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Thomas Benjamin • Intuitive Artist in South East London

@thomasbcreative

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Please. If you’re struggling with your mental health, if daily life feels impossible to cope with, if (like I did) you feel stuck and don’t know what to do… ask for help. If you needed permission, you have it from me. This is the sign. Even if it feels ‘manageable’ right now and you’re not sure if it’s ‘bad enough’, PLEASE just ask for help.

I want to mention @samaritanscharity here (116 123 in the UK, but there are similar services worldwide) and stress that you can call them for ANY REASON, big or small, whether you’re dealing with anxiety/depression, relationship issues, grief, loneliness, financial/work stress, illness, thoughts of harming yourself… the list doesn’t have an end. You *are* worth it, you *do* deserve it, and people *do* care.

I’m really blown away by how much people are resonating with ‘I asked the stars…’, especially as it came from a moment of needing to hear something similar myself, and I so appreciate you being here. I want all of us to be here for as long as possible.

If you’re struggling right now, things can change. It’s not shameful to ask for help, whatever form that may come in. Whether it’s support from loved ones, counselling, therapy, making lifestyle changes and/or (as was eventually the case for me) talking to your GP… none of it is anything to be ashamed of. You’re not being or doing too much.

My mental health journey doesn’t define me. Yours doesn’t define you. And even if it did… it would define us as strong, resilient and brave. Moving through severe anxiety is no mean feat. It’s not quick and easy, and the path isn’t one to travel alone. But I’ve learnt that I’m capable of surviving.

It is with great sadness that I note that strength and resilience are finite, and many of us come to feel that the only option is to switch off the light. But with the right support it is possible to once again find the spark and shine like the absolute stars we are and have always been.

I have so much love for the space we’re creating here, and I hope I’ve put this together in a way that explains where my gratitude comes from. Take care of yourself and look out for your loved ones.

Tom x #mentalhealthhelp #creativityheals by @thomasbcreative

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8 days ago

So… what actually is an ACEO? 🤯

For the uninitiated (aka me like four weeks ago), ACEO stands for Art Cards, Editions & Originals - tiny collectible pieces of art. Every ACEO measures 2.5” x 3.5”, and you can build up a collection featuring all your favourite artists. 🎨

This teeny little affirmation card was a reminder from my past self that everything was gonna be okay 🩵

I made the prototype of this a few weeks ago, a hastily put together experiment. Later that day I got some disappointing news about a job application that wasn’t being taken forward. 💔

Flash forward to now and… things are much the same, I’m still tinkering away, making art, happily getting by. They didn’t get back in touch to say they’d reconsidered (though they were very generous with their feedback which I really appreciate 🫶🏼). I haven’t yet found a ‘better’ role.

What I *have* done though is create a fresh batch of 8 of these ACEOs, now listed on my new Etsy page! I’m proud to say that one has already found its way home - thank you Denise for my first ever ACEO sale ☺️🌸🩵

The link to these is in my bio, or you can simply comment ‘ACEO’ here and I’ve set up that thing that’ll DM you directly. For now these are UK delivery only, but I’m looking into international options because we’re a worldwide community now! 🫶🏼🥳🌈

As always, thank you for all the love and support, you are making my dreams come true 💭✨

#aceo #collectibleart #spaceartwork #affirmationcards #artisticprocess A hand holds up a small ‘I asked the stars…’ ACEO card close to camera, showing a hand-painted night sky scattered with colourful painted stars and planets, and the typewritten caption “I asked the stars and they said you’ll be fine.” A leafy plant is blurred in the background. by @thomasbcreative

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20 days ago

I was told that I wasn’t talented enough to be an artist… 🫠

… by my school art teacher no less! The one person whose job it was to champion my creativity took it upon herself (or maybe she didn’t even care enough to realise she was doing it) to completely knock my confidence when it came to making art. 💔

