch, or some early version of the sketch so much, that I stop […]
There’s Something Marvelous About Brush Pen on Bright White Paper
When you need a break I think you can always squeeze in one or two quick brush pen sketches. I think the crispness of a brush pen line, even when it drags to dry-brush lines, is cheering against the white of the paper. The lines say, “This is the boundary, this is the texture.” […]
Pen and Watercolor Portrait Video Demonstration
Below is the edited version of a live stream demonstration I did publicly several weeks ago. I’m posting it here on my blog because some readers may have missed it when I did it live in Facebook on my RozStendahl feed. It is no longer available there. I took it down so that […]
Sharpening a Pencil to an Ultra-fine Point
If the above video doesn’t play, please view it directly on Vimeo at this link. I’ve often been asked how I get an ultra-fine point on my graphite pencils. Some time ago I promised to make a quick video to show people the process. I apologize to all my students who just had rely […]
The April Demo—Thinking About Pattern and Texture in the Design of a Painting
This month on Patreon I do a graphite and watercolor portrait. I use this portrait to begin a discussion on thinking about how the texture of brush strokes and the use of pattern and other textures in a painting impact the readability of that painting. The discussion will continued in May when I look at […]
In Context—It’s All Grist for the Mind Mill
Ever since childhood I’ve been the type of journal keeper who has visual elements in amongst written elements. It doesn’t matter if it’s something that I hear on the street, or in this case on the TV. It doesn’t matter if it is something that I’m reading. Everything is fair game, and I get down […]