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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.