Always Choose Orange
Always Choose Orange began 13.8 billion years ago as a tiny piece of the infinitely small, hot, and dense singularity that contained all the mass and matter in the universe. Since then, it has been expanding rapidly and recently reached its one-year anniversary. The show provides actionable ways to develop and maintain a thriving creative process. Tune in each week for a mix of short teachings and long conversations with creators across a wide array of mediums — from musicians and authors to painters and photographers. Expect a blend of exercises, tips, thought-provoking stories, textual analysis, and new perspectives — all with a majo...
#92: Ellie Richards — Finding Your Personal Style Through Fashion Psychology
Have you ever looked into your closet thinking, “None of this feels right?”
In this episode of Always Choose Orange, I talk with stylist Ellie Richards about how clothing can act as a mirror for how clearly we understand ourselves.
Drawing from fashion psychology, Ellie explains why developing a personal style starts internally rather than with aesthetics or trends. Instead of copying influencers or chasing the latest look, she encourages people to understand their lifestyle, preferences, and identity first, and then build a wardrobe that reflects those things.
In our conversation we discuss:
Wh...#91: Peter Rollins — Designing Experiences That Actually Change People
How do you design an experience or piece of art that transforms someone rather than simply giving them more information?
In this thought-provoking episode of Always Choose Orange, author and philosopher Peter Rollins and I talk about how he's spent the last 20+ years of his life plumbing the depths of some of the deepest philosophical and theological questions. From his early days creating "transformance art" through his (in)famous Ikon gatherings to the powerful new communities he's building around a sense of shared lack, Peter has dedicated his life to helping people come face to face with th...
#90: Coulou — Trumpet Meditations, Deep Openness, and the Art of Long-Form Improvisation
In March of 2024, Coulou sat down in the bedroom of his Brooklyn apartment with his guitar, some effects pedals, and a trumpet. What happened next was something special. He set up a camera, strummed his guitar, found some chords he liked, looped them, grabbed his trumpet, sounded the first note, and Coulou’s Cafe Trumpet Meditations were born.
Now, two years later, Coulou has released more than 65 of his twenty-minute meditations and learned a number of powerful lessons along the way.
In this episode of Always Choose Orange, we talk about:
Why Coulou almost scra...#89: Sarah Detweiler — Redefining Success, Maintaining Creative Freedom, and Unmasking Your Authentic Self
How do you keep moving forward once your work begins to resonate with people on a larger scale?
In this episode of Always Choose Orange, I talk with mixed media painter Sarah Detweiler about the quieter, more complicated season that follows increased public recognition.
While Sarah’s Hidden Mother series helped her understand herself more deeply as an artist, this conversation focuses on what came with that realization: the decision to keep evolving, to follow curiosity rather than expectation, and to make work that remains honest even when it's moving in fresh and unexpected ways.
We...
#88: Nasir Young — Decoding the Visual Language of Urban Spaces
What does it take to see the world around you the way an artist sees it?
In this episode of Always Choose Orange, I chat with visual artist Nasir Young about how skateboarding transformed the way he moves through cityscapes and how that way of seeing laid the groundwork for his detailed oil paintings. His work documents the small, often overlooked wonders of urban life, including brick walls, corner stores, and gas stations.
We talk about:
Always having a handful of projects to work onHow to tell intriguing visual stories without including a single pe...#87: Favorite Reads of 2025 | Part 2 (with Andrew Drake)
With 2025 behind us, my brother Andrew and I check in with each other to talk about some of the most powerful, entertaining, and interesting books we read in the second half of the year. Between the two of us, we read a lot of books (probably too many) so these were, for us, the best of the best.
We use the following questions as a guide:
Which book surprised you the most?What is the most ambitious book you read this year?Which book had the best prose?What is one book that made you cry...#86: Ankurana — Developing Patience, Embracing Minimalism, and Building Cohesive Albums in a Track-by-Track World
What does it actually take to build a sound slowly and deliberately?
In this episode of Always Choose Orange, I talk with electronic music producer and multi-instrumentalist Ankurana about the long, unglamorous reality of developing a musical voice — years of experimentation, hundreds of abandoned ideas, and learning when to stop adding and start listening.
