Do you feel a radiant glow within you that yearns to bring so much good into the world?
…if only the place to start was obvious.
I know this yearning so intimately, it has been with me longer than I can remember…
Ola! I’m Rachel Cruse.
Artist, Intertidal Zone Inspector, and Sanctuary creator.
I’m currently in my 25th year of parenting young children and I still have another 13 or so years to go. If there is one thing I have figured out, it is that peace and quiet can be very hard to find!
And no matter what the cause of your external stress (hmmm what to choose from these days???) If you can’t find a moment of calm here or there, you just can’t feel connected with your inner wisdom.
In the early years of parenting I felt like a stranger to myself, but eventually I realized that in order to be a good, vibrant, healthy person, I had to figure out who I was on the inside and do the things that nourished her.
Along the path I rediscovered how important being in nature really is. And being out in nature taught me that beauty, nature’s beauty, is the doorway to my sanctuary.
By noticing natural beauty, by creating beauty, by immersing in beautiful spaces, my frazzle is quieted and the depth of my knowingness emerges
I’m now an avid outdoor kind of gal who happens to still spend a lot of time indoors picking up socks, washing dishes and requesting children to stop bickering.
And I have to work hard to maintain spaces of sanctuary in my home.
Keeping natures beauty right in my immediate surroundings is how I cope. Inside that looks like open windows for the breeze, vases of flowers, plants, little collections of shells, feathers, driftwood and rocks E.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e…
AND gorgeously painted vistas that imbue my surroundings with beauty.
Art that I love inspires me to clean up the kids messes and make my own bed. Yes, it really does!
But most of all my art creates a feeling of sanctuary, in which I can slow down and listen to that wise wild nature soul inside me.
Liminal dreaminess is my signature, my artistic style.
It is my intention to create artwork that evokes dreaminess and opens liminal doorways. Doorways to places within us that are in-between worlds, where beautiful things are possible.
Liminal spaces are wild spaces and they have the ability to open us to new worlds of possibility. New stories, new timelines, new pathways.
We are safe to contemplate, to reconnect with our hearts and explore unrealities here. These experiences go on to inform our choices in our everyday reality.
Painting is a liminal experience, Shorelines are liminal places, sunsets and sunrises are liminal points in time. And my hope in all that I share is that I will help others to connect to their wise inner knowing. To rest and to receive new possibilities for future exploration and inner growth.
Go and be radiant, you have good work to do.
Find or create a sanctuary for yourself, soon you will find that your inner light is guiding you with more clarity and ease than ever before.
No matter where you find it, Sanctuary is a place of calm, respite, and reverence. It is a place where you can rest and dream. It is a place where you can feel peace and a connection to something greater.
While some of the most saintly among us can find sanctuary in washing a sink of dirty dishes. The rest of us can find it most easily in nature.
We cannot always be outside though, especially in the northern hemisphere.
To sanctify or re-wild your home is to sanctify and re-wild your life. It is to bring nature closer.
I would be deeply honoured to have my art become a part of your sanctuary.
I love to paint larger paintings that can really sanctify a room almost instantly. I also make a lot of smaller pieces for those cozy spaces and little alters.
