This is an amazing case which I am sure has psychologists in a buzz.
Lee Hadwin is an artist with a unique ability. Lee can create the most beautiful paintings when he is asleep. However when he is awake he can barely draw a stick figure.
He discovered his nocturnal talent aged four, when he began to sleepwalk and draw on his mother’s furniture.
‘I got up in the middle of the night and scribbled on the walls,’ he said.
‘Once, I carved into an old bureau, which was a family heirloom – my mother was not pleased.’
Since then, he has produced almost 200 sleep-pictures, selling them to collectors such as illusionist Derren Brown, with one piece fetching a six-figure sum.
He does not know why he can draw only in his sleep but believes it may be spirits communicating from the other side. Sleep scientists, however, say it could have been brought on by a trauma
His creative episodes normally follow a night of heavy drinking and he wakes up with no memory of what he did.
‘Friends have recorded me and I find it really embarrassing – it’s like watching yourself when you’re drunk,’ said the former nurse.
‘Some people say, “You can’t be an artist because you have to be conscious to produce art”. But, at the end of the day, what is art?’
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