Six years into a values-driven, community-oriented creative business and I’ve outgrown the version of fresh cercle that was built on grit, improvisation, and saying YES to everything.

Now, the work is towards a slower, more intentional growth arc.

The image in my mind is of a TREE: soil, roots, trunk, branches, canopy. Add rain and sunlight and we’re talking about a whole eco-system over here…

. . .

Back in the day, I used to create little books for myself. They included various bits and bobs I happened to be working with at the time, a kind of studio swatch-book.

Fast forward to January 2026 when I started thinking about creating some kind of ‘zine for fresh cercle, a tactile piece of communication to send to my most ardent friends and supporters.

Then, I saw a post about an artist/crossing guard who makes 2-color risographs to send to her subscribers… maybe you saw that article, too…?

While a paid subscription could be in the offing, for the time being I made and sent fewer than 50 hand-written missives in May with the intention of sending again in August, November, and February. I consider them a kind of studio snapshot BETA test and sent them out on my birthday as a way of saying THANK YOU for supporting my creative ideas and efforts.

I asked them to reply back with their thoughts or to plan a time when we could get together. One friend replied back with suggested times to meet in Harvard Square for coffee. When we met, she had a handful of edits for me. Another wrote me a card saying how cool it was to get my “inaugural issue” and how she thought it really wasn’t scalable but good luck.

Several replied by email thanking and encouraging me to keep going.

Several others I saw in person said, “Thanks for sending” or “That was really cool” or “I saw it but didn’t get a chance to read it yet”, on their way out from brunch at a friend’s.

All in all, nearly everyone I sent to replied back, and so the exercise has been great; I already see how to make changes for August. I can’t wait to see where things end up after February.

. . .