Our Winter Headquarters

When people start emailing me wondering whether they've accidentally fallen off the newsletter list (since it's been so long since they've received one), I know I'm overdue for an update. Several weeks ago Brian, Declan and I all packed up for a month-long house swap in Minnesota. Being at "our winter headquarters" (as Brian called it) was a ton of fun. Lots of ice skating, hockey, and time with the family. The house swap was great and I'm seriously lusting over several apartments in Paris for our next trip. I know we'll make it there some day.

For me, it was most definitely a working vacation. I visited 20 different archives, scanning some of the most amazing engravings and lithographs--the oldest from the 1700s. Some of these images I will turn into collage sheets (like the Marie Antoinette painting in the upper left corner). Others will be made into calendars and greeting cards by some of my larger commercial clients. All together, I think I scanned more than 1000 new images. Here's a small sample (click on the image to zoom a bit). Now it's time to recover from the "vacation," catching up on everything I let slide while away (like the 1500+ feedbacks I still owe). Yikes.