Currently Browsing: Roz Stendahl 2151 articles
In Context—Sarcasm and Compliments
The page spread is the post. You can click on it to enlarge it for reading. (A brush pen sketch in a gridded journal from Hemlock & Oak.) I always think it’s a good idea to capture these discussions in my journal.
Remembering My Budgerigar and the Naming of Pets
When we lived in Australia I had a budgerigar—a.k.a. budgie, a.k.a. grass parakeet. They are native to Australia and fly in great flocks over the iron-rich red desert of the interior of the continent. I thought I loved birds until I saw these in their natural habitat and then everything clicked together for me—geology, geography, […]
Caran d’Ache Neocolor II Experiments
Because of my recent International Fake Journal Month Journal I’ve been experimenting with Caran d’Ache Neocolor II—water-soluble wax crayons. I am using them without water activation. These Neocolor II experiments come after I haven’t used them for years (they were packed away for a good period of time during the move, but even before that […]
Addendum: International Fake Journal Month Supplies 2026
A question about the supplies I used for my 2026 International Fake Journal Month journal in the comments section of a previous post made me realize I had not included the supply photos. They were supposed to be in a separate post before the main fake journal post! (I simply forgot to post that post! […]
Separation from Friends and the Importance of Correspondence
The other night I woke up at 2:50 a.m. in the midst of a detailed dream. A long-time friend, with whom I had traveled frequently, sent me a note to meet her at a location that turned out to be a jewelry fabrication shop. In the context of the dream this is where she was […]
The Value of Creative Exercises Lingers
It might seem that a short, creative exercise of 15 minutes can have no real impact in your daily life. But the value of a creative exercise lingers and resurfaces, enhanced by time—opening our minds to new ways of thinking and new questions to ask. This post is about those lingering effects. I’ve advocated painted […]
Bean Cuisine Made Easy
I am not a vegetarian, but I love beans. When I eat beans and rice together I feel satisfied and full of energy. At the beginning of my relationship with Dick I started seeking out more and more bean recipes, mostly in Mexican and Indian cuisine. I’ve always used dried beans. (Canned beans don’t have […]
Selecting Pinks for Portraits
At the beginning of this year I had some palette choices to make. Whether to keep Opera Pink on my palette was one of those choices. If you look at my journals and out of journal paintings you’ll see that I kept testing Opera Pink. It wasn’t a color that I actively sought out. It […]
Portraits with the Pilot Parallel Pen
I haven’t played with my Pilot Parallel pens much recently. They’ve been packed away for the studio move. But I got them out finally the other day and enjoyed diving back into the quirks of this type of pen. Past posts on sketching with the Pilot Parallel pen are in the non-public archive, but I […]
Using the Journal for Capturing Notes
The journal can capture notes to ourselves, notes we want to remember to mention to others, notes that prompt us to do our real work, notes that remind us to be present, notes… Get them down. Don’t worry about how beautiful they look—of course go take a calligraphy class and learn to write beautifully, and […]