Lines of control

As a matter of principle, this website is strictly anonymous to encourage people to be less inhibited and reserve the right to disclose their beastly battles without google getting its search engine claws all over their name.

That said, I find the comments people email with their beasts interesting and give a sense of context. In some way, it feels selfish to not publish these offhand insights but the idea is to let the beasts speak for themselves.

One contributor's comments in particular though stuck with me. They submitted art that they did to keep their beast at bay through distraction and channelling abstract emotions. The work wasn't an analogy or interpretation of their beast but closely intertwined because of the battle through which it was born.

I thought of this approach in the past weeks while I've been working on keeping my own beast contained. I wondered about trying my own hand at painting to distract. It was worth a shot and the result is below. I'm a long way from being an artist but the point is more in the labour rather than end product. Perhaps though I have graduated from considering myself a stick figure artist.

And, for what it's worth, concentrating on this piece did help get me through an ebb. Thanks to the original contributor for planting their wise words in my thoughts. You know who you are.

So, just as a side-thought to Draw that Beast, what else do you guys out there get up to to distract yourself? How do you battle your beasts?