Andrew Phillips - Artist & Therapist

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Andrew Phillips - Artist & Therapist

Visual Artist, Art Psychotherapist (HCPC), and Creative Mentor. My art explores landscape and the Numinous, and is available from my website.

I offer depth-oriented psychotherapy sessions online in the UK. Also Creative Mentoring Mentoring online.

11/01/2026

I'm very pleased that this work on paper has been selected for the 127th Annual Exhibition of the Society of Scottish Artists

The exhibition has extra significance this year as the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is celebrating its bicentenary.

This piece is one of my personal favourites from recent works, and has been framed by Detail Framing & Gallery

And This Heavy Silence
Ink, graphite, pastel on paper
Image size: 73 x 50 cm
2024
Available from the exhibition

Exhibition Dates: Sunday 11 January - Wednesday 4 February 2026

Opening Hours: Monday–Sunday, 10am–5pm

Venue: RSA Upper Galleries, Royal Scottish Academy, The Mound, Edinburgh EH2 2EL

Tickets: £5 entry | £4 concession | Free for under 16s and SSA Members | Free entry for all on Mondays.

10/01/2026

The work of Martin Shaw has been like an old friend in my life for over a decade now. Snowy Tower was the first encounter, and I can recommend it as a nourishment for the turn of the year.

The book is a telling of Parzival, the grail epic of medieval Europe. But this book is far more than simply a version of the tale, with deep forays into the hinterland of myth, story, relationship with earth and animals, the imaginal and more-than-human. It is a soul making journey, and eschews blandly reductive psychological interpretations in favour of following the image, emphasising that for a story to have power it must be allowed to work on the teller or reader, rather than the other way around.

Martin is careful not to draw too distinct a boundary between 'inner' and 'outer' worlds, describing with rich but clear language the illusion of separation, which for the vast majority of human existence was simply how life is; only those who haven't known the co-existence require a word such as 'animism' to name it.

One of my personal enjoyments is how Martin's work draws me into a deeper relationship with land/place and culture. Without nostalgia, he rightly relishes the richness of local lore ("be famous for five miles") swept away by the flood of a global monoculture, but still manages to tease out the glimmering echo of eternal themes in the banal. He argues strongly in favour of "romanticism as activism," and I am all for this. Nothing wishy-washy about it, this is the deep rooted reverence that many who would claim themselves as saviours of 'nature' tragically lack.

On YouTube you will find many excellent videos, both in conversation with others, and on Martin's own channel, that demonstrate his unique capacity for exploring both the grand vistas and small intimacies which make a life. As testimony to his eloquence, I recall hearing him describe his use of language prior to comprehending its power; "my mouth was a concrete hole where words went to die," or something to that effect. Even in describing an absence he conjures imaginatively.

03/01/2026

Returning to the studio...

30/12/2025

AT THE END OF THE YEAR

As this year draws to its end,
We give thanks for the gifts it brought
And how they became inlaid within
Where neither time nor tide can touch them...

Days when beloved faces shone brighter
With light from beyond themselves;
And from the granite of some secret sorrow
A stream of buried tears loosened.

We bless this year for all we learned,
For all we loved and lost
And for the quiet way it brought us
Nearer to our invisible destination.

JOHN O'DONOHUE

Excerpt from the blessing, 'At the End of the Year,' from the books
Benedictus (Europe) / To Bless the Space Between Us (US)
Ordering Info: https://johnodonohue.com/store

Winter Sunset at the Cliffs of Moher
County Clare, Ireland
Photo: © Ann Cahill

12/12/2025

Over the past decade there has been a resurgence of interest in art that embodies a spirituality rooted in Nature.

Living traditions that see reverence for the Numinous as having as much to do with a particular tree, standing stone, spring, or other such localised expression of power - the surging forth of 'Hecate's fountain', to use a more esoteric description - have once again become sources of inspiration for many, rather than the artifacts of dusty book shelves.

Earth and Nature reclaimed from 'demonic' categorisation, and a legacy of repressive faith that could not bear what it could not control. The human body, perhaps more specifically the female body, is no longer feared and rejected, or merely ornamental, but the microcosm of celestial forces. Stones are living "animated intelligences," and matter is not the cold inert absence of conscious life that materialism would like us to believe.

