Creating
in a time of insomnia
I remember as a child waking up after a full night of sleep and being full of energy. I miss that. It is hard these days to feel rested even if I do get 8 full hours. Mostly I get 5 to 6 give or take. I have tried all the suggestions, counting sheep, reading, have a routine, being tired from activities, with little success it just is how things are. I might fall asleep only to awaken, or just noy fall to sleep, but at least I am not plagued by worries. I’m just not sleepy. Have you found this is happening to you?
I tend to use this dark time listening to an audiobook, thinking or if I feel the need to get up, creating. Sometimes the darkness helps, if others are sleeping you are quieter and that gives a different feel to your creative time. As if what applies to daytime creativity is not in place and can’t be enforced. Want to use crayons? Go ahead! Want to draw tiny lines one after another? Sure! Creating at a different time than you usually do can be very freeing.
Not sure how this might work for you? Keep a notebook by your bed with a pencil or pen, any old notebook. Scribble write or draw in the dark. This serves 2 purposes:
it can help you get moods, emotions or jitteriness out
it can create backgrounds full of all sorts of lines and feeling
Maybe you will write down a snippet of a poem before it wings on its way to someone else’s mind. Perhaps you will create a tiny image that really speaks to you. Give it a try and see.
Want to get out of bed and move about? This video can help with that. Go to your workspace and just fool a bit with your supplies. Turn your piece a quarter turn each time you switch supplies to keep things fresh. Work only in black and white then add one pop of color. Let your mind think about things differently.
Nighttime creating is a great way to use up premade backgrounds and scraps so that when you do get drowsy there isn’t a pile of items to wash. Nighttime also has a different tenor to it as you are less likely to get interrupted which lets you focus on the silence and the task of creating. Without the distractions of daily living you can settle into making art and enjoying the process more.
I will admit it can be hard to leave a warm bed and tiptoe down to my studio, and it doesn’t happen that often. Yet I find the pieces are different from daytime ones, there is just another feel about them that I can’t quite put my finger on. As the quiet of the house settles around me maybe that is what frees things up, letting me travel down different roads on the paper, feeling different terrain under my fingertips, and providing just a slightly different view.
