The Horror

(jan 2024)

There is nothing like channeling Joseph Conrad to lighten the mood is there?! My second attempt, like the first, was an expression of anguish, and similarly quick and crude, given my inability to focus.

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Earth Underground

(feb 2024)

By Spring 2024, my symptoms were ever-so-slightly starting to lose their grip. I had upped my Sertraline dose (Lustral to those in the US) and the weather was warming slightly, which I am sure helped). I could focus more, and I found this website: trustandbloom.co.uk where I learned that doing something new, particularly something creative, could alter our mindset, allowing the conditions for symptom recovery. Now it was not just a thing to stop me from going mad, but also a therapy. I did know about art therapy by the way, but I'm ashamed to say that I thought it a load of BS if I thought about it at all.

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Bugs from the Great Beyond

(feb 2024)

This features a pair of lungs on the right hand side (also masquerading as a giant insect -I could pretend this was intentional but it's mostly bodged).

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Neuron on a Washing Line

I continued the body parts theme with this whimsical number. Neurons that fire together wire together (curablehealth.com).

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How can one live with such a heart?

This line is from a poem by on of my favourite authors - Margaret Atwood, entitled "The woman who could not live with her faulty heart"*. When you feel trapped or betrayed by your body, themes of anatomy can come up. The heart is a potent symbol of the deepest self as well as a lump of gristle. The brain of course too, but brains are harder to draw!

* note - in a follow up poem in the same collection, Atwood's woman makes peace with her faulty heart. There are definitely times when I can thank my wayward neural circuits for the gifts of insight they give me, so making peace with our bodies/reptilian brains is possible, at least sometimes!

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Organ Monkey

(March 2024)

If you could include a monkey, a teacup and some diatoms in amongst some human organs, why wouldn't you?

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Storkworld

(November 2025)

As an Ecologist, I have a great affinity for nature and lots of my (what passes for) art has a kind of nature-taking-over post-apocalyptic vibe. The interesting thing about creative self-expression in any form is that you don't know where it will take you - what themes will emerge.

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