Labedzki-Art

I’m way too tired to write or think but for some reason I just wanted to mention that I love Raw art, Real art, Gritty art, Honest art..art from the Heart and Soul!
Whitney Houston died yesterday, so sad..she leaves a big hole in the heart of society..
that’s all for now,
have a great Sunday!

The PAIN! The PAIN! I spent a week cutting and pasting papers to create my 3D characters. The tendons and muscles used to cut the paper and press the glue gun are HOT with pain! I guess I have a chronic problem.
Four years ago my right shoulder was a mess. I had overused my arm! I only paint on paper and paper absorbs the paint, so when I pushed the paint on the paper with the brush I totally killed my arm. I also paint hundreds and hundreds of paintings per month which added to the problem. The pain was unbearable (worse than childbirth!), so I finally went to the hospital. I had tendonitis and frozen shoulder. Frozen shoulder literally means that the joint is frozen and you cannot move your arm! It took a few doctors, physio, cortisone shots, medication and two years for the shoulder to heal. Now I constantly have to be very very careful with the right shoulder. I can’t paint the same way, I can’t lift or push anything too heavy and now it looks like I can’t cut and glue paper… My problem is that I go overboard with my creativity. My passion is far greater than my physical ability…I must SLOW DOWN!!! hahahahahahahaha, yeah right, who am I kidding?
Slowing down means DEATH! When I’m dead I’ll slow down…maybe!

I Promise:

1.) To paint bigger; to paint with more detail.

2.) To consciously dwell into my subconscious and pan for hidden gold. Hopefully I will emerge with some precious nuggets which I will share with you through my paintings..here’s hoping!

3.) To paint hard and fast, yet learn to take a day off once in a while. A day off does wonders for the creative battery; a new energy is born out of a place of rest.

4.) To stay away from sugar as much as possible..

5.) To watch more movies.

6.) To dust the house once in a while!

7.) To be more patient.

8.) To continue my 6K walks.

9.) To eat less candy.

10.) To not work so hard.

11.) To nourish my friendships and keep my heart and mind open for new friends.

12.) To be as loving as I can to my family.

13.) To give Mickey more combings, it’s a big job because he sheds white fur allllll over everything..

14.) To post 8 videos per month on my youtube channel…yikes!

15.) To learn how to juggle painting and video making.

16.) To learn and grow every single day.

17.) To not worry so much about things that never happen.

18.) To work on my 3D characters.

19.) To write more blogs.

20.) To lose the 3 pounds I just gained during Christmas.

21.) To have a great year!!

Be true to yourself, be honest, be STRONG, and NEVER EVER quit or give up, no matter how black things seem to appear. Even when you doubt yourself, even when other people doubt you, NEVER quit. Keep pushing yourself through the emotional boundaries and obstacles; express yourself through creativity. When something NEGATIVE happens take advantage of the situation and turn it into something POSITIVE by being creative. If you’re a PAINTER like I am then PAINT your ass off; paint your guts out. Paint until your soul leaves your body and lives within your paintings. Yes, a lot of times I feel like a soul-less zombie because I paint so much, HOWEVER, I feel like a productive, happy and grateful soul-less zombie!
I had a sad childhood and I hid and protected the artist in me from my family and the world. I’m sure many of you artists have done this and can relate, but don’t stay in that withdrawn and lonely place. Find the courage to SHINE, the more you SHINE, the more people will be attracted to your bright star! Fight through your fears and anxieties; there is a beautiful light at the end of the tunnel! The painting you see below is an example of me taking a negative situation and turning it into a positive one. The painting titled “Outrage” was stolen off the wall during an art opening. Everyone told me that it is a compliment and that I should feel honored, blah blah blah…I felt upset and violated. I decided to have 1000 business cards printed of the image and I created a video about the stolen painting and business cards I had printed. I felt so much better and when I hand out a business card I always have a little story to tell people!

NOBODY tells this to people who are beginners. I wish someone had told me.

All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste.

But there is a gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good.

It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got

you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you.

A lot of people never get past this phase; they quit. Most poeple I know who do

interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t

have the SPECIAL THING that we want it to have. We all go through this. And

if you are just starting our or you are still in this phase, you gotta know that it’s

normal and the most important thing you can do is DO A LOT OF WORK. Put

yourself on a deadline so that every week you finish one piece. It’s only by going

through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good

as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met.

It’s gonna take a while. It’s normal to take awhile. You just gotta fight your way

through.     by Ira Glass

Art Journal

My art journal is published in this winter issue 2011 of “Art Journaling” by stampington and company on pages 134-135!