Johanna Basford OBE

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 53 and my guest today is Johanna Basford OBE!

Johanna Basford OBE is an illustrator and a pioneer of colouring books for adults, having sold over 21 million copies of her books worldwide.

In 2016 she was appointed an OBE for services to art and entrepreneurship and in 2019 she broke the world record for the largest drawing by an individual.  She has also worked several brands including Nike, Sony and Starbucks.

She also happens to be an old friend of mine so it was lovely to have a catch up and chat all about creativity and mental wellbeing!

We chat about the benefits of being creative and the importance of having an outlet, enjoying the process and making time for your mind.

As well as pens and pencils we also get in to authenticity, the power of nature, the benefits of therapy and the ups and downs of social media.

I enjoyed this conversation so much!  It was great to catch up with Jo and I’ve also discovered a new hobby that has helped to bring me a lot of joy and stillness of the last few weeks and that’s colouring in!  Jo was kind enough to send me a starter pack after our chat and I’ve coloured every day since and I absolutely love it which I wasn’t expecting at all.

You can grab Jo’s books absolutely everywhere, please shop local or independent if you can!

You can take a look around Jo’s world through her website www.johannbasford.com and you can follow her on social media @johannabasford.

You can catch up with my work at www.propermentalpodcast.com or connect with me via Instagram @propermentalpodcast.

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Thanks for listening!

Enjoy!