The Good Life – January-February 2024

ON THE COVER | PUNCHGUT
of acceptance. “Sometimes the
worst company I can have is the
person in my head… just the cycle
of where you’re second guessing
yourself on a loop. Some days I
really struggle with it, some days I
can get by it. When I do something
physical to get out of my head, like
longboarding or yoga, and just get
exhausted, I’ve found that’s a good
reset for me.”
The link between physical
exertion and mental health is well
established, but the benefit for
Mastrud is rooted in the fear of
trying something new… and failing.
“I just learned this within the last
four years… I figured it out at 47,”
he chuckled. “I’ve noticed a lot
more benefits mentally by forcing
myself to get scared again. With
longboarding you don’t have to
figure out any tricks, you just have
to stay on the board, which was
super scary at first. It feels nice
to kind of get scared again. When
you get to a certain age, you don’t
experience those kinds of fears
anymore unless you force it.”
In his garage, Mastrud forces
himself to get out of his own head
with a ritual of his own creation.
With the simple addition of an
alarm clock, he invites a different
kind of fear, one that gives birth to
new ideas and fresh creativity.
“The last couple of years, I’ve
done some stuff where I didn’t
overthink,” he said. ”I’d just sit
down with a canvas and set an
alarm on my phone then draw line
work and abstract work. After 15
minutes, I’d turn the canvas and
continue without overthinking. A
lot of times in my career where
I overthink things and when
something accidental happens, it's
categorized as a mistake. In the
garage studio, those mistakes are
part of the piece and I’ve learned
to really embrace those accidental
blurbs.”
THE GOOD, ARTFUL LIFE
It’s not easy for Mastrud to allow
himself the grace to acknowledge
his success. He still sometimes
struggles with the whole idea of
being an artist. It’s still a bit of a
firetruck.
“The world really doesn’t need
art,” he said, “and I think about
that sometimes. When I get really
down, I think about the fact that
I’m doing something that nobody
needs… that’s just me being a bully
to myself. But then I’ve been to
places where there is no art, just
concrete and gray and that doesn’t
feel very good. So to me, art is
a good escape where my brain
settles down a little bit… like visual
meditation.”
22 | THE GOOD LIFE