WHAT'S NEW — Canada
CREATING ART TO CALM THE SOUL - Interview with Rachel Mitchell, Exceptional Artist, Rock Painting Innovator, Teacher, and Beautiful Soul 30
GLIMPSE INTO AN EXCEPTIONALLY PRODUCTIVE AND INNOVATIVE CAREER:
Canadian artist Rachel Mitchell talking about new ways to create outstanding art on rocks
Wonderful painted rocks by Rachel Mitchell | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest |
Dear Rachel, I need to say that I have been following your media accounts for quite a few years. I have since admired your ingenuity, your talent, and your energy to create the most astonishing works of art! How did it all start and where do you get your inspiration from?
Thank you so much to you and everyone for following my accounts! I can't believe I've been doing this for almost 7 years now, and for the last 4 years on a full time basis!
At first I just wanted to get all of my creativity out and share it with whoever was willing to see it.
Now my passion is to also show others what I have taught myself, tips and tricks; lessons I have learned and mistakes I have made, as well as to create unique rock jewels that everyone can love.
Dot art and shiny colours: painted rocks by Rachel Mitchell | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest |
Colour is my eye candy. I'm inspired by so many wonderful artists and places I could only get the chance to see through the internet world. Pinterest has so many beautiful artists, ideas and creativity; It's one of my favourite places to get inspired.
Over the last years your innovative work had a major contribution to the world of rock art.Can you tell us more about your ideas and how they positively changed the way we do rock painting these days?
I am always looking for ways to make my artwork stand out.
As everyone might already know, I use a lot of metallic paints and glitters. At first I wasn't very happy with they way they shined, as I wanted my stones to be as bold, colourful, and sparkling as possible!
I saw what resin did to paintings on canvas and fell in love! I was a little scared to play with it at first. I made a few mistakes, but the result was exactly what I had been looking for. It was magical!!!
Bold and beautiful: rocks by Rachel Mitchell | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest |
As for my DIY fine lining brush, it has helped so much!! I had spent so much money on brushes over the years! I would purchase every fine brush I could find and it never did what I needed. Lines were always too thick or too sloppy, and I felt that I would never learn the magical techniques of the big artists, their fine lines and details.
So I took scissors to my brushes!! As a child, I used to take scissors to my dolls' hair (and sometimes my own) and it had not turned out well! Now, however, my brushes have never been so awesome! I was no longer wasting my hard earned money on expensive brushes for my line work. This helped me so much - I had to share!
Here s a link to Rachel's tutorial on how to prepare your brushes for fine lining on rocks: https://youtu.be/URuCcQfG020 :
I use a variety of dotting tools, what I find work best are Nail dotting tools, with two different sizes on each one. They are perfect for most dots but you can find great things around your home for dotting as well. For instance knitting needles, toothpicks, sewing needles, the opposite end of your paint brushes have different sizes to play with as well!
Wonderful painted rocks by Rachel Mitchell | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest |
The hits on your YouTube and Facebook tutorials are sky-rocketing these days. Tell us more about these tutorials. What are they about and who are they addressed to?
Just over a year ago I began sharing rock painting tutorials and it was terrifying!! I am still not very good at editing, still learning every single time I post something new. My favorite part of a tutorial is painting the stone. It could take a couple of hours to paint a stone and a full day (or longer!) to just to edit the video and have it ready to post on YouTube.
Sometimes I lose bits and pieces of my video that were really important so I end up having to redo the whole thing. Editing tends one of the most frustrating and time consuming parts of my career. However, when I think at the amount of people I'm helping, it makes it all worth it!
Each tutorial is edited with love and sometimes tears, but they are made for all those who want to create beautiful things.
Here are some of my favourite tutorials you might want to have a look at:
How to resin your stone: https://youtu.be/76K9Exf-v6Q
Sunflower on a Santorini stone: https://youtu.be/b2ES1l0-KtM
Zentangle paw painting on a stone: https://youtu.be/p8KjekWjAhI
Painting a dotted dragonfly: https://youtu.be/0iWQXZb6T9g
Some of the rocks you might want to learn to paint: Rachel's YouTube account Here
You are offering so much to the other fellow artists: beauty of art, inspiration, and enormously useful ideas. What do you expect in return?