We talk about:
Learning music production the hard way (after years of trial and error)Using nature and field recordings as musical materialWhen to strip ideas back instead of adding moreThe subtle details most listeners never consciously notice#85: Any Austin — Growing His YouTube Channel to 1.5+ Million Views Per Video, Dealing With Imitators, and Cultivating the “Unremarkable and Odd” Mindset
Any Austin changed the rules of gaming content on YouTube. So what happens after that?
In his return to Always Choose Orange, Austin reflects on the growth and influence of his channel over the past year. We talk about the benefits and challenges of bringing on additional team members, the one thing he believes should be the true goal of time management, and how he uses the rise of imitators as competitive fuel rather than a distraction.
During the second half of our conversation, I ask Austin a series of questions submitted by his audience...
#84: Henry Lien — Eastern Narrative Structures, Choosing the Right Ideas, and Writing Lessons from George R.R. Martin & Kelly Link
How do cultural values shape narrative structure?
This is one of the main questions in author Henry Lien's most recent book, Spring, Summer, Asteroid, Bird: The Art of Eastern Storytelling. After leaping headfirst into writing at age 42 and spending some formative time at the Clarion Workshop learning from George R.R. Martin, Kelly Link, and Chuck Palahniuk, Henry developed a fascination with form which eventually led him to kishōtenketsu (East Asian four-act structure).
In this episode of Always Choose Orange, Henry and I talk about:
The differences between a typical Eastern story and a t...#83: Mean It Always
You know what they say, “you can’t spell artificial without art!” …What? What do you mean you haven't heard that? I'm sure someone, somewhere has said it… Anyway, in today's episode, we explore a provocative idea put forth in Carl Wilson’s book Celine Dion’s Let’s Talk About Love: A Journey To The End of Taste that in a sense, all authenticity in art is a kind of performance. If we adopt that perspective, it raises a lot of questions, including: how do I make art with conviction while simultaneously making it for an audience? Using examples from punk...
#82: This Episode Could Have Been an Email
Have you ever been in a meeting that just as easily could have been an email? Have you slogged through a personal development book only to realize that the whole thing could've been summed up in a few tidy bullet points? With the advent of LLMs such as ChatGPT, Copilot, and Gemini, it's easier than ever before to access information in a fraction of the time. And many times, that's a great thing. But everything comes with a cost. In today's episode, we examine that cost and segue into a set of practical questions you can ask yourself whenever...
#81: The Book as a House — A Short Musing on Mindfulness, Narrative Structure, and the Illuminating Nature of Really, Really Good Prose
After a two month hiatus, Always Choose Orange is back with a new episode! But here's the question — what exactly is it? A quiet manifesto? A book review for three Pulitzer Prize-winning meditations on the human experience? Or, is it merely a Trojan horse I'm using to transport some really great Ursula K, Le Guin quotes into your ears? Whatever it is, come ready to explore a way of reading that brings you deeper into the small, beautiful moments of your own life.
Media mentioned in this episode:
Paul Harding: A New Way To Think...#80: Favorite Reads of 2025 | Part 1 (with Andrew Drake)
We're a little more than halfway through 2025 and it’s time for a six-month reading check-in! In this episode, my brother Andrew joins me to discuss six books that affected us during the first half of the year. We use the following questions as a guide:
Which book surprised you the most?What is the most ambitious book you read this year?Which book had the best prose?What is one book that made you cry?Which book impacted your life the most?What was your personal favorite?
Beyond simply talking about the books we sel...
#79: Andrea Burgay — Modern Collage, Overcoming Creative Blocks, and Turning Destruction Into Creation
Andrea Burgay is a visual artist from Syracuse, New York, currently based in Brooklyn. Her practice centers on collage, sculpture, and mixed-media assemblage, often utilizing found and vintage materials to explore themes of transformation, decay, and renewal. Through layering, tearing, and reassembling paper, books, and ephemera, Andrea creates works that reflect the passage of time and the interplay between destruction and rebirth.
