The Inaugural Santa Fe retreat

Our inaugural Santa Fe retreat commenced on October 25, 2009, with the paricipants arriving to a light snow at the beautiful Don Gaspar Inn.

Monday the 26th was the start of our week long session. Six work spaces for six students studying four different subjects were set up at the Studio/Gallery.

Canvas techniques, the Foundational hand, 15th cent. Bastarda, and layout and composition were the starting points for our week. Above, Yolande Adriaanse studies the Bastarda hand, and below Cecelia Watts Harris experiments with textures on canvas.

These rows of letters were quickly transitioned into alphabetic sentences to help talk about rhythm and spacing.

The demos ranges from specific letterforms, to canvas techniques, to a discussion on lettering in circles and spirals, as well as techniques to letter in perspective in space...

and of course, for the inagural group, we had to have a real Barbeque night for the participants and their spouses.

Fare above is Smoked Baby Back Ribs with spicy rub and homemade cherry chipotle bbq sauce, Smoked Turkey, Cilantro Lime Pinto beans, Cauliflower/Broccoli Grauten, rolls, and a couple of tangy sauces.


Thank you to all participants, it was a rewarding and pleasantly exhausting week!