Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jonathan Bleibdrey. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jonathan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

Yes I am the happiest when creating or making art (full stop)! There is nothing else in the world that excites me more then starting a project, chipping away at it, then sending it off to see where it ends up.

I do sometimes think about how it would feel to have a”regular” job & being in corporate, or anything else other then art.
But then, I would have the same question of will I wake up at 50 and be happy ?!! I also sometimes have those days where I dought the whole process and say “well if I go back to school now, I’ll be done in four years and then I could get a good job here or there.”
Then reminding myself, “Jon” you would still be longing for or wishing to do your art, in some way.

It always come back to making art, and I have tried lots of jobs, thinking I was a failure every time I got fired or quit a job. Not realizing that no matter what I was always guided too, I came right back to the thing I love most, art. Through all of the ups and downs of the job search and things, my inner compass has always pointed me in the right direction, right back to making art that help people feel.

Jonathan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hello My name is Jonathan bleibdrey I’m 35, I’m a mixed media artist & I am the creator of OurNaturalState.

I got into the industry only recently in the past 4-5 years “professionally” but have had great momentum so I plan to continue that by doing even more art. I’ve always done art in some capacity through my life as it was a good outlet for me for stress, dealing with my issues, and other things.

About 5 or 6 years ago I started creating OurNaturalState with the intention of trying to understand my own feelings & to get stuck feelings unstuck. I believe art can help many people that are feeling lost in life right now, as well as help people find out who they really are. I highly recommend this type of art w/ a mix of self development should be taught as a tool in education and health systems around the world.

But anyways, I had gone through a Spirtual awakening (or so I’m told) and my life was changed forever, I rode the ups and downs, I was getting in touch with feelings I’ve never aloud myself to ever feel (I considered myself to be a bit of a hard shell). But, as I was sitting in the back of a movie film truck waiting for my film crew to finish up, I would always draw on my first generation iPad, crappy as it was, it helped me. I would just draw anything and everything that came to me. Eventually leading me to find my very first character
“ the angel king. “

I navigate my art by the simple “tingles” or “aha” moments to point me in the right direction. Not knowing where i was going, I kept following those feelings, drawing all the time, I drew that guy over 2000 times (not exaggerated) then slowly every night I would search for that exact feeling, then from there the other 7 characters where born, and the rest is history.

So fast track to now as I said earlier I wanted to make art but, I also wanted to make art to help people in some way. Now I have done my fair share of self healing or self development work for the past 8 years and nothing has fast tracked my growth in personal and Spirtual development like art has.
I’ve read countless books on how to do all the meditation and sitting in silence and feel that, feel this!? Always going back to asking myself the question,
“how do I even feel ?”
So the question kept coming up, then I started making videos of myself drawing and painting how my body actually felt, thus opening up another door to the direction I needed to go, or what felt right.

What I was doing was a form of body mapping or somatic art. Basically you feel and paint how your body feels in that moment, onto the canvas.
As soon as I learned what exactly I was doing I’ve been hooked ever since. I know more about myself then ever before, I have unlocked more secrets about who I truly am, and All of it pointing to the same damn thing, presence is key, and all of life should be in balance, ALL OF IT.

I’m doing an art exhibition/ fundraiser with a non profit called footprints of Uganda, they help people of Uganda build wells and getting kids back to school for their villages. It will be hosted at Flemington DIY April 4th. If you have never heard of flemington diy it’s a wonderful place in the art district of Flemington where you can express your artistic expression in a safe space. I’ve hosted my own games here as well to help local artists to learn this “feeling” technique as well help local artists get seen. So check that out when summer rolls back around it’s called battle of the walls.

Anyways, All I want to do is help people wake up & get out of the autopilot mode, to make art that is truly me, and to enjoy my life while hanging out with my family.

Thank you,
Jonathan (OurNaturalState.)

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Stop buying overly processed art, ikea doesn’t need your money, the local artists in your town do. They are also probably making better art anyways.

Also, for the artists, I see a lot of artists playing “ME, ME, ME, MINE, MINE” stop that! Your an artist, we are professionals, act like it. Share your knowledge, help the next artist, do what you can to help the next person climb to the top. I see a world where we move as together, or at least in larger groups helping the community or culture, society, your towns.
And if you don’t want to give up your secrets at least be kind to the next person, it’s free.

P.S. local TOWNS, hire local muralist to make your towns look prettier.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

As I explained above, My goal in my creative journey is to become my most authentic self & my most natural self, to help others find their natural self, to create with out constraint, and to have fun while doing it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.OurNaturalStateOfBeing.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ournaturalstateofbeing?igsh=MTZ2ZndlMW9hb25lag%3D%3D&utm_source=qr