So last night, I did something daring.

I faced my darkest fears. I took a step on a terrifying journey. I gritted my teeth and embraced potential horror.

Yep. I finally watched “Labyrinth” for the first time in twenty years.

For those who haven’t followed this blog since the beginning of time, “Labyrinth” is one of my personal demons, because a really absurd proportion of my paintings receive the comment “This reminds me of Labyrinth!” I think I’m just gonna have that carved on my tombstone.

Thing is, since I haven’t seen the flick in twenty years, and all I remembered was David Bowie’s crotch* I had developed a bit of a neurosis that my art looked incredibly like Labyrinth, and I was just totally unaware of it. So I was avoiding it like the plague. But hey, last night, well lubricated with wine, in a generally congenial mood, the boyfriend popped it in, and…voila.

Gotta say…don’t really see it. Ludo and the trolls in Digger have a similar head design–horns, underslung lower jaw–and the friendly worm with the scarf could totally have been one of mine, but other than that…I mean, if one gets away from the whole “Lots of weird little creatures and ironic humor” theme, didn’t look like a hit parade of my paintings or anything.

To put it another way, my work resembles Froud’s in some regards, but  I don’t see that it resembles Labyrinth any more than any of the other stuff he’s done.

So I feel better!

…I also have to say that damn, the sight of David Bowie, in those pants, lounging around and tapping a riding crop on those boots did things to parts of my brain. Bad things. Lovely, but bad.**

*Even at ten, this made quite an impression.

** Ursula: “….I’m in my happy place.”
    Boyfriend: “Sooo….should I be dressing up as the Goblin King for Halloween, then?”
    Ursula: “I’ll buy the wig.”

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