Artist Flip Solomon’s large-scale pen and ink images are drawn from dreams. See more of her fascinating work by visiting her website.
![“Entanglement” Pen & Ink, 48” x 48” by artist Flip Solomon. See her portfolio by visiting www.ArtsyShark.com](https://www.artsyshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/entanglement.jpg)
“Entanglement” Pen & Ink, 48” x 48”
After a twenty-year hiatus, I came back to my art through circumstance. At the age of thirty-six, I found I was a workaholic, yet unable to hold down a job. I was a single mom and disabled—I’d been diagnosed with Narcolepsy, Klein-Levin Syndrome and Non-24—a trifecta of dysfunction that robbed me each day of six to ten waking hours.
![“Seeds” Pen & Ink, 48” x 60” by artist Flip Solomon. See her portfolio by visiting www.ArtsyShark.com](https://www.artsyshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/seeds.jpg)
“Seeds” Pen & Ink, 48” x 60”
Aside from the excessive sleeping, the slightest stressor would trigger my Narcolepsy and cause me to have sleep attacks in public. I threw myself into yoga and meditation with the primary hope that I could at least hold onto my driver’s license and retain a semblance of independence.
![“The Floating City of China” Pen & Ink, 54” x 48” by artist Flip Solomon. See her portfolio by visiting www.ArtsyShark.com](https://www.artsyshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/thefloatingcityofchina.jpg)
“The Floating City of China” Pen & Ink, 54” x 48”
At the same time, I had no creative outlet. I was a single mom with problems. I’d basically been in survival mode for eight years, treating my body like a commodity and I felt empty, as if I was at a spiritual rock bottom.
![“The Fennec Foxes” Pen & Ink, 40” x 30” by artist Flip Solomon. See her portfolio by visiting www.ArtsyShark.com](https://www.artsyshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/fennecfoxes.jpg)
“The Fennec Foxes” Pen & Ink, 40” x 30”
In hindsight, I see now that I was at a tipping point and that what was to come had to be born out of that place of hopelessness.
![“Hare of the Hare” Pen & Ink, 48” x 54” by artist Flip Solomon. See her portfolio by visiting www.ArtsyShark.com](https://www.artsyshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/hareofthehare.jpg)
“Hare of the Hare” Pen & Ink, 48” x 54”
I decided to return to my art and found a space that I shared with three other artists. It was a big studio and I immediately went large-scale. If I sat down at a desk or on a couch I was toast, but standing up and working against the wall or working on the cement floor helped me with wakefulness.
![“The New Mythology” Pen & Ink, 50” x 62” by artist Flip Solomon. See her portfolio by visiting www.ArtsyShark.com](https://www.artsyshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/thenewmythology.jpg)
“The New Mythology” Pen & Ink, 50” x 62”
I worked at night whenever I was kid-free and I slowly started to work through my creative and emotional blockages. I’d been trained in classical graphite in my youth, but I now took up pen and ink which satisfied my love of contrast.
![“The Keeper of Ancient Medicine” Pen & Ink, 36” x 24” by artist Flip Solomon. See her portfolio by visiting www.ArtsyShark.com](https://www.artsyshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/thekeeperofancientmedicine.jpg)
“The Keeper of Ancient Medicine” Pen & Ink, 36” x 24”
What felt so hopeless and chaotic at the time now seems like divine orchestration.
![“Bastet” Pen & Ink, 36” x 48” by artist Flip Solomon. See her portfolio by visiting www.ArtsyShark.com](https://www.artsyshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/bastet.jpg)
“Bastet” Pen & Ink, 36” x 48”
I couldn’t work a normal job, so I had to carve out my own career. The pressures of trying to stay awake in public and conforming to society’s version of time were too difficult, so I found a way to be alone. My circadian rhythms were off and I was nocturnal so I started working through the night, invoking nighttime’s mystical energy while simultaneously honoring my own cycles.
![“Lakshmi's Owl” Pen & Ink, 24” x 36" by artist Flip Solomon. See her portfolio by visiting www.ArtsyShark.com](https://www.artsyshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Lakshmis-Owl-for-article.jpg)
“Lakshmi’s Owl” Pen & Ink, 24” x 36″
My excessive REM cycles gave me intense and vivid dreams, so I started drawing them. The waking REM cycles gave me hallucinations so I brought those patterns into my art. I couldn’t let myself get stressed out, so I meditated. The meditation cleared my dreams of all the clutter and let the higher concepts come through for my art.
!["Kali's Tiger Dress" Artwork Printed on Ecofiber, Various Sizes by artist Flip Solomon. See her portfolio by visiting www.ArtsyShark.com](https://www.artsyshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/kalistigerdress.jpg)
“Kali’s Tiger Dress” Artwork Printed on Ecofiber, Various Sizes
The derealization and depersonalization that accompany my disorders make attachments difficult. I always feel a little bit outside of my body and not really real, more like I’m in a video game.
![Artist Flip Solomon with her artwork. See her portfolio by visiting www.ArtsyShark.com](https://www.artsyshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/artistphoto.jpg)
Artist Flip Solomon with her artwork
Yet these symptoms that make life so difficult for me also afford me a non-attached perspective to the point where I’m constantly being inspired by life here on earth. I feel fortunate that circumstance took me back to my art and that I now have a meaningful way of expressing my ideas to the world.
Artist Flip Solomon invites you to follow her on Instagram, Facebook and Skyline Art Editions.
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