I believe the tendency to insomnia increases as you get older - apparently you just need less sleep? Well its an occasional problem with me, particularly (and perversely) when I get over-tired. That's what I was trying to journal about on this occasion .... and yes I was doing it in the middle of the night :(
I had this blank background ready prepared, from a time when I'd been experimenting with painty effects. As you know, I have a slightly uneasy relationship with paint - I know I ought to love it and splash it about liberally, but that just doesn't come naturally to me.
I'd even done blotches by adding paint with a baby wipe on this, so in the middle of the night all I had to do was write on the page - and you can see below what was uppermost in my mind at 2.30 am! I cut this picture out of a newspaper, don't you just love it? I liked the image of a grey-faced sleepless person, and this somewhat fed up looking expression really hit the spot in terms of how I was feeling. As usual I just wrote the words in a simple print to begin with.
As you can see below I then went back to embellish the letters and add bits and pieces - not sure that I can explain the whys and wherefores of any of it (bear in mind it was the middle of the night) I was just sort of going with the flow and waiting to see if I felt tired ...
And this was the final version - that poor chap got more and more grey-faced and haggard looking, and the red eyes really finished him off! Obviously there had to be some dotty embellishments there somewhere as well.
Still it was better to go downstairs and produce this than lying awake, tossing and turning, and wondering why I wasn't asleep wasn't it? Things to do when struck by insomnia No.1 - go and play in your art journal :D
4 comments:
A great page created at an unearthly hour! I wake frequently in the night but luckily usually go back to sleep again, so don't have an excuse to get inky/painty!!
Excellent work - love the face (well spotted - I'd have missed him, lol) - and the way you used it so well in your art. Haven't read what you wrote yet - just looking at the effects - but I love your painty bits (I'm an ink person myself and struggle with paints, too). Off to read now, even if I do feel as if I'm eavesdropping... x
oh don't you just hate it when you can't sleep? i don't know what happens as we get older and the lack of sleep. i go through stages of it for sure. at least you find something productive to do with your time - so that's awesome.
I'm often awake for hours during the night, but don't worry about it anymore. I quite enjoy my quiet hours of art journaling or reading.
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