Several of my relatives have a distressing history of palm trees growing out of their heads. Others appear to be rather frayed around the edges.

At least, that's what the pages of our family photo album would lead you to believe. And it's one of the reasons my husband and I have come to the Art Retreat in the home of Al and Josie Rodriguez: to learn, among other things, how to take better pictures.

"There. Now you try it," photographer Al Rodriguez says, handing back my pocket-sized Pentax IQ Zoom.

Imitating my instructor, I peer through the viewfinder with one eye, making sure to wrap the fingers of both my hands securely around the camera's perimeter.

Deft as any paparazzi, I swing around to frame my husband in the tiny rectangle. Then back to Al on the couch and the classical guitar and music stand resting to his right. Then over to the stenciled vine of ivy
curling around the living room fireplace. Finally, I zoom in on the fresh-cut Calla lilies in the glass vase on the table.

"Feels better, doesn't it, when you get a good grip like that," Al says.

He'd noticed that I'd had the habit of holding this camera with the tips of my fingers, which could go a long way toward explaining my own history of out-of-focus photos.

"Now you're ready to take some great shots," Al assures me, flashing a "thumbs up" along with the grin from beneath his feather-duster moustache.

More than an adult-ed class, better than a bed-and-breakfast, the Art Retreat offers cottage-like accommodations-for-two beyond the main house, plus one-on-one instruction in the Rodriguez's craftsman-style home located in the upscale, centrally located Mission Hills neighborhood of San Diego.

Al recently retired from his full-time job as a photography teacher at one of San Diego's magnet schools. He's a recognized expert, too, in the field of book arts - from paper-making and paper marbling to crafting small hand-sewn volumes. Josie, a chaplain at San Diego Hospice, and a writer and collage artist in her off hours, sees a future with less time on-the-job, as well.

"For a long time, we'd been talking about starting the Art Retreat, about sharing what we know in the place where we live, with people looking for a different kind of getaway," Josie explains.

In addition to photography, course offerings include journal writing, poetry, collage, book making, paper marbling, and Polaroid manipulation - a technique that gives snapshots taken with an SX-70 camera and
Time-Zero film the look of Impressionistic paintings, and pinhole photography-a class that demonstrtates how to turn a coffe can or even a 35mm film canister into a camera that takes black and white pictures.

With their special combination of artistic talents and easy-going temperaments, the Rodriguezes are eager to open the blue-framed front door of their home to those in search of, as their web site says,
"creativity and relaxation in a nurturing environment."

Within that environment, a two-day workshop includes lunch and breakfast, as well as flexible class-scheduling to accommodate guests' needs and interests.

"Classes are small, just the one or two people who are here for the Art Retreat, which allows for instruction that's tailored to each guest," Josie explains. "And if someone simply wants to 're-fuel' by spending an afternoon lounging in our hammock with that book they've been meaning to read, we
can easily adapt the day's plan to include as many quiet hours as they want -and a tall glass to lemonade, too."

Holding the camera the way Al showed me, I hear him say, "Remember, now, train yourself to see everything that's around your subject, then decide what you want to leave in each shot."

At the Art Retreat, there's no lack of subjects. No matter where we point our cameras, there's something interesting to snap: Whole walls of tastefully framed photographs. Handmade quilts. Ceramic plaques imprinted with wise words. Colorful art prints and original collages. Weathered garden tools hung with eye-pleasing precision. Vases, mugs, and curving carafes teeming with tall gladiolas, white roses, bright orange nasturtiums.

Say the words "artistic expression," and most people think of things like canvas and tubes of oil paints. For others, it's clay, pastels, or pen-and-ink. But Al and Josie Rodriguez have taken creativity into
another dimension, far beyond what can be found under the lid of any box of art supplies. For them, their home itself is the ultimate art project; its walls and window frames are their canvas; its flower gardens and fragrant trees, simply part of their materials.

At their Sutter Street address, inside and out, vivid hues and bold patterns come together in unexpected ways. Daring colors from disparate palettes, instead of clashing, have here obviously called a truce.

To an amateur photographer like me, whose forays into home decorating typically start and stop with a new set of matching place mats, the beautifully eclectic environment of the Art Retreat is nothing less than a revelation.

I tote my camera into the backyard, across the red-orange planks of the back deck, under tree branches heavy with blossoms called "Angel's Trumpet," and over to a door with a cluster of dried flowers tucked into a robin's-egg-blue container. "Welcome," it says there in hand-stenciled letters. Remembering Al's advice to hold the camera firmly, I frame and snap one shot, then another. A dozen or so shutter clicks later, I'm confident that with the help of one-hour processing, I'll have at least a few good pictures - in focus, no less - for Josie's collage workshop later in the afternoon.

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