In addition to her studio practice, Andrea is the founder and editor of Cut Me Up, a participatory collage magazine and curatorial project. Each issue features original artworks intended to be deconstructed and transformed by re...
#78: How To Better Recall Your Dreams and Solve Creative Problems While You Sleep (with Dr. Deirdre Barrett)
Dr. Deirdre Barrett is a renowned psychologist, author, and dream researcher affiliated with Harvard Medical School. Serving as a Lecturer in Psychology within the Department of Psychiatry at Cambridge Health Alliance, she teaches courses on dreaming to undergraduates, psychiatry residents, and psychology interns.
Dr. Barrett's research explores dreams, hypnosis, and evolutionary psychology. She has authored several books, including The Committee of Sleep, Supernormal Stimuli, Waistland, The Pregnant Man & Other Cases from a Hypnotherapist’s Couch, and Pandemic Dreams, which explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on dreaming.
In addition to her writing, Dr. Barrett serv...
#77: Alex Eckman-Lawn - Making Time for Experimentation, the Best Places to Source Collage Images, and What He Learned From Studying Dave McKean
Alex Eckman-Lawn is a Philadelphia-based artist and illustrator known for his intricately layered, hand-cut paper collages. His work explores themes of control, psychological complexity, and the hidden architecture of the human body. Alex’s distinctive visuals have appeared across a wide spectrum of media, including comic books, album and book covers, music videos, t-shirts, and gig posters. He has collaborated with bands such as Afterbirth, The Smashing Pumpkins, and Imperial Triumphant, and his illustrations have been featured in acclaimed comics like Swan Songs, Awakening, Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard, and the Eisner Award-winning Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream.
In...
#76: Mastering the Art of the Epigraph — How To Set the Tone for Your Story
A single sentence at the start of a book can set the tone for everything that follows. In this week's episode, we dip our toes into the mysterious and powerful world of epigraphs — the quotes or passages that open some of our favorite stories. We explore the many purposes of epigraphs, from foreshadowing and framing to adding emotional or intellectual depth. We examine how they can elevate a work (and occasionally distract from it) and why some writers swear by them while others avoid them entirely. Whether you're a novelist, screenwriter, poet, or creative in any field, we end th...
#75: Jon Guerra — Writing Music as an Act of Devotion
Jon Guerra is a singer-songwriter based in Austin, Texas, renowned for his distinctive style of devotional music. Jon describes his work as "less Sunday morning worship music and more Monday morning prayer music." His critically acclaimed albums — including Keeper of Days (2020), Ordinary Ways (2023), and most recently, Jesus (2025) blend poetic lyricism with minimalist instrumentation. Beyond his solo work, Jon collaborates with his wife, Valerie in the musical duo Praytell, and has contributed to film scores, notably composing additional music for Terrence Malick's A Hidden Life (2019).
In this week's episode, Jon and I spend some time digging into his new album ...
#74: Tara Sellios — Turning Bones, Insects, and Light Into Monumental Images
Tara Sellios creates monumental photographs using real bones, insects, dried flowers, and natural light—assembled by hand and captured in a single shot on an 8×10 large-format camera.
In this episode of Always Choose Orange, Tara walks through her entire creative process: from early sketches and symbolic research to assembling upright sculptural scenes, working with articulators and entomologists, and photographing work that often takes weeks to complete. We also explore how her strict religious upbringing continues to inform her symbolism, why she thinks of her body of work as a single unfolding narrative, and what she hopes viewers feel...
#73: Caroline Shaw - Voice Memo Roulette, the Magic of Old Janky Instruments, and the Story Behind Ringdown's Lady on the Bike
Caroline Shaw is a musician who moves among roles, genres, and mediums, trying to imagine a world of sound that has never been heard before but has always existed. She often works in collaboration with others, as producer, composer, violinist, and vocalist. Shaw is the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in Music, an honorary doctorate from Yale, five Grammys, and a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. She has written and produced for iconic artists and ensembles across the musical spectrum, including Rosalía, Renée Fleming, Yo-Yo Ma, Tiler Peck, Kanye West, Nas, the LA Phil, the NY Phil, and ot...
