Rashelle Steman

“Cannabis helps me balance work with sleep, and then I come into the studio the next day and feel totally rested. For me it’s been nothing but good.”

When one pictures an artist, they might think of a creative, free-spirited person—but in the cutthroat and competitive climate of 2016, it is not enough just to have skill and a unique style. Business sense is also essential—something that local portraitist Rashelle Stetman has in no short supply.

“It’s funny because people say artists can’t make a living making art, but I love my clients,” she told us. “I meet the greatest people in the world. And a huge part of what I do is hearing about different artists, bands, anybody that’s an entrepreneur trying to make something of themselves, which is such an inspiration to me because every morning you realize you aren’t getting a check at the end of the week or month, but you still have the momentum to get up and do it. I realize when I get up I feel that much more empowered because I know it’s not for the goal that I want to get paid; it’s because I’m going to get out there and be successful someday.”

“The most important thing for me is creating images that heal and sooth people and make them feel less alone,” she explained. “I really try and cover a lot of different emotions with my portraits that we go through as people that we can see and connect with for different reasons. Then I do some cool sacred geometry stuff, and the reason I do that is because I think some people enjoy just some simplistic, nice imagery, so I try to create some varieties of styles. However, I seem to be more comfortable with pen or graphite.”

“I think my style kind of ranges based on subject matter, so with my portraits I have a very smooth, gradient, more feminine style, and then I do these micron pen works that are more highly detailed that have sharp shapes, so my style I think ranges for the audience,” she stated. “For galleries my style tends to lean towards angelic portraiture. I want it to feel smooth, beautiful and calm, but at the same time it can be sad, it can be traumatic, but the way I shade is very smooth and delicate. The way it changes is based on demographics. My style varies based on who is buying, but my fine art style that I’m trying to have people recognize my business by is a more soulful, conceptually driven look at the human experience.”

Stetman is also an advocate, and uses cannabis to balance out her erratic schedule and rest after a long day of creating art.

“I smoke weed every single day,” she told us. “It helps me stay calm; it helps me focus for hours and hours and hours. If I’m sitting there smoking a bowl it helps me stay in that zone, in that realm of creating, and it makes me block everything else out, so for me it helps with anxiety when I know I have a deadline coming up and won’t be able to sleep. If I just sit back and smoke a bowl while I’m working on the piece, I calm down. I always make sure when I go to the dispensary to get a great indica and then I’m able to fall asleep, which is great because I’ve struggled with insomnia for so long, and took so many prescriptions that just made it harder to fall asleep once I got used to them. Cannabis helps me balance work with sleep, and then I come into the studio the next day and feel totally rested. For me it’s been nothing but good.”

Catch Stetman’s art at several different shows in Denver this summer, and follow her career, and constantly growing body of work, online.

Upcoming Shows:

“Edge of Realism” at Abend Gallery June 24 – July 23

Point Gallery solo show – opens August 5

Instagram: @rashelle_stetman

Facebook: www.facebook.co/rashellestetmanart

Website: www.rashellestetman.com