If Only a Nightmare.

Dreams are illustrations... from the book your soul is writing about you.

-Marsha Norman

It Whispers.
Acrylic on masonite 19x22"

  Frequently around the studio I see polite inquisitions into how one of the artists' night went answered in a desperate tone leaking out of a defeated face with red, glazed eyes. Insomnia is an Artistically Transmitted Infection (ATI) easily contracted in a place where creative juices flow freely.

  Trying to fall asleep is often a futile activity for those that consciously tap into their sub-conscious each day. The main reason most artists sleep in most of the morning is because most of the night is spent with their eyes open in darkness, and then lamplight over a sketchbook, then back to darkness; rinsing and repeating, thinking and depositing.

  The problem I think may lie in the fact that when most people begin to visualize the impossible, their bodies surrender to fantasy for a rationed eight or so hours. But when any type of creative begins to see those familiar, intertwining, translucent blobs of colour, their body kick-starts and the cycle begins again. See, it's very hard to tell someone they're sleeping if they spend most of their day living in fantasy.

  But that moment when reality and dream cross over is always the ripest for harvesting inspiration. The only difficulty is that it is usually too late to get back to work (although you could argue it's never too late). Which is what I considered at 5am this morning, waiting to slip away. But I pulled through, slept on it and made a piece about those soft spoken moments before a dream.