Michele Cassou Newsletter January 2012 Dear Friends and Painters, The Point Zero Painting Staff is gathering together to wish you a Very Happy New Year 2012! May you a have a wonderful year filled with joy, love, health, creativity and Spirit. Our First New Year painting workshop is coming up soon: a 5-day Workshop in San Francisco, February 1 - 5. This workshop is a great opportunity to start 2012 with a creative burst! I am looking forward to teaching again. Our last workshop in 2011 was in Los Angeles. I was overjoyed to see the beautiful studio Gwinn had created there, spacious, light, spotless and comfortable with every detail taken care of. We even had prepared meals there! Watching painters have deep experience in that space made me long to visit again, hopefully soon. Carlos Lopez with the help of Stuart Piontek just wrote an article about me on Wikepedia. I gave Carlos a few old boxes of references and he did a great job sorting and organizing everything he found there; we also found out that a lot of recent articles had been lost but it did not detract from the project. I have begun the new year painting as much as ever, always more delighted by the gifts of this amazing process, and looking forward to sharing them.

WORKSHOPS 2012

With Michele Cassou and Cathy Williams. Special workshop for beginners and continuing painters and for those oriented towards teaching. We still have partial scholarships available. This workshop is to develop a ground to express your intuitive power and also to understand the magical process of intuitive painting. We will be exploring the depth of process painting and develop a foundation for holding creative groups. Starts Wednesday Feb 1st at 10am. Ends at 1pm on Sunday Feb 5th. All prior days 10 to 6pm. Fee: $625 At CCE Painting Studio, 300 Chenery St. SF. To register select from these options: email Barbara at thepaintingstudio@sbcglobal.net or call her at (415)333-9515

May 4 - May 12, 2012. The Longest workshop of the year. Very popular. Class starts Fri May 4 dinner, ends May 12, after lunch. Residential. For beginners and continuing students. $2095, includes all materials, lodging, and gourmet food Semi-private room with wonderful gourmet meals. Taught by Michele Cassou with Debbie Purdy and Cathy Williams. Call 1-800-846-2235 to register or e-mail: mabel@mabeldodgeluhan.com . Visit Mabel Dodge Luhan House on the web.

June 15-22, 2012. 7 days Residential. With Michele Cassou and Cathy Williams. "The creative painting work offers practical ways to dissolve creative blocks and find inspiration so that, in a state of infinite possibility, art becomes not a means to an end but a place we inhabit, a place to explore our true selves and the mystery of our lives." Fee for lodging, gourmet food, natural hot baths, and spectacular setting on the coast from $990 to $1855 or more; plus $50 materials fee Price varies with type of accommodation. Call (831)667-3005 for registration and information. Or, register on-line with Esalen

Taught by Kathrin Franckenberg. Taught in English and German. Fully residential. In Germany at the ZIST center near Munich; a beautiful setting in the country with a spacious studio! To register: email info@zist.de Tel: +49-8856-93690. Fax:+49-8856-93670. For more details in Germany: you can also contact Kathrin in Cologne tel. 0221 - 240 8314. Or check her website www.malfreude.de.

With Michele Cassou, Cathy Williams and Debbie Purdy. A unique practical program for teachers-to-be. —Develop your teacher's intuition by practicing simple exercises. —Become familiar with the basic principles of creativity and how and when to communicate them to your students. —Learn key points to teaching in order to support process and inspire your students. —Find out how to deal with student's and teacher's blocks. —Bring spontaneity, joy and liveliness to your teaching by fully understanding how teaching creativity works. Residential - Truly Gourmet food - Beautiful studio - Maid service- Walk to town - Wonderful and inspiring atmosphere - A treat for spirit and soul! Place: Mabel Dodge Luhan House, Taos, NM. Class starts Friday Oct 5 at dinner, ends Saturday Oct 13, after lunch. $2095 includes everything with all materials needed. To register email: mabel@mabeldodgeluhan.com or call 1-800-846-2235. Prerequisite: 9 days of workshop with Point zero teachers. Visit Mabel Dodge Luhan House on the web.

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A Note From Michele

On Harmony and Intuitive Painting I had been painting intensely, after spending a few weeks busy at the crossroads of life, when I found again that wonderful feeling: all things inner and outer had fallen perfectly into place as I painted. It was as though order had mysteriously been put in, the house had been cleared. Peace had emerged on its own and harmony settled between the inside and the outside, the heart and mind—between times past, present and to still come. Emotions, deep quiet, joy, pain or bliss could all be there, but they did not crowd me anymore; instead they all belonged to the great picture of life, nothing standing out as unwanted or unacceptable. Did this harmony come because intuitive painting allows our fullest self to manifest, never pushing anything out, never sorting with our mind's preferences, or controlling the outcome, but by surrendering to the natural rhythm of our life? From that simplicity Being can breathe in us as we paint. Feelings and perceptions have room to be what they are, allowing intuition to follow the mysterious movement of the full self toward revelation. I was in balance again, full of gratitude for the wonderful gift of the creative process. We are hoping to see you soon to paint and explore together in the endless mystery and intelligence of the creative process. With love and many blessings for the New Year, Michele and the joyful Point Zero staff.

website: www.michelecassou.com
email: cassouart@aol.com
phone: 415.459.4829