Art Saved Me From My Mental Health Issues

Borderline personality disorder has affected me for many years now, but I was only diagnosed earlier last year in 2015.

Having BPD (and I use the word “having” rather than “suffering” or “living with”) is quite common, but for me it has shaped my life in both positive and negative ways. It is my art and creativity that’s affected most by my BPD, and yes, that’s in a good way.

See when I’m down, or I start to get the feeling of ‘dropping off the edge of the earth’, I simply pick up a pen, pencil, brush or even a spray can and get creative. This stunts my feelings; it stops them immediately and all the negativity and depression seem to drift off into my creation.

Does this mean that my work is full of anger or doom and gloom? Not in the slightest. My varying moods when I’m creating have helped to shape my work. My styles chop and change as quickly as a yo yo on a string, but I know each and every image I create has my own signature style and feel to it.

BPD has unfortunately made me lose out on many things; relationships, friends, jobs and has even caused me to live rough on the streets at points in my life. All this is part and parcel of having BPD for me, but one thing that will always, ALWAYS keep me on track is my art.

I urge anyone with BPD or any other type of mental illness to pick up a pen and create; it saved my life. Here below is a selection of some of the art I have been creating over the years. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope I can inspire you to get involved and beat the demon within via creativity.

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Peace, Pizza & Love

Cheeky Tiki

Death of Homer

Alice in Molesterland

You Are What You Eat

TRIP

Tiki Racer

Grave Digger

Breakfast Deconstructed

Soldiers

Got Beef

Fry Up

Team ‘El Gringo’ in Bahrain

The fantastic team from ‘El Gringo’ the mexican street food restaurant. I travelled over to Bahrain at the tail end of 2015 to paint a mural for them.

Mural at ‘El Gringo’ Bahrain

Owl Skull

Hang Ten

Purple Pounder

And this is me

I really want to stress that we all need to remember Mental Health issues are not always visible, it could be anyone you know or meet that may suffer in some way at some point in their lives, it’s not like other visible disabilities.

Lets open our minds and hearts to those who need support during these times. I hope you enjoy the work below and would appreciate any shares that you can to spread the word that ART SAVES LIVES! Peace and Love to all. LIMBO

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