Issue #4
March, 2005
Spring has arrived in Santa Fe.

Despite the fact that it is not quite time for gardening, or wearing sandals, or spending most of my time outdoors as I prefer, there is a very special appeal to this time of year. It is a time of new beginnings.

We do Spring Cleaning. We plan changes. We start new projects. We are filled with so many ideas that prioritizing becomes a significant issue, but the wash of fresh creative energy always thrills us. And this is a time when BIG ideas are born.

This issue is about Spring and new ideas - especially a new idea that has vast possibilities for expanding your paper art horizons beyond your wildest dreams.

It is also about changes and passages.
Since you last heard from us, we have lost a beloved feline staff member, whose long illness taught us some valuable lessons about time and love, developed perhaps the biggest idea since Sheer Heaven (maybe bigger), made important decisions about priorities, and taken a very deep breath in preparation for the excitment that lies ahead . . .
Sometimes, when you look forward to something for a long time, it surprises you by showing up right around the corner!

The first of our two creativity retreats is just about three weeks from now. That one is already full, but we still have spaces for the second weekend (April 21-24). (Learn more.)

These will be our last retreats - at least for the forseeable future.

We (Vesta, Cassie, and I) have done a lot of talking about priorities lately - and the specific things we hope to accomplish in the next couple of years. Although the retreat last year was a treasure of an experience, and we are sure this year will be even better, there is an amazing amount of time and effort that goes into planning and executing this type of thing, and we just can't make it fit - comfortably, at least.

So we urge anyone who has wanted to attend this wonderful Santa Fe event, but told themselves they would wait til next year, to rethink whether you can make it this year instead.

And, we have promised for awhile to publish some of the pictures from last year, so here they are.
One of our classrooms at dawn - awaiting artists still asleep in their luxurious rooms.

Enjoying free time on the patio of our studio building, The Willows.