I rediscovered it again many years later, and that’s the journey I’m documenting here on Instagram. My latest project is a thank you to everyone who’s chosen to follow along and become part of this amazing community - I’m adding a star for every inner child that follows this account ☺️🌈⭐️🎨🌸

#artisticprocess #studioscenes #innerchildwork #creativityheals #starart by @thomasbcreative

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a month ago

Stop looking for inspiration in the art you see, and instead find it in how that art makes you feel 🫶🏼

When I saw Cosmic Touch (swipe along) by @amberlauderphoto for the first time I was *mainly* blown away. I was filled with awe and magic. It touched a part of me that loves stars and collecting and making things. A part that yearns to go back to days spent in my childhood bedroom creating for the sake of it and feeling content. 🧸

On top of that though I also remember a little voice saying… I wish I’d had that idea. There was even a faint sense of… despair? Despair that I would never be able to create something that looked like that.

I could list a number of artists whose work made me feel the same way back then. The awe, the nostalgia, the magic… but also that desire to have thought of it first, a wish that my art could look like theirs does. 😮‍💨

I can’t tell you exactly why or what caused things to flip. But I began to realise that, while my art can certainly be informed by the things I see and enjoy, it is far more valuable for me to tune into what a piece of art makes me feel:

What is it bringing up? How could I distill that into something made of paint and paper? How might the actual *process* of creation tap into those same feelings? How can I visually express all that to whomever looks at my work so that they might pick up a piece of it for themselves? 🌸

My experience of Cosmic Touch remains the same, minus the ‘wish I’d done that’ bit. Now that I’ve developed my own intuitive art process and style that I’m really happy and proud of, I can simply enjoy and consume and revel in the deliciousness created by Amber and all the other artists whose work I love. 🍭

So yeah. End of what has turned into a bit of an essay. But I wanted to share this in case any of you are in that same phase of awe mixed with a little envy… work with what the art makes you feel, the parts of you that it encourages to the surface. Run with that, and you’ll find your way. 🌈

#artisticprocess #spaceartwork #intuitiveartist #artinspirations #starart

Cosmic Touch, 2025, @amberlauderphoto

Confirmed materials used: hands, sequins, scanner, fine art photo paper 📸

Suspecte Hand-cut paper stars and planets in shades of blue, gold, and silver scattered across an open palm and fingers, with a hand-painted ‘I Asked The Stars’ ACEO card and paint-splattered studio cloth in the background. by @thomasbcreative

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2 days ago

I haven’t been entirely honest with you 😔

Over the last few weeks I’ve been sharing bits and pieces of my artwork and claiming that these stars are cut, by me, from paper I’ve painted… and that’s just not true. ⭐️

I could go into all the details but long story short I’ve discovered a plant that grows tiny colourful stars. As it turns out the stars are actually the seeds, so if you pick them off and scatter them you can grow even more star plants. Which is why I’ve been able to stick so many recently, I’m growing rather a few. 🌱

Sorry not to have been more honest with you. The moral of the story is babe if you’re cooking with tomatoes and suddenly think omg little stars would look super cute on this vine… you should just go and do that. While your tomato sauce cooks. Now. There is no better time! 🍅⭐

#whimsicalartist #intuitiveartist #starartwork #abstractarts #plantart A hand holds a tomato vine with multiple hand-painted paper stars in various colors — pink, blue, sage green, yellow, coral, teal, and mustard — attached where tomatoes would grow, photographed against a plain white wall with a diagonal beam of light and a glimpse of a large green houseplant leaf in the bottom right. by @thomasbcreative

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14 days ago

They’ll always be part of a set 🥹🌙

My Batch II babies are beginning their journeys around the world today, with some embarking on particularly far off adventures! 🌍🌎🌏

We’ve got a number winging their way around the UK (England, Wales and Scotland) and there are two little spaceships - envelopes, but let’s call them spaceships 🚀🥲💌 - flying a little further afield to the United States (Minnesota and NYC!) 🤯🩵✨

I will never be able to express my gratitude enough. Like I said in the reel I posted a couple days ago, this wasn’t even on the distant horizon six months ago, so to see how quickly this has grown thanks to all your support is hard to comprehend.

