In today’s episode I’m chatting with the wonderfully imaginative illustrator and musician Jim Stoten. He’s much more than both those titles would have you believe - creativity seems to just flow through him into the world in a beautiful technicolor surreal way.

You may know him from his Mr. Tweed books, my kids are big fans of those, or you’ve probably seen his work in the world for the likes of The New Yorker, The New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, Bandcamp, Moog synthesizers, or any of the other many clients who have commissioned him over the years.

If you’re a long time listener of the podcast, you might remember that Jim was on nearly five years ago. It’s hard to believe it’s been that long! If you want to hear our first conversation, check out episode 11 where we discuss the topic of time. Today, we pick right up where we left off in the last episode, pondering time and our relation to it. But also, a lot has changed in Jim’s life since then; he’s become a dad, moved to Venice, Italy, has brought new creative projects into the world, including his most recent album with Dirty Melody records titled “22”, and a new book with Unseen Sketchbooks called “Super Road”. Check out unseensketchbooks.com to purchase a copy. This will allow you to peer into his fabled sketchbooks that are so captivating.

In this conversation, Jim and I dive deep into parenthood, beauty, depression, what it means to be an artist, time, aging, art and much more. Jim is so easy to listen to, he’s hilarious and a great storyteller, and it’s fascinating to hear the world through his perspective. I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did.

You can find Jim on instagram or online at jim-stoten.com

You can find Allison on instagram or online at thefriendlyunknown.com

In this episode Pace and I discuss the metaphor of the chrysalis, how a caterpillar builds a safe container around itself where it melts down into a kind of cosmic soup before it can reform into a butterfly and take flight.

We talk about how this metaphor relates to our own lives and those periods of expansion that often feel like we turn to goo for long periods of time before we finally have a breakthrough.

The chrysalis is that threshold time when you’ve outgrown the old world, but the new world has yet to emerge, and you’re in a kind of stasis between the two. That period can feel quite confusing and confronting. We talk about why that is, what we can do to cross the threshold into the new world, and how the chrysalis is a natural process and ultimately a good thing, despite it often feeling the opposite.

In today’s episode I chat with the wonderful Tina Yip. Tina is a coach and the founder of Space to Grow, a company helping creative people make their work/life more intentional, meaningful, and expansive. After spending the last decade as a brand strategist at agencies such as R/GA and Big Spaceship and working on brands like Samsung and Mastercard, Tina realized that what she cared most about were people - bringing people together, maximizing their human potential, rethinking their relationship with work, and challenging societal norms so that they can live their most fulfilled lives.

This conversation is a heart to heart about how to navigate the pathless path to do what you love in this lifetime. We dive into how to connect and align with your future self and allies for our journey, and why it’s so important to remember your dream for your life. Tina and I are both endlessly passionate about these topics so hopefully you find our conversation just as fun and insightful as I did.

You can find Tina online and on instagram

If you’d like to find out more about the Friendly Unknown, you can follow me on instagram, or at thefriendlyunknown.com.