Starbucks 7x10 pencil 10/12/18

Had a good time talking and laughing.

Gary said, "Let's all draw the same person for 5 minutes!" 

Scanning in pencil sketches doesn't work all that well. Maybe I should switch to pen? Not sure where the dark shadow is coming from. I weighted the sketchpad down with a book but maybe it still is not laying flat.

Showed my buddies a book that I am reading by Mario Andres Robinson called "Lessons in Realistic Watercolor." In the book on p. 78 he showed that smudging the graphite with a finger makes the blended area flat and doesn't recommend that technique. He has excellent examples and ideas in this book.I haven't quite finished reading this book. I heard his interview on Plein Air Art Podcast by Erik Rhoads so had to learn more.

Read "A history of pictures for Children" by David Hockney & Martin Gayford. Interesting. I'd like to learn more about the camera obscura and camera lucida created by William Hyde Wolllaston as a rival to the camera obscura.

Skimmed "The One Thing" by Gary Keller. Basically make blocks of time to focus on the one thing that will make the biggest difference in your life. And "once you've done that one thing for the day you can devote the rest of the day to everything else."

I like these quotes from the book:

• Page 55, "...success is about doing the right thing, not about doing everything right."
• Page 159, "...I come from a "long line of lethargic people."" p 207 "Don't sacrifice your health by trying to take on too much....It's important to manage your energy so you can do what you must do, achieve what you want to achieve, and live the life you want to live." I totally agree with this. If I don't get enough sleep, enough to eat, or some playtime, I feel crappy, and don't feel like doing anything.

He suggests to block the following things on your calendar:

• Time block your time off
• Time block your ONE thing as early in the day as possible for a minimum of 4 hours. Key is to do it everyday, like Stephen King writes his novels or comedian Jerry Seinfeld wrote his jokes, put a big red X on the calendar, and tried to not break the chain of X's. Post "Until My ONE Thing is gets done - Everything Else is a Distraction."
• Time block an hour each week for you planning time of annual and monthly goals.

Big Ideas from p 206:

• Start by saying "no." "...when you say yes to something, you're saying no to everything else."
• Accept chaos. "...pursuing your ONE Thing moves other things to the back burner."
• Manage your energy
• Take ownership of your environment. "Make sure that the people around you and your physical surroundings support your goals.