#72: How to Enjoy Art & Everything Else More | Part 5: Passing It On
In the conclusion to our five-episode series on enjoyment, we examine the relationship between understanding and sharing. Using the coffee taster's flavor wheel, the Studio Binder YouTube channel, and Scott McCloud's books on comic-making, we look at the way developing a vocabulary helps us process and understand a sensory experience. And to wrap things up, we'll use a probably-apocryphal Albert Einstein quote to reiterate the importance of teaching others what we've learned.
FOR EXCLUSIVE CREATIVITY TIPS, MUSINGS, AND EXERCISES, SUBSCRIBE TO THE ALWAYS CHOOSE ORANGE NEWSLETTER: https://www.alwayschooseorange.com
#71: How to Enjoy Art & Everything Else More | Part 4: Getting Lost
Getting lost is often thought of as a bad thing. However, when it comes to art, it can be a major contributor to our sense of enjoyment. This week's episode hones in on six access points to getting lost in something you love. From allowing your mind to freely associate to memorizing pieces of a poem, we'll examine some practical ways to look at art from a new angle.
FOR EXCLUSIVE CREATIVITY TIPS, MUSINGS, AND EXERCISES, SUBSCRIBE TO THE ALWAYS CHOOSE ORANGE NEWSLETTER: https://www.alwayschooseorange.com
#70: How to Enjoy Art & Everything Else More | Part 3: Inverting Resistance
Resistance is futile! At least, it will be after this episode. In part three of our series on enjoyment, we look at four common ways we resist pieces of art and explore some tools we can use to invert that resistance. From identifying the different types of screaming in metal music to intentionally finding flaws in pieces of art, we explore curiosity and the power it has to help us enjoy things more.
FOR EXCLUSIVE CREATIVITY TIPS, MUSINGS, AND EXERCISES, SUBSCRIBE TO THE ALWAYS CHOOSE ORANGE NEWSLETTER: https://www.alwayschooseorange.com
#69: How to Enjoy Art & Everything Else More | Part 2: Moving Beyond
In part two of our series on enjoyment, we're looking at a quick and easy way to deepen your appreciation of a piece of art — moving your attention beyond the part you immediately focus on. From following along with the chord changes in "Penny Lane” to identifying the 23 flavors in Dr. Pepper, we'll examine some quick and easy ways you can hone this skill.
FOR EXCLUSIVE CREATIVITY TIPS, MUSINGS, AND EXERCISES, SUBSCRIBE TO THE ALWAYS CHOOSE ORANGE NEWSLETTER: https://www.alwayschooseorange.com
#68: How to Enjoy Art & Everything Else More | Part 1: A Learnable Skill
Enjoyment is not only a creative superpower; it's also a valuable life skill. And thankfully, it's one that any of us can learn. Using this brilliant essay by Sasha Chapin as a jumping off point, we're going to explore the micro skills that make up the larger skill of enjoyment. The hope is that each and every one of us can interact with our own creative process in a way that brings us deep joy, even when it gets hard.
FOR EXCLUSIVE CREATIVITY TIPS, MUSINGS, AND EXERCISES, SUBSCRIBE TO THE ALWAYS CHOOSE ORANGE NEWSLETTER: https://www...
#67: Peter Adamson's History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps — The Story Behind the 14+ Year Podcast
Dr. Peter Adamson is a philosopher and intellectual historian. He holds two academic positions: professor of philosophy in late antiquity and in the Islamic world at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich; and professor of ancient and medieval philosophy at King's College London.
Adamson hosts the weekly podcast History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps which surpassed 25 million downloads in 2019. The podcast has covered Greek philosophy, Islamic philosophy, and European philosophy up to the early modern era, and also launched series on Indian philosophy (with co-author Jonardon Ganeri), Africana philosophy (with co-author Chike Jeffers), and Chinese philosophy (with co...
