Color and Insomnia
May 12, 2008 — limamikeMost people who know me know I suffer from chronic insomnia. I can’t really remember a time when I didn’t have trouble falling asleep. This would probably not be a problem if I was free to go to bed when I wished (3am) and wake when I wished (10-11am). I’ve never, ever been one to bounce out of bed, cheerful and ready to attack the day. Oh no. Not I. It’s more of a slow, staggering, where-the-heck-is-the-shower type of rising.
I have a husband and a son, so I therefore get to bed at 11pm (read for an hour to try to relax the mind) and then get up at 7am (staggering) to start the day with the kidlet. My first attempt at creativity doesn’t start until 1:30pm, after I’ve dropped Zack at preschool and hit the gym, and by that time, I’m eyeing the bed with longing and hoping that maybe, just this once, caffeine will actually WORK on me.
So, many times, I fall into a color rut. I can design a pretty bracelet while I’m tired, but often I can’t get my mind to think of new, exciting, or unusual color combinations, and I end up making something pretty, but (to me) “normal and boring”.
I get tired. I just can’t think. So I’ve come up with a solution called a Color Book. I cut out clipping from magazines — bits of clothing, photos of flowers, Pantone swatches, paint chips, anything that gives me an “a ha!” moment.
This helps get my mind out of “I desperately need a Starbucks” to “oh yeah, I do have other beads I can play with”. It’s amazing, like a walk outside, when I flip through this book. Ideas start clicking and I start grabbing beads out the cabinet and cool things start to happen…..
The color book helps me get out from under making an all pink, all blue, or all purple bracelet (easy for me to do!) and gives me a much needed injection of mental caffeine. It’s a great artist’s tool that I highly recommend!
Now, if I could only do something about the insomnia……
Lori Anderson designs and blogs from her studio in Easton, MD. You can buy her work at her website, Etsy, and craft shows, and read more about her at her blog.
May 13, 2008 at 12:09 am
Lori,
What a great suggestion. I found this very helpful, thanks.
Otter
May 21, 2008 at 6:53 pm
excellent idea!!! I’m just beginning this beading thing, and although I’ve been spending myself silly on crystals, lampwork, gemstones, etc., I’m at a loss for color combinations. I’ll be ripping up my magazines beginning tonight - - after everyone else is in the bed!
May 28, 2008 at 8:20 pm
I do this, too! I’ve done journals for years and still haven’t found THE perfect journal until I discovered the Moleskine had been resurrected. I LOVE this journal format…hard cover binding, all kinds of page format (grid, lined, blank, sketch quality). I filled up my first pocket size. I’m now on a medium grid-style and this really helps me with my sketches. I remember seeing the idea for this type of journal in the move The Saint (with Elizabeth Shue and Val Kilmer). She was the eccentric scientist who also loved art and her journals were a mix of scientific notations, beautiful photos, sketches, notes, poetry, thoughts. I loved that idea and I like going through my old journals. It’s kind of a chronological mix of my life and the thoughts, people, things and ideas that inspired me at that time.
I’m sorry on the insomnia part! I suffer, too…struggling through an insomniac period now. A stressful day job and trips to China don’t help either. And caffeine works for me…at 11pm…
May 28, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Oooh…and if you’re looking for magazine muses…my latest favorite is Pottery Barn. Their floral photographs and color combos are really stunning. The floral photos in PB remind me of the old Victoria magazine…(the new one doesn’t quite have the same finesse I remembered from the old one.)