Mr Skelly first came to fruition several years ago, but in the last two years there has been an unparalleled impact of his creation in my life. I have always been hard on myself, and taken life a bit too seriously. Chalk that up to a rougher upbringing and needing to survive. It’s made me stubborn and unwilling to change. I read something that, to paraphrase, basically said: “the greatest threat to any of us, is the perception of ourselves we assume others must have, good or bad. In action - according to this false perception - we build entire lives on false premises, denying ourselves the right to play, to be wrong. We do this out of a well-intended, but misguided, need to be a part of a community, we think therefore we act. In truth, the community is lost. The imagination of the self is so great, skewed as it may be, it overpowers any reality, skewed as that may be, and we are left alone only with a version of ourselves we do not recognise.” An authentic life means a vulnerable one. And yet I have intentionally curated the last several years of my life to great scrutiny. Dark, neutral, grainy images, stoicism, emotion, activism, outspokenness and art. And in the last two years I have been brought to my stripped back roots, the actual skeleton of what this brand is to be a journeyman, to be imperfect and learning. Well, now my feed is filled with color, and quotes at times cringey as they may be, that inspire and move me. And I hope they are a legacy for my children to remember, that playfulness is what keeps us human, and all of the things that get in the way of that: ego, identity, surviving, preservation, all have beautiful purposes, but ultimately they strip from us what we all need desperately, that is, to be wrong, to try, to fail, to have fun and to play. There is no innovation without risk, I am grateful I didn’t stay the course and continue only to highly curate what I believed to be best, but allowed something new to spring up. I am thankful for the opportunity to create for so many of you, but moreso, am just happy to be playing everyday I make a Mr Skelly drawing. Photos of my dear wife @ellemaywatson and me #1924us #life #art #hope #love