Art is an essential expressive tool for Haydn. He can easily reflect his emotions via creative paintings when spoken words are insufficient to express his feelings. Haydn is sharing his unique mental health themed art through his platform Messy Miscreation. He primarily works in inks and with various materials. Haydn has shown his art at many exhibitions such as Artistic Spectrum (by Ambitious About Autism) and Artism. Recently at the Celebration of Autism event, in addition to displaying his art, Haydn gave his first live talk about his art and connections to autism and mental health.

What role does art play in your life? Which is your own favorite creation and why?H: Art is a my means of communication. It allows me to take my emotions and create something from those feelings in a way a conversation can not. A painting like "Matilda" is my way of coming to terms with my autism diagnosis. I spent days with that painting which gives me the time to reflect while making something. My favourite creation to date would be the painting "Timothy" which was painted when my anxiety levels had peaked and it was the beginning of me getting better.

Can you tell us more about your artwork themed around mental health? How long does it take you to finish a piece of artwork?H: A majority of my artwork is centered around mental health and tells a narrative from the time it was painted. Using "Timothy" as an example, he was made during a time of distress so his colours are bold and bright. The combination of the solid red tone and the aqua blue made him unique to any of my other paintings. It's my personal way of getting those emotions out into the open as a platform to talk openly about our mental health. People will be more likely to open up about their own issues if you have a visual to equate it to.
Paintings will vary based on the amount of detail I put into them. The A3 perspex paintings will often take around 200 hours of detail to complete if I really get stuck in when some drawings will only take a few hours.

Who is your favorite artist? Which of his/her artwork do you love the most?H: My favourite artist is Alex Pardee. His work introduced me to the concept of colourful yet creepy art style that has inspired me ever since. I'd seen his work many times before through album artwork but it was the cover for "In Flames, A sense of purpose" that had me hooked. The entire album booklet opened up into a large illustration on the inside that I still have to this day.

What are your other hobbies?H: My other hobbies include knitting and video games. I used to play competitive Pokemon around the country but I primarily stick to playing Destiny with my friends now. Knitting is a new one as I work part time as a studio assistant for a indie dyer of yarn in the brightest colours you've ever seen.

What are the two things you want to learn and why?H: The first thing I'd love to learn is 3D modelling. I'd love to bring my weird creations into a 3D landscape and incorporate them into a urban landscape. The second would be to learn how to better control my anxiety when bad things happen in my life. Painting is a great way to clear my head and find peace but anxiety negatively impacts my health for months at a time. If I could learn to better control it i'd be happy.

What is your favorite place to visit? What do you like about that place?H: This is a difficult question as I'm not the going out places type of person. I would have said Manchester in the UK but since moving here I'm exactly where I already want to be. This city has a lot of creativity to offer compared to Birmingham. I like that the buildings have murals and grand paintings across the front of them, especially in the Northern Quarter where I work.

Can you give some tips/advice for those in our community who want to pursue their creativity?H: The best starting place with creativity is to treat it like playing. Experiment with materials and question how they all react with each other. My paintings stem from my curiosity of how inks would react of plastics. Now I primarily use that medium as a means of creating art but I still often take the time to jump into using something different. The other piece of advice I would give is to share your artwork online even if you think its no good. In time you build up a collection/portfolio of work and you can look back at it to reflect on how far you've come. Don't focus on followers or numbers but do it to keep yourself motivated and so you can see just how much you've made.

Any special message for our community?H: No matter what you create, nobody else could have done it. It is unique to you and that's what matters.