Hello & Welcome. My Name is Rachel Cruse, I am now somewhere in my early thirties... though I can't remember where precisely. I hope you enjoy looking through my portfolio and anything else that I may have going on around here. You will find that most of my art has a common thread running through it, namely a love of beauty and reverence of the natural world. I also have a penchant for exploring transcendent and spiritual themes. You probably won't find anything scary, ugly or too dark in my art. Those of you who read my brief history will see that I've already been through that phase ;) You can always count on me to come up with something funky, unusual, and probably very colorful. I simply can't help myself! I like to have fun. My favorite subjects to paint include people, nudes, everyday moments, flowers, and anything to do with the beach or the sunrise & sunset, and maybe a few wishful daydreams. I am attracted to the quirky and the offbeat as well as to things that might otherwise go unnoticed, a brief second in time or a hidden delight. Most of my learning has been trial and error. I have never had any official post secondary arts schooling, though I would have loved it. I will accept any offers to pay for my future artistic schooling! ;) I generally work in water soluble oils which I find give me the creamy consistency I like, and the time to play with the paint effect before it dries. Most of all I relish the liberation from the environmental guilt and health concerns of solvents and fumes that come with regular oil paints. My artistic intention is to encourage others, through my art, to experience a shift away from focusing on all that is 'wrong', so that all the beauty and joy of this human experience can catch your breath... and just maybe become a catalyst for the living of life with arms wide open. I have no greater wish for all of us than that. Blessings to all, Namaste.
An Almost brief History
I was born in June and spent my first months sleeping in a pram in my mothers garden under a tree. Sleeping outside in the warm sunshine is possibly my favorite idle pastime to this day.
I spent countless hours throughout my adolescence creating, painting, drawing, and also decorating (rearranged the furniture in my bedroom every month and constantly asked my parents for new wallpaper and paint). My artistic side was well nurtured in the Waldorf schools, I consider those to be my most creatively productive years so far.
My teenage years were more like a dry spell, I convinced myself that I had no talent and that absolutely everyone could draw and paint at least as well if not better, so why bother! My creative energies were channelled instead into my clothing and appearance. I tried hard to be as outlandish as I could, hippie was fun but I needed to express more anger, punk was alright but having expressed my anger I was feeling more withdrawn, less colourful. Goth, well as a goth I could hold a full time pity party, and I was mysterious and reclusive! I stayed too long in the dark but at least somewhere in the gloom I found my creative spark again.
Most of my twenties were spent in what I can only describe as a phase of realizing I had not yet discovered who I was, while simultaneously being afraid of figuring it out. Not to mention being angry at myself for not already being wildly successful in all things. I made a lot of costly mistakes in my 20's which I won't get into, yet somehow I have managed to raise two wonderful boys (8 and 4) and paint from time to time.
I have entered the next decade of my life with awe and excitement. I am focusing on authenticity, art, beauty, joy, stability, and staying open to opportunity and growth.
rachelcruse@shaw.ca
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what
makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what
the world needs is people who have come alive."
--Harold Whitman
