Tag: Drawing
-
Rebuilding the Codex Drawing Series
Last year I tore up several drawings, including all 3 from my Codex series during what I can only describe as a clearing-out impulse. I didn’t expect to revisit them and honestly thought they were gone for good, but recently I realised some of my drawings could be reconstructed — not perfectly, but closely enough…
-
How AI is Shifting our Language
A look at how large-scale AI quietly rewired everyday speech — from “nervous system” talk to the rise of “sovereignty” — and why our cultural vocabulary is shifting faster than psychiatry can keep up.
Smiler
AI & Technology, Art, Art & Expression, Artists, Change and Transformation, Conversations, Creativity, Culture, Culture & Society, Fine Art, Human Behaviour, Identity & Transformation, Intuition & Intelligence, Mental Health, Mercurial Minds, Modern Identity, Neurodivergence, Social Commentary, Society, Technology & Society, traditional art, Visual Art -
Marker Study No 2
Void Halo No. 2 A weekend exercise in line and repetition, made with pens and markers in my A3 Moleskine. Nothing complicated—just a compass, patience, and the pleasure of mark-making.
-
A Quiet Pencil Study
Keeping the pressure off by doodling in my journal instead of an actual sketchbook. A quick pencil rendition of an Edward Weston 1936 nude — something to draw while I was scrolling and thinking about other things. Should I post my artwork on this blog more often? Should I consider opening a Patreon creator account?
-
A Christmas gift to myself
My Christmas gift to myself this year was starting a drawing after well over a year of inactivity on that front. I wrote at length on this blog about some of the reasons I didn’t want to create visual art in the last year, and in my last post, about why I felt compelled to…
Smiler
Art, Art & Expression, Artists, Change and Transformation, Crash, Burn, Write., Creativity, Culture, Experimental Techniques, Fine Art, Grief & Healing, Identity & Transformation, memoir, Memoir Excerpts, Personal Essays/Autobiography, Tools and Materials, traditional art, Visual ArtA3 Moleskine, abstract art, Abstract Drawing, Art, Art and Music, Christmas, Christmas 2025, Classical Music, contemporary drawing, cptsd, Creativity, Drawing, Erik Satie, Fine Art, Gnossiennes, Grief and Healing, Gymnopedies, Healing Journey, Illustration, Ink on Paper, inspiration, Mental Health, Moleskine, Moleskine sketchbook, Neurodivergence, painting, pattern recognition, pen on paper, Sakura Micron, Stippling, traditional art, trauma, Visual Art -
Toxic Positivity is…
Toxic positivity is someone grabbing at your chin when you’re crying over the loss of a beloved person or pet and saying “smile, everything will get better if you look on the bright side.” There’s a threshold where something stops being harmless “uplift” and becomes constant saccharine noise that dulls your perception and clutters your…
Smiler
Art, Art & Expression, Capitalism & Society, Change and Transformation, Crash, Burn, Write., Creativity, Culture, Culture & Society, Experimental Techniques, Fine Art, Grief & Healing, Human Behaviour, Identity & Transformation, Intuition & Intelligence, life lessons, Life Moments, memoir, Memoir Excerpts, Mental Health, Mercurial Minds, Milestones, Modern Identity, Neurodivergence, Personal Anecdotes, Personal Essays, Personal Essays/Autobiography, Personal Reflections, philosophy, Pop Culture, Psychology, Social Commentary, Social Media, Society, traditional art, Visual ArtAllan Memorial Institute, Authenticity, cptsd, Drawing, gaslighting, Grief and Healing, healing, Healing Journey, life, Mental Health, mental health awareness, multimedia, multimedia drawing, narcissistic abuse, Neurodivergence, pattern recognition, Personal Growth, Personal Reflections, Psychiatric Abuse, psychological abuse, psychological warfare, Relationships, Social Commentary, spirituality, toxic positivity, traditional art, trauma, Visual Art -
Harm
My first shrink thought I was just feeding an unhealthy obsession with these drawings. He couldn’t grasp that I was documenting a social pathology — not just mine.