I’m living a dream. I’m actually living *the* dream of my childhood self. Who just wanted to potter away making art and creating stuff in his bedroom. Except now I’ve just taken over our dining table 🤭🩵🫶🏼

#aceo #atccards #spaceartwork #collectibleart #creativityheals Ten handmade “I asked the stars and they said you’ll be fine” ACEO cards arranged in two neat rows of five, each featuring a hand-painted black card collaged with tiny star and planet cutouts in blue, gold, and cream tones. Surrounding the cards: a kraft paper envelope, a black ink pad, a yellow circle craft punch, tweezers, a wooden stamp set in a clear case, loose planet-shaped paper scraps, and a stamped alphabet sheet, all on a paint-marked cloth backdrop. by @thomasbcreative

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6 days ago

We’re up to 221 stars now, it’s been lovely spending the afternoon collecting and sticking with cups of tea and youtube in the background. See below for the colour requests I included in this video 🌸☺️🌈🩵⭐️

1 • @night.and.verse • cherry red • there are so many possibilities for cherry red so I chose one with multiple shades and created a couple of sequin cherries just for you 🍒

2 • @fullerfaces_makeup • whimsical green garden fairy vibes • I kept a touch of brown in there too to represent the soil (I imagine a garden fairy wouldn’t mind a bit of soil) and I added a sprinkling of fairy dust 🧚🏼

3 • @lauren.graeber • neon pink and anything else • I was so excited to use this little corner of painty paper and this star is positively glowing 💖

4 • @arenga_pinnata11 • blue like a morpho butterfly • I added some little dots just like on their beautiful wings 🦋

5 • @mogzillar • yellow with a red star • love how this one adds a bit of shine ❤️

6 • @jessica.h.turner • beach theme • found the perfect little beach and added some glitter for the foam 🌊

7 • @jennymillerstudio • sunset colours for your soul • this took me in so many directions but I settled on what feels like a bright orange sunset over the water with a few clouds floating above 🌅

8 • @odanaesset • whatever matches your feed • I chose cherry blossom and matcha with a few colourful sprinkles 🧁

9 & 10 • @beltonmom • trans colours in honour of your daughter Olivia • I made one for each of you, thank you for being an ally, the world feels safer for the queer community with people like you in it 🫶🏼🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

#artisticprocess #studioscenes #innerchildwork #creativityheals #intuitiveartist by @thomasbcreative

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22 days ago

My head feels like a gumball machine 🍭

Full of colourful, sweet ideas, with new ones dropping in each day but I don’t have enough pennies or time to do every single one in the exact moment I want to do it and that makes me a tiny bit frustrated, and I do feel a bit tired, but ultimately I wouldn’t have it any other way! 🤩

That being said… I do need to find some delicate structure and build in a bit more downtime. I’ve got a couple of breaks coming up which I’m really glad of, and come the autumn I hope to be in a slightly more streamlined place so that both my artistic practice PLUS all the things I want to build and make and do on top of that have enough time and space to flourish successfully. 🥳🌈🫶🏼

Those things include an upcoming open studio event in September and a potential intuitive art workshop in October - currently searching for the right South East London venue for the latter! 🤞🏼

Remember that no matter what… you have to be filling your own pot, your own cup, your own… gumball machine? Because when we lead with self-care and self-love, so much more becomes possible. 🩵✨

#mentalhealthhelp #creativityheals #intuitiveartist #abstractacrylic #southeastlondonartists A hand holds a handmade greeting card with a kraft brown envelope peeking out behind it. The card features a white front panel with a square collage design made of dozens of hand-painted paper circles in a mosaic pattern, in shades of pink, blue, green, yellow, red, and grey, set against a black background. A large green leaf is blurred in the background. taken in London, United Kingdom by @thomasbcreative

