The Fine Art of Play

I have wanted to attend Teesha and Tracy Moore's Play Art Journal Retreat for years. This was the year I finally attended! And what a life and art altering experience it was! For 5 days you are submerged into a world of creative skills, sparky and fun fellow artists, surreal creations, brilliant teachers, and exploration. Teesha and Tracy are the most generous instructors on the planet! They teach you new techniques and their latest finds in skills and materials as well as help you get the coordination of using the tools while you experiment with them. There is a table of the journals that Teesha and Tracy created in the back of the room that is worth the whole price of the retreat to study and get inspiration from. I have to mention also, that many of the students remarked how they admired Teesha and Tracy's relationship. Two artists supporting and encouraging each other while sharing that same support and encouragement with fellow artists to keep them blossoming. These two work and play hard to keep artists sparked both during and after the retreat. I am guilty of enjoying a workshop or retreat long after it's over as my mind takes 'feeling photos' and I re-live them every time I go practice what I've learned. I left that retreat with enough new skills to try out and play with for years! THIS WORKSHOP NEVER ENDS EVEN THOUGH YOU LEFT IT LONG AGO!
I loved the skills they taught us using paper, but my inner fabric soul was hungry to try out what they taught us on a pair of pants I own that I rarely wear. They are now journal pants, which has been done before by artists, so it's nothing new. I love to try a new skill or different journal entry on them daily. I'm having many favorite parts on these pants already....my most favorite being the autographs of Teesha, Tracy, their awesomely talented daughter Tiphoni, and brilliant detail drawing phenomenon, Theo Ellsworth. I also have autographs of a few of the very gifted artists that were at my table on the front of my pants. I just love how artists sign autographs....why do it in just writing?
Another thing I want to mention about this retreat. I've met my tribe! They do not care how much clutter you have in your space. Every item in existence is art journal fodder. You are not a slob...you're an artist gathering materials for your creations. I get tired of being judged in every day life for saving items that may be considered trash or useless clutter. That rule that professional organizers use...if you don't use it within a year, pitch it....DOES NOT WORK FOR A COLLAGE ARTIST. I've had items I've saved for 20 years and only found the right use for them recently.
I see that both life coaches and journal artists see the potential in everything. Just go to the grocery store with a collage artist. Witness the perspective with which they see grocery items....potential art projects. One man's trash is a collage artist's treasure. 
I highly recommend any retreat Teesha and Tracy give to anyone needing a sparky kick in the art journal pants.
I have more to say about this retreat, but I have to finish tax receipts, so I'll continue next entry.