#66: Matt Bucher - Thoughts on A.I. and Art, Staying Creative at a Corporate Job, Wikipedia Rabbit Holes, and Writing The Belan Deck
Matt Bucher is the author of The Belan Deck and co-host, with Dave Laird, of The Concavity Show podcast. He is one of the founders of the International David Foster Wallace Society and administers the wallace-l listserv. His writing has been published in Electric Literature, The Dublin Review of Books, Puerto del Sol, Publishers Weekly, and other places. He currently lives in Austin, Texas.
In this episode, Matt and I talk about the creative process behind his debut novel, The Belan Deck, a thought-provoking story about a businessman who is working on a PowerPoint presentation at the airp...
#65: David Benjamin Blower - Writing Narrative Music, Processing Hope and Grief Through Art, and Leaving the Creative Process Open to Chaos
David Benjamin Blower is a prolific musician, a writer of theological books, a podcaster, and an activist from Birmingham, UK. His writing, like his music, is characterized by its political and religious vision and by its apocalyptic imagination. His new book, The Messianic Commons: Images of the Messiah After Modernity, is out now through SCM Press and his most recent album, Kindness is Solid Stone Violence is a Heavy Loan to Pay is available on all platforms.
In this episode, David and I talk about writing narrative-driven music which is something that, in my humble opinion, he’s rea...
#64: In Case of Haters, Break Glass - Overcoming the Fear of Judgment
Putting your art out for the world to see is a vulnerable thing. It often means leaving yourself open to criticism, and in some cases, outright hate. How can you sift through the deluge of comments, feedback, and judgment and use it to make yourself a better artist? How do you stop obsessing over a negative evaluation of your work? And do you look at "the haters" from a different angle?
In this episode, we'll talk about all those things and more. AND, we'll talk about a few composers who had their music critically eviscerated, including the...
#63: How to Concisely Start a Chapter in Six Words or Less
It’s possible to start a chapter in six words or less AND have your reader want to keep reading. How do I know? I analyzed the opening sentence of every chapter in Raymond E. Feist’s Riftwar Saga (Magician: Apprentice, Magician: Master, Silverthorn, and A Darkness at Sethanon) and found some eye opening patterns. In this episode, we'll see what we can learn through studying Feist’s short and striking chapter openers.
FOR EXCLUSIVE CREATIVITY TIPS, MUSINGS, AND EXERCISES, SUBSCRIBE TO THE ALWAYS CHOOSE ORANGE NEWSLETTER: https://www.alwayschooseorange.com
#62: Noam Oxman - The Composer Who Transforms Your Pet Into a Beautiful Piece of Music
Noam Oxman is a composer who turns portraits of beloved pets into beautiful musical compositions. His “sympawnies” have garnered thousands, and in some cases millions, of views on YouTube. Noam is a passionate animal advocate, and he uses his art to promote his message of compassion for animals and nature. You can learn more about commissioning your own pet’s portrait on his website. At least 20% of all proceeds are donated to help feed and give medical treatment to stray cats.
In this episode, Noam and I discuss his musical upbringing, including how he started learning the harmon...
#61: Kreg Yingst - Block Printing as a Spiritual Practice, Recontextualizing Parables, & Illustrating Psalms, Saints, and Prayers
Kreg Yingst is an illustrator specializing in block printing, with original works created from carved blocks of wood, linoleum, or other materials, and printed onto paper or other media. Initially trained as a painter with a Bachelor’s Degree from Trinity University and a Master’s from Eastern Illinois University, Kreg turned his attention to the block print in the mid-1990s after discovering the graphic novels of Lynd Ward and Frans Masereel. In 2003 he quit his teaching position to pursue a lifelong dream of becoming a full-time artist. Two years later, he founded Starving Artist Books as a mean...
#60: Favorite Reads of 2024 | Part 2 (with Andrew Drake)
Now that 2024 is behind us, it’s time for a six-month reading check-in! My brother Andrew is back and we each discuss six books that affected us during the second half of 2024. We use the following questions as a guide:
Which book surprised you the most?What is the most ambitious book you read this year?Which book had the best prose?What is one book that made you cry?Which book impacted your life the most?What was your personal favorite?Our selections include books from the following genres: fantasy, science-fiction, religion/spirituality, poe...
