We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ranebo R. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ranebo below.

Ranebo, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I am so happy to say YES! I am able to source all my income from my creative endeavors.

My family is full of artists so when I dropped out of college in 2014 and told my parents I wanted to become an artist they were very supportive. To this day they are still my biggest fans.

I had been painting, drawing, and playing instruments from a very young age. In 2014 I went through a really heavy break up and turned to painting as a way to process and release the emotions I was experiencing. I starting with acrylic pour paintings and, honestly, abstract finger painting. When it became obvious that I wasn’t going to stop painting I started seeking avenues for me to start selling my art.

I joined up with a group of friends and we began setting up a table and vending at Skyway Theater in Minneapolis. After a few months I bought some body paints and fell in love with adorning people with face and body paint at these events.

As time went on I grew apart from these friends and began selling my art at other venues including Ground Zero, Honey (r.i.p.), The Pourhouse, The Exchange, as well as going to festivals and setting up a booth with my art. I have had the joy of being at dozens of festivals including Infrasound, The Great Beyond, Even Further, Galactic Get Down, and I even got to paint and sell my work at Minneapolis Pride in 2019.

Over the years I have committed fully to my career as an artist. I would work 4:30am till noon at a local bakery, go home, take a nap, then pack up my car to go out to the cities to sell my art from 8pm – 2am often getting home around 3am.

After several years of doing this my body, particularly my hands and arms, began to protest. In 2017 I developed tendinitis down both my arms and particularly in my forearms and hands. This was an incredibly hard time in my life. The damage was so severe that I couldn’t even hold a fork to feed myself. But, I wasn’t going to let that stop my dream. I gave myself time to rest. 6 months without creating any kind of art.

I learned my body and how it had been crying out for more rest, stretching, and over all care. I learned how to accept help. I learned my limits and how to listen to them. It was difficult, I am tearing up as I write this just thinking of how challenging that time was. I was navigating so many emotions and couldn’t use art to process through them anymore.

Over time, with the help of a care team consisting of a physical therapist, massage therapist, acupuncturist, and somatic healer, I was able to draw again. I had to be mindful about it though. I would use a 10 minute timer to regulate myself. 10 minutes of drawing then 10 minutes of stretching, self massage, and PT exercises. I still do this to this day but my intervals have changed. I can now create for 30-45 minutes and take 5-10 minute self care breaks.

It wasn’t mid 2019, that I was able to start working again. I took it easy and took a position as a front desk attendant at a gym. The demands were low and I was able to doodle on the job. It felt incredible, that is, until the gym shut down due to the pandemic.

Which was actually the greatest gift of all.

See, over the 5 years of being a creative entrepreneur, I had built up a following on social media of incredibly loving, and supportive humans. When the pandemic hit, I started live streaming listening to music and creating art. Everyone was online so my following grew and interacted more. I began posting daily, introspective questions in my Facebook group Warriors Of The Ranebo, to help people connect to each other and remind us that we aren’t alone even as we sit in our homes.

As the world began to open up again, I had more opportunities for live shows, murals, commissioned art pieces, and festivals than I ever had before.

In my 9 years as an artist I have attended well over 300 live events, at least 35 festivals, painted 5 murals, and countless paintings as well as adding sewing, mixed media collages, podcasting, and life coaching to the mix of things I do. Recently I even joined my first band! A goth, shoegaze band by the name of shadingthesun.

Through all the late nights, little sleep, and trials, I have been so thankful to be able to call myself a successful, professional artist. I knew this day would come. I held this vision in my heart and mind from day one. There were breaks, sometimes very long, because this entrepreneur life is a marathon, NOT a sprint.

I am grateful for how I listen to my body when it needs rest. I am grateful for each and every person who has supported me along the way. I keep a list of all the accomplishments I have made so that I never forget how sublime my life is and will continue to be so long as I stay committed to myself and my career.

Ranebo, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am known as a jack of all trades. My grandfather taught me watercolor paintings from a young age, my mother taught me to sew as soon as she felt comfortable giving me a sewing needle, I started playing piano at 8 and cello at 12. In 2019 I got my certification for level 1 and 2 reiki and completed my masters certification in 2020. (I didn’t know until after I had started my reiki 1 and 2 training that my Grandparents were also reiki healers)

The products and services I provide are widely varied. My current favorite creative outlets are painting murals, canvases, and bodies quickly followed by creating custom clothing for individuals. My most requested sewn item is a hooded wizard’s cloak complete with pockets and zipper arm holes.

I am also an intuitive healer who uses tools like reiki and oracle card readings to help my clients process through energetic blockages. Last year, I began offering curiosity coaching as part of my services. I assist my clients in tapping into their curiosity as they explore their relationships, habits, and internal narratives to help them stay kind to themselves and others. I ask them questions that dig thought fingers into the knot of the tension and I hold compassionate space for them as they unravel the threads of their mind. I consult with them on the vision of themselves they would like to create and hold the belief of their ability to achieve that until they step fully into that belief with me.

I think what sets me apart is the diversity of me. I am a reiki master and also a punk. I am a healer with a “do no harm, take no shit” mentality. I am an artist in the bare sense of the word. By that I mean, I see every element of this life as art. From returning to the breath in times of distress to actually painting on a canvas. The way we choose to engage in this world is an art, a dance of it’s own and when we practice mindfulness and consciously choose how we wish to move through this world with our goals and values in mind, then our life becomes a waking dream. We surprise ourselves with just what we are capable of when we give ourselves the grace and opportunities we give so many others.

I assist in bringing vivid visions to life whether that is a goal you have, a garment you would like to wear, or art you want on your walls.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Address the shrinking middle class and greediness of the mega rich. Art is seen as a luxury despite the INCREDIBLE mental, emotional, and psychic benefits it provides. When the general populous are living paycheck to paycheck they are unable to support the arts through going to music events, buying paintings, or just generally being a patron of the arts.

I truly believe that art is essential to our ability to enjoy life. Think of how barren and cold a house without wall art looks. How eerie a silent world, devoid of music would be. How boring a life without movies is. Art is the spice of life. It is a vital way we connect to and process through our emotions. Art is an essential part of our humanity. People benefit so greatly from having art in their lives and, at the same time, the creators need to be compensated for their time and skill. I truly believe that if people had more security and flexibility in their income, the “starving artist” trope would be a thing of the past because those that would like to buy their art would have the means to do so.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The community and connection of someone resonating with something I made. The conversations that stem from someone looking at a piece of art and analyzing it. The introspection that arises when someone looks at a piece of art, reads a poem, or hears a song that stirs something within them. Again, I am tearing up thinking of countless moments I have shared with people who saw a piece of art I made and felt the pain I was in as I made it or the joy I was celebrating as I painted.

Being an artist is spiritual to me. It is the passionate pursuit to evoke the indescribable.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ranebo.space
• Instagram: @RaneboDaWarrior
• Facebook: Profile is: Ranebo Riot FB groups is: Warriors of the Ranebo
• Youtube: @RanebRiot
• Other: Patreon.com/ranebo Podcast is Rane Drops on spotify Discord handle is @RaneboRiot Discord server is Sunshine & Rane FB Group: Warriors of the Ranebo My band: IG: @shadingthesun FB: www.facebook.com/shadingthesun www.shadingthesun.com And shadingthesun on all streaming platforms like spotify and soundcloud