Addict II Artist

Addict II Artist

What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol? For Coach Blu Robinson, part of the answer is art. In this solo episode of Addict II Athlete, Coach Blu brings back the long-standing sister project, Addict II Artist, and talks about why creativity belongs right at the centre of recovery.

Fresh from a chalk-art event with his daughter in Provo, he shares how drawing once gave him an escape from a chaotic childhood marked by constant moves, poverty, and the early seeds of addiction.

He reflects on the fear many people feel about showing their work: that anxiety of putting your drawings, music, poetry, or photos on public display and thinking, "come one, come all, and judge me." From his perspective, that moment of vulnerability mirrors the courage needed in sobriety. You’ll hear Coach Blu walk through the fundamentals of art—anatomy, perspective, form and structure, light and shadow, colour, and composition—and line them up directly with principles of mental health and addiction recovery.

He compares perspective to standing in the valley versus on top of a mountain, and uses light and shadow as a way to talk about bringing hidden struggles into the open. He even jokes about being colourblind and questions who really "sees colour correctly" anyway.

Concert stories featuring artists like Tyler Childers, Sturgill Simpson, Shakey Graves, and Stephen Sanchez round things out, as he describes the power of thousands of people singing one person’s lyrics back to them—an image of connection he clearly wants for people in recovery sharing their own creations. The episode relaunches Addict II Artist as a free group and hints at future art shows, music, photography, and maybe even a recovery choir.

It’s a gentle nudge to anyone thinking, "I’m not an artist" to reconsider. Could your creativity be the next tool in your sobriety toolbox?