#59: Nothing is Lost - Creative Abundance, Recycling Material, and the Unpublished Novels of Brandon Sanderson
To kick off the new year, let's talk about two ways of viewing and experiencing creativity — the first is scarcity, a white-knuckled clinging to ideas that constantly asks things like "What if the ideas run out?", "What if I never come up with anything better than this?", or "What if the inspiration goes away?" The second is abundance, a way of looking at the world that holds ideas loosely and says things like "There are more ideas than I'll ever be able to act on", "Something better is coming", and "Nothing I ever work on is wasted". In this we...
#58: The Gift That Keeps On Giving - How to Reflect Back on Your Creative Year
The year is coming to a close and it's a great time to reflect back and celebrate your creative accomplishments. This episode is one part highlight reel and one part guide to looking back on the art you've made in 2024 (as well the things that inspired you throughout the year). We talk about lists, accomplishments, statistics, learnings, favorite media, and the moments that make you smile.
FOR EXCLUSIVE CREATIVITY TIPS, MUSINGS, AND EXERCISES, SUBSCRIBE TO THE ALWAYS CHOOSE ORANGE NEWSLETTER: https://www.alwayschooseorange.com
#57: Don't Find Your Voice, Your Voice Will Find You
One of the most common sources of anxiety for budding creatives is the struggle to find a unique voice. Should you spend your apprentice years by imitating the masters? Do you need to focus all your energy on being original? Or is it better to ignore those questions altogether and just focus on making as much art as possible? In today's episode, we'll look at the path to finding your own distinct creative voice from a number of angles. We'll hear some thoughts from photographer Meg Loeks and multidisciplinary artist Claire Luxton. We'll also glean some nuggets of wisdom...
#56: A Few Ideas About Ideas
Where do ideas come from? How do they grow? How do you know which ideas to pursue and which to save for later? In today's episode, we'll explore those topics and more! From Ramit Sethi's book-buying rule to YouTuber Any Austin's view that you can't make 100 bad ideas, we'll take a deep dive into the foundation of creative projects and have you out before your lunch break is over.
Material Mentioned in This Episode:
I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit SethiHow To Listen to Jazz by Ted GioiaWhat It Is b...#55: Claire Luxton - Creating Her Own Muses, Embracing Isolation, and Finding Inspiration in Everything
Claire Luxton is a British contemporary multi-disciplinary artist working with photography, immersive installation, and poetry. She works from her rural studio based in East Sussex, and the nature she is surrounded by is reflected in her work. After receiving a BFA from Goldsmiths University of London, Luxton’s practice developed a strongly recognizable aesthetic, which quickly gained her recognition. Her dynamic work explores the delicate equilibrium between humans and nature, the ominous undercurrents oscillate between constructed femininity and alluring vulnerability, seducing the viewer with color, intrigue, joy and uncertainty.
Website: https://www.claireluxtonart.com
In...
#54: Kate Woodman - Photo Concepts That Make You Say WTF, Visual Hooks, and Reinventing the Wheel With Every New Project
Kate Woodman is a Portland, Oregon-based commercial photographer specializing in conceptual and narrative imagery. A structural engineer by trade, Kate made the jump to photography after a work transfer to New Zealand got her interested in shooting landscapes, and things spiraled from there. Ten years into her professional career, Kate shoots everything from pharma to fashion and all sorts of things in between. When she’s not photographing, she’s teaching color theory and putting her engineering degree to work by renovating her midcentury house.
Website: https://www.katewoodman.com
Instagram: https://www.instagr...
#53: Simon Van Booy - Facing Your Weaknesses as a Writer, How To Find an Editor, and Living Out Parts of Your Own Stories
Simon Van Booy is the award-winning, bestselling author of more than a dozen books for adults and children, including The Illusion of Separateness, The Presence of Absence, and most recently, Sipsworth. Simon is the editor of three volumes of philosophy and has written for The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Washington Post, and the BBC. His books have been translated into many languages and optioned for film. Raised in rural North Wales, he currently lives in New York where he is also a book editor and a volunteer E.M.T. crew chief.
Website: ...
