11) Do you fear the blank page?

When Rodrigo asked us that, as we were having a snack at the small kitchen table last night, my brain sparked. 'I love a blank page,' I answered. 'New adventures, a fresh start. What about you guys?"

These conversations, about writing, about art in general, float through the house like butterflies. I wasn't expecting to be so inundated with art, the process of creating, and hearing about different forms of art that I hadn't even heard of before.

Sitting in the garden, purring cat on my lap, Coco sails by with big

leaves of an agave plant in her hands. The cat gives me that look: "Why did you stop stroking me." I see Coco sit by a stone trough (which was for the animals when this place was a farm), stick her feet in the water and soak the plant. She is making a mythical creature out of the leaves, adding fibre later to generate solid material.

Steph is making paper in the Bodega, using natural materials and goes on long walks, foraging plants and rocks, for her eco-art.

Foon is carving fascinating shapes in a piece of wood on the little terrace outside his workspace. He looks like a tattoo artist as his carving tool makes a buzzing sound. Gaudi has taken a hold of him, so he shapes figures inspired by the towers of the Sagrada Familia. After, he creates prints from this using our press in the bodega.

Then we have the writers; Marcia, Rodrigo and myself. We talk about things like: How do you plot, which voice is your story told in, do you write longhand or only at the computer? We read each other's work sometimes and feed off the comments.

The artist retreat is one big blank page, and I am on an adventure. A consistant flow merges into my writing, even though I don't know where or how yet, but I can feel it.