This blog can also be found on my website: www.npcokerartist.co.uk/weeklywaffle Hello, Today i want to 'waffle' about something that has effected me and many people. These days mental health is something that is talked about more which is a great thing. For many years I have struggled with confidence which lead to depression, which for many years i tried to hide beneath a mask of smiles and humour. From experience depression is a lonely place but I'm pleased to say that people are talking more and it is now a subject that is no longer ignored and is better understood. One of the things that has helped me is my art, for me it is a way of "putting things in a box" by this I mean working through some of my feelings. I prefer to work on the floor, I'm not really sure why but all my best work has been made there, in fact I'm not sure i could work at a desk now. I think that art is really good way of helping people with mental health issues, it gives me something to focus on, it doesn't ask anything of me and i can sit in silence and just paint for hours. It is also a kind of escape for myself, all the concerns I have in my daily life are replaced by getting a little area of a painting that's been bugging me right. I think in life and maybe in the art world, there is this expectation of professionalism and for me sometimes it's a little too serious. I paint because I enjoy it and because of the sense of fulfilment I get when a painting is finished. I think it's also my way of expressing myself by trying to show the world the subject I am painting through my own eyes. To me my work is more than just aircraft painted on a canvas, there's more thought that's gone into it than that. Each painting has hundreds of little decisions that are never seen. I guess what does show through is my need for perfection, if there is a detail on the real aircraft, I want it to be visible in my painting, maybe it says something about my personality but I think I'm rambling! I guess at the end of the day it doesn't really matter what we paint, all that matters is that it help us. I think it's important that we have something personal that we can do to help when we've had a rough day and for me art does just that. I hope that you have found this blog interesting and that you can take something from it, my apologies if it started to feel like a self help guide towards the end. I wanted to give a deeper insight of me, not just as an artist, but the man behind the art and i really hope that there are some people out there that can see themselves in some of the things I've written. To the people out there that are suffering, please know that you are not alone. Best wishes Nick