Tag: Mental Illness

Alex wonders the Scottish countryside and laments the lack of recognition for illustrators and fantastical artists, despite their significant contributions to art and culture.

Alex christens a new type of episodes called ‘Walking Therapy’, despite the fact that several episodes of the kind have already been published. In this episode he discusses the wide range of styles and approaches to drawing he observed in a workshop for kids, and ponders why this early diversity doesn’t seem to carry through to the commercial art world.

Alex takes a dreamy stroll through the woods and discusses how listening to challenging music like Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier can be beneficial to creativity, why finishing things is not that important, and why your destination is not the point of your journey.

Alex pays tribute to the legend that was Ozzy Osbourne and the lessons that we can learn from his incredible life and work in our journey of creativity and mental wellness.

Alex reads his short book of art and verse, ‘The Fall’, a raw depiction of a recent mental health crisis and its effect on him and those around him. Content warning: this episode contains references to depression, anxiety, panic, autistic meltdowns and shutdown, suicide, and likely some other mental illness related stuff, and in a higher dose than usual. Consider yourself warned.

In stark contrast to the barely controlled chaos of part 1, Alex gets chill and takes us on a windy wonder through the Scottish countryside and extols the virtues of getting away from your daily grind, freeing your mind and finding new stimulus to fuel your creative journey. Be forewarned, the sound quality on some of this is a bit rough, so apologies in advance!

Alex recounts a recent experience where the appearance of a honey bee swarm lead to the sale of an artwork.

Alex chats to Tom Langlands and Lesley Buchan Donald about their ambitious projects to get the Perthshire public creating, writing and performing. We hear the story of how they found each other and forged their creative partnership, engaging and energising the community to help them deliver their stunning theatre shows, and giving a platform to all ages and abilities to share their creative outpourings. Lesley discusses using the power of creativity as a therapy for Parkinson’s and as a welcome alternative to her prior, stressed out vet’s existence, and we discuss using Auchterarder’s rich history to bind it all together.

Alex has been distracted, big time. This is the story of failing to get things done, getting insulted by a belligerent AI, and having to set priorities or risk total logjam. Part one is a noirish parable of fall from grace. Coming soon, part two is all about redemption.