We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rachel Lorraine. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rachel below.
Rachel, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?
Kindness is an energy I’ve never taken for granted- understanding since infancy the power of it – and power of its absence – and how it forms you and stays within for a lifetime. I reflect on it often and am flooded with honor for the smallest of gestures.
My earliest memory of what I felt was a grand and impactful act towards me was around the age of 8 or so… i had a best friend for a brief time then, Mallory, she was pretty and confident, and she was the first to show me I was worth investing effort in to help me overcome and prove to myself I was able. She did this by showing me through trickery.. Clever girl.
We were swimming in a public pool, summertime, and I was unbearably shy and insecure and held fear close like a stuffed animal. She the outgoing one, who found safety in herself and surroundings, I admired such an existence and followed her lead as much as I could. Quiet and timid, afraid to humiliate myself publicly or do something deemed “wrong” to witness and condemn, i didn’t have much experience socializing, nor much time in water. I deemed myself afraid of the deep end before even getting close.
We were in the shallow end and she playfully suggested we swim over to the other end of the pool- I of course feared failure within my inexperience and quickly said no, turning red. She kept nudging but to both of our disappointment I wouldn’t budge, wading safely in a space I could control. Suddenly, knowing my abiding ways, she pretended she gave up , before saying “follow me!”. I, eager to please, thinking we had moved on and we were playing- she dove beneath the blue and I followed her splashing path. When I rose above the surface I looked around only to find we swam the distance of the entire pool and I was in fact in the deep end I convinced myself I feared.
Grasping the edge, sun beaming off our neon bathing suits, I looked at her- her smile wide with knowingness and pride- For me and her sneaky ways. And mine to match, understanding instantly what she truly had done for me.
She believed I could do it. So she found a way to make me believe too by leading me gently and effortlessly, without fuss or shame, so I could witness my abilities for myself. Proving fear is a storyline and safety is created by perspective. She didn’t say a word- just smiled deeply, but we both knew the power that moment had.
I hold her in my heart to this day for such a gift given I so greatly needed. Though our friendship lasted only a few months, she moved- I will remember her kindness forever and what she taught me.
Never underestimate the power and impact of kindness- no matter how big or small. It is humanity breathing life into one another, and for its existence, I am grateful.
Rachel, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am a self taught oil painter, poet, and self portrait photographer. My work centers in the heart of memory, emotion, vulnerability, healing by excavation and personal discovery.
My perspective within a female body and mind reflects in my works, lending my form as a brutally honest and relatable expression and voice to the obstacles and honor it is to embody within our society. Unraveling untruths ingrained in our societal DNA that bleeds into our teachings and cellular conditionings which form the shape of our restrictions of self – and therefore, each other. Hopefully, exposing the concept of safety to reflect, explore and recreate the lines that have defined us. The allowance to think and rethink old narratives. We are meant to evolve, a forever flowing current. Mind. body. spirit, undulating, shapeshifting. My works, be it painting, photography or poetry, aim to dismantle the confines of restricted identity; showing there is safety in the rise and growth of your own being and expression, and the allowance of individuality, evolving minds, acceptance and heart.
I’ve been an artist since infancy, instinctual, like breathing, so I’ve never known another way of processing the world or my environment. Baby photos of chubby hands always gripping a crayon or a pen, eyes wide with focus and the wounded outlook of a confused and questioning creative- Painfully observant and quietly expressive, attentively attempting to make sense of the world.
Being freelance, I’ve worked with venues on gig posters, musicians and writers for album/book covers, commissioned paintings for clients and exhibited in galleries across the US.
I adore the connection, the process of creating in these ways delivers.. with the client, myself and to the project -which is its own energy and identity birthed from such an exchange, in heart and communication. Each step- from forming a language between client and work/materials and within the intimate relationship between me and the art/process, to the inclusion of community that occurs exposing the work to the light.. inside to outside. Each step excites me, It feeds me, heals me. Ignites and frightens me, a loving challenge. Art is connection. Language. Love- and like love, can be painful as it is transcendent-vital. A message in a bottle adrift hoping to reach someone to find it, and if they do, it is a kinship. A hug. An understanding. Unity.
As my work evolves, as I do, I hope to develop my courage, personally and artistically which naturally lends itself to new creative ventures and opportunity. I’ve held desires and ambitions since childhood and as I’ve grown, some stayed, some evolved. Some have bloomed into fruition and some have yet to take hold in a physical space.. though the wheels are ever turning and I’m nurturing the soil to grow these concepts and experiences under a new internal sun. It excites me to think of what’s to come, who I’ll meet and the growth healing and evolution as a human(creative) I’ll encounter through my continued expression and offerings..