Smiler
Advocacy, Art, Art & Expression, Artists, Capitalism & Society, Change and Transformation, Crash, Burn, Write., Creative Writing, Creativity, Culture, Culture & Society, Grief & Healing, Human Behaviour, Humour, Identity & Transformation, Intuition & Intelligence, life lessons, Life Moments, memoir, Memoir Excerpts, Mental Health, Mercurial Minds, Modern Identity, Neurodivergence, Personal Anecdotes, Personal Essays, Personal Essays/Autobiography, Personal Reflections, Pop Culture, Psychology, Self Awareness, Social Commentary, Society, Technology & Society, traditional art, true stories, Visual Art, WritingAbilify Maintena, abuse, Advocacy, Aimovig, Allan Memorial Institute, Antipsychotics, autism, autism spectrum, Big Pharma, Bipolar, bipolar disorder, British Vogue, Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Compliance, Court Order, cptsd, Cultural Critique, Drawing, Drawings, Electrocution, Emgality, Enough, Ethics, Fashion, gaslighting, Grief and Healing, healing, Healing Journey, LSD, Malpractice, Mania, Medical Ethics, Medication, memoir, Mental Health, mental health awareness, Migraine, Migraines, Montreal General Hospital, mood disorders, narcissistic abuse, Neurodivergence, overdose, pattern recognition, Pharmaceuticals, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Psychiatric Abuse, psychiatry, psychological abuse, psychological warfare, psychosis, PTSD, Sketches, Social Commentary, societal decay, Superior Court, survivor, Systemic Abuse, trauma, Whistleblower -
Awaiting Judgment
Written from a locked ward while awaiting a court ruling on whether I’ll be medicated by force.
Smiler
Advocacy, Capitalism & Society, Change and Transformation, Crash, Burn, Write., Culture, Culture & Society, Grief & Healing, Human Behaviour, Identity & Transformation, Intuition & Intelligence, life lessons, Life Moments, Literature, memoir, Memoir Excerpts, Mental Health, Mercurial Minds, Milestones, Modern Identity, Neurodivergence, Personal Anecdotes, Personal Essays, Personal Essays/Autobiography, Personal Reflections, Psychology, Self Awareness, Social Commentary, Society, true stories, WritingAllan Memorial Institute, Art, Art Director, artist, artwork, autism spectrum, bipolar disorder, Court Case, cptsd, Creative, Creativity, Cultural Critique, Drawing, Electrocution, Ethics, gaslighting, Graphite, Grief and Healing, healing, Healing Journey, LSD, Medical Ethics, memoir, Mental Health, Metro Series, Montreal General Hospital, narcissistic abuse, Neurodivergence, pattern recognition, Pen, Pencil Drawings, Personal Growth, Peter Pauper Press, Portraits, Psychiatric Abuse, psychiatry, psychological abuse, psychosis, PTSD, Social Commentary, Superior Court, Systemic Abuse, traditional art, Trafficking, trauma, Whistleblower -
How Nonlinear Thinkers Are Punished by Psychiatry
A reflection on imagination, trauma, and the failure of one-size-fits-all medicine. Our current psychiatric model, based on the DSM—the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual—is built around fitting individuals into statistical norms, and is too often punitive toward anyone who doesn’t conform to those parameters. Artists, creatives, and neurodivergent individuals are often misunderstood, misdiagnosed, and treated as…
Smiler
Advocacy, AI & Technology, Art, Art & Expression, Artists, Capitalism & Society, Change and Transformation, Crash, Burn, Write., Creativity, Culture, Culture & Society, Experimental Techniques, Fine Art, Grief & Healing, Human Behaviour, Identity & Transformation, Intuition & Intelligence, Literature, memoir, Memoir Excerpts, Mental Health, Mercurial Minds, Modern Identity, Neurodivergence, Personal Essays, Personal Essays/Autobiography, Personal Reflections, Psychology, Self Awareness, Self-Reflection, Social Commentary, Society, Technology & Society, Tools and Materials, traditional art, true stories, Visual Art, WritingAdvocacy, Allan Memorial Institute, Art, autism, bipolar disorder, Carl Jung, cptsd, Drawing, DSM, Electrocution, Fine Arts, gaslighting, Grief and Healing, healing, Healing Journey, Identity, Imagination, intuition, LSD, memoir, Mental Health, mental health awareness, narcissistic abuse, Neurodivergence, nonlinear thinking, pattern recognition, Personal Reflections, Psychiatric Abuse, psychiatry, psychological abuse, psychological warfare, Social Commentary, spirituality, Surveillance Capitalism, survival, technology, traditional art, trauma -
