Michele Cassou Newsletter February & March 2010 Dear Friends and Painters, I hope this letter will find you in good health and wonderful spirit. The winter is leaving and the buds, after much rain, are starting to bloom everywhere, offering their delicate colors and delicious scents; I can feel the spring coming with its joy. Anticipating the new season, we have many exciting news items this month:   We are moving up with technology: Excerpts from 3 of Michele DVD's are now available on youTube! We also intend to feature some audio excerpts soon.   The Point Zero Painting Community is forming and taking flight. It is now on Facebook, thanks to Cherie, who started an open forum for Point Zero Painters! Our purpose is to support people in finding painting partners and teachers in their area, and also to organize meetings and gatherings for teachers to allow a deepening of the teaching process and successful workshops.   Plus, Michele's hot new video is out: "Body, Sexuality and Spirit."

Michele's Workshops In 2010

CCE Painting Studio, San Francisco, California.

March 13 - 14, 2010. Non-Residential, 10am - 6pm, 2 days. Taught by Michele Cassou and other teachers. For beginners and continuing students. Fee: $325, painting materials included. At CCE Painting Studio, 300 Chenery St. To register select from these options: email Barbara Kaufman at thepaintingstudio@sbcglobal.net call Barbara Kaufman at (415)333-9515 Only a couple of places are left.

 

Mabel Dodge Luhan House. Taos, New Mexico.

April 30 - May 8, 2010. With Michele Cassou, Cathy Williams, and Debbie Purdy. Our most popular and beloved Taos Workshop (9 days). Class starts Fri April 30 dinner, ends May 8, after lunch. Residential. Truly Gourmet food. Beautiful studio. Maid service. Walk to town. Wonderful atmosphere. A treat for spirit and soul! Fee: $1995, includes all materials, lodging and gourmet food. To register; call 1-800-846-2235 or e-mail: mabel@mabeldodgeluhan.com. Due to cancellations a couple of places just opened up! We also might possibly have a half-price fee place for one studio helper. Contact cassouart@aol.com if interested.

 

Esalen Institute, Big Sur, California.

July 4 - 9, 2010. 5 days Residential. With Michele Cassou and Cathy Williams. $855 to $1120 plus $50 materials fee payable to the instructor. Price subject to change and varies with type of accommodation. Gourmet food, natural hot baths, and spectacular setting on the coast. This year we will have a smaller studio so we won't have as many places as usual. Early registration is recommended. Bring your own painting apron. Call (831)667-3005 for registration and information. Or, register on-line with Esalen Note that the Esalen dates have changes since the last newsletter.

Master Class:
Mabel Dodge Luhan House. Taos, New Mexico.

October 18 - 26, 2010. (9 days) With Michele Cassou, Cathy Williams and Debbie Purdy Place: Mabel Dodge Luhan House, Taos, NM. Residential. Truly Gourmet food. Beautiful studio. Maid service. Walk to town. Wonderful atmosphere. A treat for spirit and soul! Fee: $1995, includes all materials, lodging and gourmet food. To register email: mabel@mabeldodgeluhan.com or call 1-800-846-2235.

 

Zist Center, Penzberg Germany, near Munich.

August 24 - 29, 2010. Germany at the ZIST center near Munich; a beautiful place! 5 days, fully residential. Sessions from 9:30am-12:30; 3:30-6:30pm. This workshop is filling up quickly. Taught by Michele Cassou and Debbie Purdy. Assisted by Eve-Marie Elkin and Kathrin Franckenberg. Cost: $590 Euro. Varied accommodations. To register: email info@zist.de Tel: +49-8856-93690. Fax:+49-8856-93670. Website: www.zist.de Brochure: ZIST info (pdf format)

News From Our Store

Michele's New Video: "Body, Sexuality, and Spirit" This video inspires freedom of expression and trust in the intuitive process. A video that stirs up courage in breaking up taboos in the painting process. This unique video presents a series of 57 of Michele's paintings created when she was in her thirties. Twenty-three years later, referring to notes and vivid memories of the experience, Michele tells the story of her spontaneous exploration of the body. As the show unfolds we see the creative process reveals layers of hidden feelings and ancient memories, and journey inside the very cells that make up the body. $25.00 + Tax + shipping and handling. Many of the images on this DVD are sexually explicit, and are not recommended for very sensitive people.

NEW! 2-CD SET: The One-Vegetable Soup CD Painting as Spiritual Practice. Talks from the Zen Peacemakers Center, October 2009 In these talks Michele explores stepping out of a limited creativity (a room without windows), moving away from expectations, comparison, and the small self (who-we think-we-are). She examines in a new, dynamic way the spiritual aspects of process painting. The sacred source of intuition is made apparent as is the futility of controlling creative experiences. Listening to Michele's inspiring words opens the doors to the understanding of painting as a meditation practice; a place where the painter is no more than the harmonious expression of spirit. The painter, the non-doer lets painting happen. Intuitive creation is seen as an offering to truth, an offering from a pure heart. $25.00 + Tax + shipping and handling.

Browse our online store to see our full catalog of books, videos, and audio.

Point Zero Painting Teachers Database Project, Update:

A note from Cherie: Hello Everyone! We're back in the groove after the latest journey of painting in San Francisco with Michele. My heart grows fuller with possibility each time I have the opportunity to paint with you. Many people voiced an interest in generating a community where teachers can connect and share as well as painters wanting to connect. In an effort to serve both desires I've created a Facebook page called Point Zero Painters. Please join the group. This group will be an open forum to share and connect. If you are teaching the Point Zero method, please complete the questionnaire (I will be sending it to you). We would like to form a community to support each other in our teaching efforts, share ideas and be a resource for discussion. Please return your completed questionnaires to me at cherie@trueyoucreativity.com We are in the beginning stages of this project. Your ideas and suggestions from our meeting will be shared with Michele. If you have more ideas, please share them. Please contact me if you have any questions. Contact Cherie at: cherie@trueyoucreativity.com

a community of teachers!

A Reflection from Michele: Be Brave

I see anew that any level of fear or anxiety when painting or living comes from fighting the unknown, the unfamiliar, the different and the unexpected. The mind always insists on keeping things as they are, attempting to stay in a sphere of safety while life keeps asking us to explore and expand. The resistance to change prevents the true movement of creativity and its joy. The fight against the unknown can never win in the long run because the new will keep knocking at the door in every way possible until we truly let it in and respond.

Humans have a stubborn fear of the unknown. We like the idea of creativity and freedom making us more alive, but often we step back anxiously the moment it makes us look at ourselves in a different way; out of fear we cling dearly to our old beliefs and push the mystery away.

When we finally understand the mechanical behavior of our frightened self, we open to the benevolence of the unfamiliar and the mystery of life and to their incomparable gifts; we allow their healing and wisdom deep down in our soul.

The painting process is a wonderful tool to meet the unknown over and over again and to practice opening to life and its mysteriousness instead of suffering from our desperate attempts to control what is happening and what we are feeling.

Can we finally rest into who we truly are? Or shall we fight to be as we think we should be and be anxious and afraid to create?

With many blessings and lots of love to all of you.
May your creative potential bloom as you follow its lively current.
And may we meet soon!

Michele

A word of poetry from Rumi:

We came whirling
Out of nothingness
Scattering stars
Like dust

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