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4 days ago

Here’s how I use ‘apertures’ (a fancy way of saying circles cut out of a bit of card 🥲) to interpret my larger works of intuitive, playful, abstract art. 🎨

For a very long time I felt held back by the pressure of painting a ‘piece’. The planning, the sketching, the fear of making a mistake and having to scrap everything and start again… the thought of working that way now makes me shudder! 🫣

It was later, when I discovered the absolute joy that can be found in playing with paint and leaving the ‘editing’ for another time, that my artistic practice truly began to flourish! 🌸

I now have three distinct phases to my creative process, each acting to make the most and support the development of a different aspect of my overall self. All stages are intuitive, just in slightly different ways… 💭

#artisticprocess #studioscenes #intuitiveartist #mentalhealthart #abstractacrylic by @thomasbcreative

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a month ago

My final three ACEOs found new homes overnight, so I’ve officially sold out my first batch! 🤯🪐

To those who made a purchase - thank you so much from the bottom of my SOUL for supporting my creative practice in this way. The earliest orders should be flying to you very soon (if they haven’t already) and I’ll be sending off the final three over the weekend. I’ve been typing and deleting for ten minutes trying to put into words my gratitude, to tell you how much this has meant to me… I’m really struggling and for now I hope that says enough. 🩵

To everyone who shared, commented, requested international shipping, followed along or otherwise supported me this week - thank you so so so much for being here with me, I feel completely surrounded by creativity and love and joy! 🌈💖

You’re all changing my life literally by the day, and I will never forget what you’ve done for me. More coming soon, I have so many ideas I want to share with you. 🎨🎉🌸

I’m hopeful that my next batch will have the added fuel to fly across the world - this is a cute way of saying I’m getting my head around shipping outside of the UK and I can’t wait to offer these to those of you further afield! 🫶🏼🌍

#artisticprocess #aceo #etsyshops #collectibleart #spaceartwork Three handmade Polaroid-style cards, each with painted paper stars and planets on a starry black background and the text ‘I asked the stars and they said you’ll be fine.’ They rest on kraft envelopes with UK 2nd class stamps, alongside washi tape and a container of star confetti. by @thomasbcreative

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16 days ago

This order kinda caught me off guard 🫶🏼🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

For some reason the fact that order number two is heading somewhere that means so much to me, a place that I want to spend more time, a place that has roots I want to connect with, somewhere that holds ties and memories and bits of my past that I cherish… it just feels really meant to be? Like a little piece of me is heading off there! 💙🤍

Filmed this before I ran out the door this morning (can you tell lol I didn’t mention it enough 🤭🫠) and now a small part of me is wondering if this is a tiny bit silly/over the top but also it’s true!!! And I want to share this whole process with you, because it’s you all that are making it possible 🩵🫶🏼🌸

#artisticprocess #aceo #abstractartist #intuitiveartist #behindtheart by @thomasbcreative

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19 days ago

Another round of playing with this technique I stumbled upon last week ☺️🌈

I love using a squeegee and palette knives to spread paint, and my new method involves piping the paint onto glass (rather than paper) and swiping up every single drop before lathering the swirly, stripy mixture onto a fresh sheet. 🎨

I’m planning to spend a bit more time in the next few days playing around with this technique as I have many wonderings, ideas and thought bubbles that need seeing to… 💭

A quick note on the glass palette: only use glass you know to be tempered for something like this, regular glass can easily crack under pressure. Any surface that doesn’t suck up the paint will do, it doesn’t need to be glass (it doesn’t even have to be transparent). Always take care when working with glass, tempered or otherwise, and if in doubt (or you’re prone to accidents, some of us are 🫶🏼) search out another option as it’ll work just as well. You’ll rarely hear me say this but… play with caution! ☺️🩵

#artisticprocess #studioscenes #intuitiveartist #abstractacrylic #creativityheals by @thomasbcreative

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a month ago