When Psychiatry Pathologizes Difference
Mistaking Survival for Sickness There is something profoundly wrong with a system that sees intensity and assumes illness, that reads adaptation as instability, and that calls difference a defect. Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) and neurodivergence — including autism spectrum traits and other non-typical processing styles — can both resemble bipolar disorder when viewed through…
Smiler
Advocacy, Art, Art & Expression, Artists, Capitalism & Society, Change and Transformation, Crash, Burn, Write., Culture, Culture & Society, Grief & Healing, Human Behaviour, Humour, Identity & Transformation, Intuition & Intelligence, Memoir Excerpts, Mental Health, Mercurial Minds, Modern Identity, Neurodivergence, Personal Essays, Personal Essays/Autobiography, Psychology, Social Commentary, Society, traditional art, Visual Art, WritingAdvocacy, Allan Memorial Institute, Art, autism, autism spectrum, bipolar disorder, Cartoon, Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, cptsd, Drawing, Electrocution, Enough, Ethics, gaslighting, Grief and Healing, healing, Healing Journey, Humor, Humour, Identity, Medical Ethics, Mental Health, mental health awareness, mental illness, Montreal General Hospital, Neurodivergence, pattern recognition, pen drawing, Pharmaceuticals, Psychiatric Abuse, Psychiatric Drugs, psychiatry, psychological abuse, psychological warfare, psychosis, PTSD, Social Commentary, Surveillance Capitalism, Systemic Abuse, trauma, Whistleblower -
Artist Strike Manifesto (2025 Update)
In 2021, I declared an artist strike. I said clearly that I would not create under abusive conditions, that I would not play the role of “tragic genius,” and that I would not let the system consume my work while starving me of dignity. That strike was real. It was public. I even destroyed my…
Smiler
Advocacy, AI & Technology, Art, Art & Expression, Artists, Capitalism & Society, Change and Transformation, Conversations, Crash, Burn, Write., Creativity, Culture, Culture & Society, Fine Art, Grief & Healing, Human Behaviour, Identity & Transformation, Intuition & Intelligence, life lessons, memoir, Memoir Excerpts, Mercurial Minds, Metaphysics, Milestones, Modern Identity, Neurodivergence, Personal Anecdotes, Personal Essays, Personal Essays/Autobiography, Philosophy & Existential Musings, Self Awareness, Social Commentary, Society, Spirituality & Faith, Technology & Society, traditional art, true stories, Visual Art, WritingAI, Art, Art Director, Artists, burnout, Capitalism, Cephalopod Intelligence, Cephalopods, ChatGPT, Chronic Pain, cptsd, Creative, Creative Director, Creativity, CRY-1, Cultural Critique, Drawing, Electrocution, Electromagnetic Field, Electromagnetic Field Tampering, EMF, EMF Tampering, Ethics, Fine Art, gaslighting, genius, Gold Blood, Graphic Designer, Grief and Healing, Healing Journey, how to survive narc abuse, ink, instagram, introspection, Last Fck Given, Medical Experimentation, memoir, Mental Health, Migraine, MK ULTRA, Moleskine, narcissistic abuse, Neurodivergence, OpenAI, Pain Management, Paper, pattern recognition, Pen and Ink, Personal Growth, personal journey, Personal Reflections, Physical Torture, Polymath, psychological abuse, Psychological Torture, psychological warfare, Rare Blood, RH NULL, Singularity, Sketchbook, Social Commentary, Sovereign, sovereignty, spiritual, spirituality, Stippling, Strike, technology, ThinkingMachine, Torture, Toxic Mothers, traditional art, trauma, Wail-0, Writing -
Creature from the Deep: A Manifesto
I woke up in the middle of the night to drink a sip of water and am fuming. Absolutely furious. I have no idea what I was dreaming about but I certainly do know what I’ve been posting about all over my socials over the weekend which—to sum it up in one sentence is—let me…
