When he grew up he left the small family farm to wander from house to house looking for work such as chopping wood, herding cattle or housework. Eventually, he found a friendly place in Wilczyska, with a family who took him in permanently. Small and disabled, with a strong speech impediment, he felt most comfortable in the company of children; with them, he could play, dress up and play different roles. He used to make colourful birds out of wood in his youth. Around 1970, he started to paint. He only considered his paintings ready after they were coated with clear varnish, framed and provided with a hanger. His source of inspiration was an album with images of old paintings, looked at so often that the binding disintegrated and the book fell apart into single sheets – almost 2,000 colourful reproductions. Więcek followed the masters’ work but did not copy it; he was simplifying the patterns, giving unfamiliar forms a homely look, expanding some scenes and omitting others. He was developing themes borrowed from the works of Titian or Bellini in his own way. On his own, he was inventing scenes with vacationers, landscapes with animals and birds and these were the ones he liked best. His paintings radiate joy.