Weekly things
Handwritten memories, expanding limits and how to live
Things from the day
Monday 15 July
We’ve switched from drawing intuitively to using a stick to measure angles and proportions of a still life. The teacher emphasises there is no right or wrong approach, and asks for our thoughts on both styles. Many shared the same sentiment: they prefer the results when measuring, but didn’t like that it slowed them down and they couldn’t accomplish as much. Isn’t it better to accomplish less, but learn more? To slow down, and do better things that take time?
Tuesday 16 July
At the end of my final rowing class, the instructor names a particular student the “most improved at relaxing” and we’re all told to give him an enthusiastic round of applause for learning to do less.
Wednesday 17 July
The practice I come back to is this: to write when I have the thought—not when I’ll be back at my desk or have an hour spare, but to write into the thinking so I can catch it and expand it.
Thursday 18 July
To do the thing I need to do before I can do the thing that wil…