If I may hold a mirror before you and inspire feeling, thought, reflection or joy in the safety of ownership and love for your own makeup and form – then I’m seen within your own reflection and I heal and grow with you.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
This lesson of unlearning is ongoing- but my first experience being greatly challenged in this way within my artistic career was in regards to people pleasing ( a chronic trait I am continuously deactivating) and bending my artistic and personal views to fit or accommodate the client /or advantageous opportunity -( the last part not ongoing).
Many years ago, at the very beginning, wobbly stages of my artistic public emergence, I was asked to do a portrait requested in support of a fundraiser, a cause in which I did not fully support as I felt the monsters that be held the reins behind the velvet curtain. On the surface was a budding opportunity to help incite positive change, though my gut knew change takes many forms and not all that shimmers is gold. I was strong in my feelings, but went against my intuition. I was the good girl, the “smart” artist, did as requested- ..but not without my secret way of artistic defiance.. which was my inner justification for agreement and to symbolically stand my ground, shift this emotional burden into an opportunity to speak my peace and for the voices who could not; a risky doing but a must for my moving forward with the project.
Completion was hard because my heart tugged at me with every stroke. I felt sick and stressed throughout duration and had a migraine so intense the day of exchange I couldn’t participate. My body told me every step of the way. Now- I learned to listen.
The challenge for me, (beyond my discomfort) was to make something that was open to interpretation- most with a positive view of the organization at hand would feel it’s positive/powerful. those who peer deeper will translate it oppositely/ominous. And hidden within was something personal symbolically hand sewn onto the canvas.. I gift, honor and apology to the ethos.
What this experience taught me was the feeling of self betrayal, of my heart/gut/ and the use of my expression without my authenticity is not worth any amount of help or the prospect of. (not a thing came from this, by the way). Your opportunities will arrive to you within alignment to your truth. Don’t be afraid to disappoint anyone- but yourself.
On the upside of the experience I learned how to be more clever in creativity and working around an obstacle to find myself somehow within it, also growth in using my symbolic language and how not to sell my soul artistically within the work, even when it’s a gig you despise or don’t align with. – full abandonment of my truth within my expression I learned is something I simply cannot do- even if I attempt, it will not flow from me if not a part of myself. It must be within my scope of identity. I must resonate with my output or there is nothing to experience. I’m grateful for the lesson.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
I dismantled my social media for a brief time a few years back when falsities outweighed authenticity and intentions were nothing more than toxic curiosity; the watchers had to go, energetically funking up my feed and affecting my energy and desire for output. I’m looking for connection and community, kinship and inspiration.
Electronic boundaries set, I cleaned house. Which was a to do, let me tell you! I Kept the ones who truly connected with me and my offerings and am still building it up from scratch ever since, a slow process but worth it to filter through the vacancies and to discover aligned energies. One of the best decisions I ever made. I highly recommend it from time to time. The energetic clearing that provided was like fresh air. Cleaner slate, I start anew.. as we are meant to, again and again.
The social media realm has been on both ends of the scale for me, clearly! But ultimately it’s brought me happiness and gratitude and opportunity- access to people from all around the planet who can peer into an aspect of my expressed universe and share my world, and I into theirs for a scrolling moment in time. Connecting to collectors and clients and resonating souls.. I’ve been overwhelmed by the genuine ones and the continuous support and kindness they’ve offered me.
I have also found bravery and self accountability in using such resources. Once I finish a piece sometimes it only feels lifted away from me once I release it into the world, (regardless of reaction or feedback- It needs its freedom and I from it.) These outlets have provided an easy and quick way of helping me let go and let myself be witnessed, an important part at times, of healing in expression.
As for advice in building an online presence? Perhaps I am not the one for this question, as I don’t follow the rules in timing or trends or steady postings to entertain. It’s an honest build, there is a life that must be lived away from a screen.. but I do believe when you show up in your honesty and offer authentic intention- your people will energetically find you, one by one and your support will increase unavoidably. It may take time but it’s real- you feel the difference. And most of what’s on the internet and being sold to you isn’t real.. so why not make your space sacred so to attract what you want?
Contact Info:
- Website: Coming soon
- Instagram: @visual.maiden
Image Credits
Rachel Lorraine