Alex finds a joyous bubble of spring in within the roiling, tempestuous Scottish April weather and ponders the tension created by the man-made wonder of farmland vs the chaos of nature, and how that helps inform the artist’s vision.

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Alex welcomes back artist Caitlin Hanna to talk about the role of emotions in art, both from the perspective of the artist and the viewer. They discuss their own work and experiences as well as that of well known artists from various fields.

Where to find Caitlin:

Alex revisits his interview with artist Caitlin Hanna, in which they talk about grief, mental health, and neurodiversity. Caitlin discusses their art as therapy, creating zines, and the challenges of emotional expression in art.

Content warnings: The discussion includes cancer, death of a loved one, grief, disability, surgery, medications, chronic mental illness, and suicide.

Where to find Caitlin:

Join Alex walking up a long hill as he wheezes out his thoughts on the body-image crushing nature of making video of yourself, and reflects on the importance of having the right tools for the job at hand.

The video in question can be found here

Alex wonders some woodland pondering on his recent artistic productivity and how this is, in part, down to his new found ability to know when to stop. A flock of sheep make it known that they think otherwise.

Alex revisits this 2024 episode where he takes aim at the evils and excesses of art speak via Tolstoy, Artificial Intelligence, and the science of Bullshit.

Alex talks about his passion for art books and the acquisition thereof, and introduces a series of episodes that showcase some of his book collection, starting with tomes on the artists Boris Vallejo and Jenny Saville.

In a first-time cross-over with his other podcast, The Confusion Matrix, Alex and TCM co-host Pete Hodge discuss how they use Generative AI in their creative escapades, why this creates some ethical dilemmas and how they reconcile these (or not). It all gets a bit confusing and Alex decides he’s just self-flagellating and ends up more confused than when he started. Life’s never simple, is it?

More episodes of The Confusion Matrix can be found on YoutTube wherever you get your podcast.

Alex is still creatively constipated and he’s not happy about it. In an effort to get to the bottom of what’s going on he conducts a deep dive into what causes performance pressure, some famous cases of it, and tries to counsel himself, in real time.