Canvas Rebel, Voyage Baltimore Interviews

Before Canvas Rebel, in 2021, I was interviewed by Voyage Baltimore,

Hi Raine, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
I grew up in the suburbs of Baltimore, with my mom, dad and two sisters. My mother is Turtle Mountain Chippewa, and attended boarding school from the time she was 6 until she graduated. As a result she learned very little about our ancestral teachings. So I grew up in typical American culture in the 1980s. I got where I am today because of those who came before me. I am Turtle Mountain Chippewa and German Irish. My ancestors survived many things, and it is because of their resilience and love that I am able to be who I am today.

It all started when I was a little girl, watching Bob Ross paint happy trees and mountains. I remember setting my paper up like a canvas on an easel, mixing colors, and tapping the brush on the paper along with him. I always loved to create. I remember during the holidays I would use construction paper to create real-life scenes of fireplaces and Christmas trees with presents under them on the walls in my room. I would doodle on pages of paper and fill each space in with a different design. Or build little towns with scrap blocks of wood in the yard. Creating has always been my favorite pastime.

Canvas Rebel Interview

In October I received an email from a project off shoot of Voyage Baltimore and was interviewed by Canvas Rebel online magazine

Here are few highlights from the interview!

Is there a mission driving your creative journey?

My goal and mission is to help people to remember we are all connected, through the use of our imaginations and sharing our stories. My goal as an artist is to create art that expresses my story, which is to share with the world my experiences and how I interpret my connection to all around me. My mission is to use my art and passion for creative living to inspire others to share their stories through creative expression. Filling the world with humans who have self-awareness through a connection with themselves and the world around them helps us remember we are all connected. I often ask myself what happens when we all remember we are all connected? Simply asking the question leaves a person with the realization that we must respect each person’s part in this dance of life. Living life in harmony, with gratitude.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding thing for me as a creative is sharing my intuitive gifts. I tap into energy, to create one-of-a-kind art for each individual person. Intuitive henna readings, and birth chart paintings are a few ways I share this gift.

Intuitive Henna readings are when I spend time meditating with a person’s energy and see their energy through visuals and feelings. I use those images and the feelings of the flow of the energy to create their unique design at that moment. The design is created as a temporary tattoo which lasts anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks. When I am creating the design, I share with each person the feeling of the energy and how it relates to them. Every time I do a reading the client is surprised by the images I create, and the feeling I share with them. Being able to share my gifts with someone through art, and allow them to connect with art and themselves, is such a rewarding experience.

I love to be able to sit with another person and share my creative gifts to help them know themselves better. This is the most rewarding and the reason I started doing intuitive birth chart paintings for clients. I read the energy of their birth chart and create a piece of art that helps them see themselves better. Sharing the reading with each client helps them to know more of who they have come to this earth to be. The mission is to remember we are all connected, and I do this by helping others see themselves through art.

What does it mean to be a Canvas Rebel?

To me a canvas represents a blank slate to create new works of art. Its a new beginning and a perfect place to build a reality that I desire.

As for the word rebel, it is one who resist authority, control, or convention.

When I paint I am totally a rebel… on canvas. Resisting conventions or ideas that painting has to be one specific way.

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