An artist from Redland is using drawings of our canine companions to help tackle an anxiety disorder which threatened to derail his life.

Henry Garrett was forced to suspend his PhD in philosophy at the University of Bristol and quit a part-time job due to his anxiety, but has since found sanctuary in designing cards featuring his drawings of dogs, called simply Drawings of Dogs.

The project started when Henry, 23, was procrastinating before his undergraduate final exams.

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His own dog Billie features in many of his drawings, most of which are completed in his studio set up in his parents’ basement.

Drawings have now led to Henry setting up a business designing and making cards, which Henry says act as a soothing form of therapy.

“I wanted to be an artist when I was at school but my mum told me I was crap at art,” says Henry. “She’s taken it back, don’t worry.

“And although it was a passion of mine, I had other passions and I was better at those.

“So I studied philosophy and dreamt of being a philosophy professor and writing popular philosophy. But when I had to medically suspend due to generalised anxiety I decided to pursue the Drawings of Dogs project that I’d put a bit on the backburner.

“It’s been a sort of therapy for me, alongside my actual therapy, which has also obviously been hugely beneficial.

“I’ve always loved the idea of selling something that I made myself – it seems like the ultimate compliment that people want to send cards I made to one another.”

Henry now hopes that both his cards and his story will help people in a similar position to talk about anxiety.

“Some of the cards try to say something,” Henry adds. “While some are just absurd and hopefully funny.

“I’d love it if I could get more people talking about anxiety with my story and work, because there’s an epidemic of it at the moment.

“I’d also love it if long term I could do work that makes people a little kinder to one another; spread some of the unconditional love that dogs feel.

“I don’t know what I want to achieve; every sale feels like a huge success and cause for celebration – but I’d love to be able to do this for a living.”

Henry’s work can be viewed and purchased at www.drawingsofdogs.co.uk as well as the Watershed, Great White Art and St Nick’s Market

Read more: Drawings of dogs