33 year-old Lee Hadwin from North Wales has been described by the Edinburgh Sleep Clinic as “unique”. With no training, no talent and no inclination in waking life to be an artist Lee draws and sketches portraits, figures and landscapes in his sleep.

‘Sleep-drawing’ since the age of four it wasn’t until he was 16 and staying over at a friend’s house that his nocturnal talents as an artist began to emerge. He recalls:  “The next morning my friend’s mother found drawings all over the walls in the kitchen, but we had been drinking that night so we put it down to that”.

In his late teens and early twenties, whilst still living at home, Lee began to draw or scribble on walls, tables, clothes, discarded newspapers - with pens, crayons and coal - anything he could get his hands on.  Now, he is prepared and has his sketch books and materials scattered around his flat, which he shares with his partner Clint.  Even he admits, at the start, his work wasn’t much to look at but as the years have passed, the drawings have become more detailed, more profound. Now, with interest from galleries around the world Lee has discovered a global demand for his work.

“People ask me all the time”, he says, “what it is like but I can’t really answer that because I don’t feel it’s my work as I don’t recall doing it in the first place. You should see my reports from school. I was appalling at art and couldn’t draw at all.”

Lee’s work was recently on display as a local fund-raiser at the Denbigh Library, North Wales and plans for further exhibitions in London, Paris and New York are ongoing. A TV documentary for ITV1, entitled SLEEPWAKERS: Secrets of The Night, went to air on 16th December 2008. Lee’s fascinating story was featured alongside three other individuals.

Facts about Lee
Lee was born in 1974 in North Wales. His mother, Monica, is a nurse and his father, Howard, is a country music artist. He was brought up with his brother in the village of Henllan, N. Wales.  At 15yrs he left school and joined his father’s band as a guitarist, touring the UK and Europe. He left the band in 1998 and headed to Australia where he met his current partner, Clint, and worked for the NSW State Government Electricity promoting Green Energy, receiving full Dual Citizenship.  In 2006 both of them returned to the UK and they now live in London.