We need to have more positivity and beauty in our lives. From kids to seniors, I want people to know that they have this creative vibe running through them!! You don't have to go to an art school to be an artist. Painting is extremely therapeutic, it calms our soul, and it gives us a healthy outlet. 
Art with style: painted rocks by Rachel Mitchell | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest |
To end here, I know it's a difficult one, I would like to ask you who are the artists you mostly admire and are thankful to?
This is so hard to answer because there are just so many people I admire and so many artists that deserve recognition. These are only a few of my favourites:
Bob Ross (of course),fellow Canadian artist Elspeth McLean,and Australian artist Ben Heine.
MY ART BEGINNINGS: Corrina Marie Canning talking about challenges of life and how she turned them into meaningful journeys 45
Dear all,
Today's article is dedicated to those who, like me, feel that life has given them a SECOND CHANCE. I found Corrina's story one early morning on Instagram. Until then I had it in my heart that I was the only one (or one of the very few) who were living A LIFE FOR RENT, and was trying to make the most of it in their own terms. To me, Corrina's words were beyond inspiring, they were revealing!
And if I am like her -on a journey- and I am not alone anymore, I am sure there will be more like us out there, just waiting for this awakening experience to happen to them too.
With these, I will let you absorb the story. I do expect you to treat it with all due respect, gratitude, and the compassion it deserves.
The magic of mandalas, rock collection by Corrina Marie Canning | Facebook | Instagram |
Hi everyone,
For all those who decided to take the time to read my story, let me introduce myself.
I am Corrina Marie Canning, wild woman, Artrepreneur and Nature Enthusiast. Mother to Mitchell aged 25, grandmother to Matteo aged 3, and daughter to Dora, ageless.
I am also an artist, a tarot reader, a seeker of all things love, light, and colour. I LOVE to travel, whether it be to other countries, beaches, forests, and outside of my own mind. I am positively obsessed with sacred geometric patterns, energy, and colour.
Wonderful painting by artist Corrina Marie Canning | Facebook | Instagram |
I'll tell you something personal about my history, to give you all some insight into how I came to paint mandalas.
7 years ago I lost a baby about halfway through my pregnancy. We were on a family vacation in Cuba when it happened, hours away from the closest hospital. Thank goodness my mom was with me; I hemorrhaged badly and had an out-of-body experience on the way to the hospital.
I don’t know for how long. It seemed like lifetimes and seconds. The place I went was not a tunnel or a white light. It was like Aurora Borealis, rich in colour which I still can’t find a name for. The colours had sound, frequency, and they spoke to me and within me. I understood what felt like everything.
When I woke up in a hospital bed the next day, my body bruised and broken, but alive, I had an entirely new lease on life. And although I had always been an artist, that experience shifted the way I perceived, felt, heard and expressed it!
Within the next year I went to Bali, Indonesia with the intention to heal my body and emotions of the trauma. I had the privilege of a healing with a woman named Jero, who also saw what I had seen on the other side. She told me the colour consciousness had a message for me: that if I wanted to grow my life, I had to learn to LET GO.
She had a vision of me Painting Mandalas, holding a paintbrush. But I didn't know how to paint yet! Returning from that life changing trip I purchased my first paints, canvases and brushes. I trusted my intuition and allowed it to guide my hand.
Mandala rock painting by Corrina Marie Canning | Facebook | Instagram |
A few months into this (oh such a fun journey!!), the first Mandala "channelled" through.
Whenever I tried to draw or paint one of my accords, nothing happened. It was disastrous. So I learned to surrender into a trance state, and this is where the magic flowed through.
Since then, I have been painting Mandalas on every kind of surface smooth enough to do it on.
Handpainted wearable art by Corrina Marie Canning | Facebook | Instagram |
I always think-breathe-flow Sacred Geometry everywhere and in everything. I see the whole world in a vast colour spectrum that endlessly fascinates and inspires me.
This photo was taken shortly after the Bali experience, as my body, emotions, and spirit were healing from the loss. I've learned that even the darkest of times bring the greatest of Treasures. What I am birthing into this world is whatever my guides, or spirit, or colour consciousness leads me to. I am an instrument. And every day I am so grateful for this gift to be able to express the world the way I see it.
I thank you all for reading my story, for following my art, and for sharing your comments with me,.
It means more than you could all know 💖.
With gratitude, Corrina xoxo
Stunning work of art by Corrina Marie Canning | Facebook | Instagram |