Of course, this has always been the case for some people, but there can be no doubt about a particular cultural moment which has rejuvenated awareness of many artists, mystics, magicians, and witches, whose work was kept veiled from a wider audience by the cloak of prejudice. Some would say a certain point has been reached where it might even be time to make 'the occult' occult again, as rampant powers of commercialisation always destroy what is sacred in the end.

The work of Ithell Colquhon is one of the most high profile recent examples of an artist whose work has found fresh and far-reaching acclaim, existing at the fine art/magic/social reform crossroads; recent exhibitions at Tate St.Ives in the artists Cornish heartland, and Tate Britain attest to this. For Colquhon this word is preferable to 'intersection', which only conjures an image of bland asphalt, whereas the 'crossroads' is a place of encounter with strange forces, the opposer, where earth gets under your fingernails like materials in a studio. The artist as one who walks between worlds, in many respects.

The devoted research of is well served by this excellent@strangeattractorpress
edition.
Follow me

11/12/2025

On its way to the USA

The Return
Ink, pastel, carborundum
2024

07/12/2025

50 years of Re-Visioning Psychology.

Published in 1975 Re-Visioning Psychology was a challenge to many existing notions of psychology, psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. Hillman felt that much modern psychology was psychology without Psyche, and his mission was to create a psychology with soul.

One of the most appealing aspects of how Hillman expressed his ideas is that although he is often taking a critical stance, putting psychotherapy itself (amongst many other things) 'on the couch' as it were, rather than coming across as curmudgeonly it all feels vitalised and refreshing. Hillman is often, and rightly in my view, praised for his enlivened intellect, and I have found his work deeply inspiring since well before I entered into training as a psychotherapist some 15 years ago.

When I first discovered his work I was an art student, and beginning to immerse myself in the writings of Carl Jung and others in the depth psychology tradition, whose words served to deepen creative engagement rather than explain it away. Hillman's appeal was largely due to his assertion that the primary mode of the psyche is image, and his insistence on staying with the image, resisting the temptation to translate or interpret it into something else.
To read the full article about James Hillman and Re-Visioning Psychology, please visit my website blog. The link can be found in the comments.

06/12/2025

Curious carvings at the church in Kilpeck. There's much more of interest here than my few photos describe, but yesterday I was on a mission and couldn't stop for long.

The church is well known for its acclaimed Romanesque carvings, the themes of which stray from the traditional terrain of Christianity, into folklore a pagan beliefs.

05/12/2025

There's still time to get an artwork order in before Christmas. The shop on my website has a range of work available, including small unframed works on paper, and larger framed pieces.

Prices shown include postage to UK addresses.

Payment by 3 installments is available as an option at the checkout.

FINAL DATES FOR CHRISTMAS SHIPPING - Orders will be sent ASAP, but this is not a guarantee of delivery by 25.12.25.

Framed behind glass, 7th December

All other work, Sunday 14th December

Orders placed after these dates will be shipped from 5th January

04/12/2025

I understand there can be many reasons why someone would be hesitant, and find it difficult to begin psychotherapy.

If you experience any of these, or other similar examples, I encourage you to let me know. It doesn't necessarily mean we can't work together or that therapy isn't for you. In fact, worries of this kind can be a worthy starting point, and often prove important and valuable to explore.

There are often multiple and very personal reasons behind any of the issues below, and what may seem like a straightforward hesitation can sometimes be connected with more complex feelings. This is not intended to be an exhaustive summary, or give definitive answers, but rather to suggest that whatever your experience is, our task in therapy is to think about it together.

At times it may sound like I am generalising about all therapy, so please bear in mind I am only referring to the type of therapy I practice (Art Psychotherapy with an emphasis on Depth Psychology), and my own way of thinking about it.

Responses to each of the themes below, and full details of my practice can be found on my website's Psychotherapy Welcome Page.

I feel embarrassed to talk about it

My problems aren't serious enough

My experience cannot be understood

I have had therapy before and didn't like it / it didn't work

It's too late for me to change

It will make me/the situation worse

Therapy is for 'other people'.

I don't deserve the attention

I am afraid of the attention

Will the therapist will tell me what to do?

The therapist won't say anything
www.AndrewVPhillips.co.uk

Address

Newport

Website

http://www.AndrewVPhillips.co.uk/

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