Early mornings

As I've got older and has life changed in many ways - mainly by havng a family and working for myself - I find I'm hopeless at late nights. Long gone are days when I could rock in or just stop work at one or two in the morning. Now I find I'm fit for nothing at around ten or eleven. I used to love a long lie in (and very occasionally I still do, 'til eight maybe even nine but thats pushing it).

I find myself waking up at five and laying there, turning over ideas, making mental lists. Sometimes I found this really frustrating even though I was wide awake I'd wind myself up trying to force sleep. Then I had a revelation, get up! Get out of bed and use this quiet time when everyone else is asleep to get on.

 There is something really lovely about creeping downstairs while everyone is asleep, making a brew and going into my workroom. At the weekend I can spend a few hours like this before everyone else comes downstairs. Its turned into a bit of a treat. Its a good time for me to tackle paper work and lately to have a good sort out. I need to simplify my work space, pare down the things I work with. This weekend I decided I had to make a start.

I made these upcycled storage panels for my acrylics. The boards are from some broken shelves we've had lurking in the garage. The tubes are hung by binder clips on panel pins. Its made it so much easier to see the colours I have. There is one more panel to go up then I can move on to another corner. More photos when I've made more progress - its such an awful mess I won't let anyone in here at the moment.
PS that is not an old cup of tea - its paint brush water :)

When is your most productive time of day?