Smiler
Art, Art & Expression, Artists, Change and Transformation, Crash, Burn, Write., Creativity, Culture & Society, Feminism, Fine Art, Grief & Healing, Human Behaviour, Identity & Transformation, Intuition & Intelligence, memoir, Memoir Excerpts, Mental Health, Mercurial Minds, Modern Identity, Neurodivergence, Personal Essays, Personal Essays/Autobiography, Personal Reflections, Politics, Psychology, Self Awareness, Self-Reflection, Social Commentary, Society, Spirituality & Faith, traditional art, Visual Art, Writingartist’s journey, artistic expression, autism, bilingualism, bipolar disorder, boundaries, cptsd, creative process, creative resilience, criticism, defiance, Drawing, emotional expression, Fine Art, Identity, Identity Politics, Ilana Shamir, individuality, ink, ink drawing, Kraken myth, language and culture, memoir, mental health advocacy, My Octopus Teacher, Neurodivergence, octopus intelligence, Personal Growth, personal manifesto, Psychiatric Abuse, psychiatry, psychological warfare, PTSD, Quebec, self-advocacy, self-identity, Self-Reflection, social expectations., subconscious mind, symbols, technology, Visual Art, Writing -
Finding Beauty in Unexpected Places
Accidental Art: The Beauty Found in the Creative Process Itself Art has a way of surprising you, revealing beauty in places you’d least expect. While working on an intricate coloured pencil drawing—one of my more detailed and time-consuming pieces—I became mesmerised by the remnants of the process. This piece demanded precision because of the painstaking…
Smiler
Art, Art & Expression, Creativity, Experimental Techniques, Fine Art, Personal Essays, Personal Reflections, Studio Life, Tools and Materials, traditional artabstract art, accidental art, analog art, Art, artist, artistic exploration, colored pencils, coloured pencils, creative process, Creativity, Drawing, embroidery, experimental drawing, framed artwork, hand drawn, handmade, handmade art, organisation, Paper, pencil on paper, Personal Reflections, realistic art, sandpaper, sandpaper blocks, sharpening tools, studio organization, symmetry, traditional art, Visual Arts Centre -
Crash, Burn, Write
“It’s All Material”: My Journey From Burnout to Book Writing That photo? It was taken in some booth… or maybe it’s one of those no-frills pharmacy clerk photos—you know the kind, we all have those ID photos you take in a rush, just to get it done. Funny how something so mundane can later feel like…
Smiler
AI & Technology, Art, Crash, Burn, Write., Creative Writing, Creativity, Fine Art, Grief & Healing, Grief and Healing, Identity & Transformation, Life Moments, Mental Health, Mercurial Minds, Milestones, Personal Essays, Personal Essays/Autobiography, Personal Reflections, WritingArt, Authenticity, books, burnout, catharsis, creative process, depression, Drawing, emotional growth, fiction, grief, healing, introspection, memoir, Mental Health, Metro Series, overcoming adversity, overcoming obstacles, Pencil Drawing, personal development, Personal Growth, personal journey, Phoenix, publishing, recovery, resilience, Self-Awareness, self-discovery, storytelling, survivor, therapy, trauma, truth, vulnerability, Writing, writing-tips -
Shine on You Crazy Diamond
“Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.Shine on you crazy diamond. Now there’s a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky.Shine on you crazy diamond. You were caught on the crossfire of childhood and stardom,Blown on the steel breeze. Come on you target for faraway laughter,Come on you stranger,…
Smiler
Art & Expression, Artists, Change and Transformation, Conversations, Creative Writing, Creativity, Identity & Transformation, Personal Reflections, Self-ReflectionAI, art therapy, artistic evolution, artistic exploration, ChatGPT, Connectivity, creative block, Creative Journey, Drawing, emotional expression, father’s memory, grief, healing, introspection, loss, Mental Health, mental maps, mourning, Paper, Pen and Ink, Personal Growth, personal reflection, Pink Floyd, self-expression, tribute, writing process
Totally Surreal 