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

Hi Cheryl, thanks for joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

When I first started in my painting journey ten (10) years ago, I did as most artists do, I explored painting styles of many types. I was sorta all over the place, but knew this was all a part of the journey to find my true style, the style that defined me in my personal art journey. To get to where I am today, I had to take these steps to know what I loved.

During this time of exploration, I remember someone giving me the advice… “paint what others want, that way you will sell!!” That lasted for a short time as not only were my paintings nothing like what I loved, but I knew others did not see my heart in my work. There was no passion and I knew this. Every stroke felt hollow, like I was slowly losing the essence of who I was as an artist and my work looked uninspiring.

I knew things had to change, and as I set my canvas on my easel, and felt this emotion over take me. I felt an overwhelming resistance to that voice in my head from that well-meaning friend (to paint for others), that turned into anger as I lifted the paint brush to the canvas. At this same time, I felt this overwhelming desire to take a HUGE risk and attack the canvas and allow this passion of anger to direct my brushstrokes.

After an hour that seemed like only a moment, as tears ran down my cheeks, I knew I had created a piece of art that came from the rawest parts of my soul. I looked around my easel to see my paintbrushes thrown to the ground, paint strewn even on the walls. When the painting was finished, I had painted a painting I called “Uncertainty”. It felt like a declaration of freedom. But then came the doubt. Would anyone understand it? Would they call it a mistake, would anyone buy the painting?

I had not felt that emotion before while painting, but I knew it was authentic.

As I took this painting to the Gallery to be hung, that night I got a call from the Gallery telling me, my painting sold as soon as a collector walked into the Gallery. They said the painting spoke to them and had to have it in their home. Unfortunately, I do not have this collectors name.

As I reflect back on that day, I did something reckless. Instead of painting what I thought others wanted me to paint, took this huge risk and I created a piece that came from the rawest parts of me. I painted from my soul and allowed each brush stroke to dictate the next step, and I let the painting paint itself from within. I allow myself to use my hands to smear the pigments across the canvas, drips to happen and not care about anything but what I felt.

This changed me as an artist, and I have not changed this in the way I paint. Today, I create with up to 10 – 20 layers of paint, embed handmade papers, embedded torn papers, many types of markers and scrapers, etc. all to create from within my soul.

The biggest honor is to have someone say, they feel something within them when they connect with a piece of my art. Many times my collectors tell me every time they walk past the painting they have purchased that they almost feel the passion I created the artwork with transfer TO THEM.
I feel the most important lesson I learned by taking this risk, was to paint from deep within my soul. For the first time, my art wasn’t just being seen—it was being felt.

That risk didn’t just redefine my career; it transformed how I approached my art. I learned that creating from the soul fills a life. Since then, I’ve committed to painting what I love, even when it feels risky. Because in that risk lies authenticity—and that’s where true connection is born between the artist and its collector.

Cheryl, 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?

My art journey began after my business career was in full swing. As a child, I was always painting something, on the walls, on my legs, on furniture, anything that would create “pretty images.” I was sent to the principals office several times for using my legs as a canvas instead of the paper in front of me…. In college, I used to sit in the halls of the art education wing to do my homework to be close to the artists I so longed to be. However, I had a very intelligent mother who was an academian, wrote books, taught literature and highly encouraged me to go into a career … well, other than art. SO I did, I first joined the Air Force, then I got several degrees and started my own Business Consultant Business and worked as a Risk Manager. I buried myself in my business, but always looked over my shoulder when I walked past a piece of art.

The one constant spot that kept me encouraged was my father, who was in the Air Force as a French Horn Player, and conductor. We traveled all the time. Constantly moving around the world, staying in one place no longer than three years at one time, living in the back of a musician’s studio, provided the emotional depth that I tap into for my paintings today.

The life-changing event that turned my corporate pen into a paintbrush was the dark world of Alzheimer’s that struck my mother. I could not wait any longer to paint in the event that world captured me as well. What if this horrible disease took me into that depth? I knew I had to paint and not wait any longer…..

Once a corporate entrepreneur trapped inside a suit and wearing heels, the desire to put my feelings, thoughts, and emotions on canvas became too powerful. Leaving the boardroom behind, what has emerged is a new language expressed on canvas. So, I gave up the high heels of the board room for a paint brush in my studio.
At first, I tried using all the business savvy I learned from starting my own company to apply it to the art world. I took advice from a business friend to paint what people wanted to buy. While the passion to paint was certainly there, I quickly learned that painting was more than a business, it was a more personal and I needed to learn my voice which only came after a LOT of soul searching.

I learned in the art world, they call it, “learning your authentic voice.” But HOW do I do that. I knew I wanted to paint, but all I knew was business meetings and spreadsheets.

One day, I put a blank canvas on my easel and attacked it with all the anger and passion I had inside of me out of frustration.. of finding my “authentic voice.” That was the start of my journey, MY TRUE voice of painting from within, letting my passion speak and my art world was turned upside down.

I closed my thoughts to those voices of the inner critic that took me to places that closed my passion off and started spending time allowing my soul, through my paint brush, to create.

Today, the paintings I create are visual expressions of my inner soul, spirit and passion. This language expresses the freedom and unbound passion to create and let my art direct itself without fear or influences that has previously stifled my voice. I feel a personal connection with each piece I create. I paint with depth, emotion and passion in hopes that you find a connection to my work and might, if only for a moment, become captivated and feel something stir within yourself.

I paint abstract paintings intuitively by embracing spontaneity to allow passionate paintings to be born through a transforming layering process (perhaps up to 10 or more layers) of acrylics, markers, graphite, inks and more. Each layer informs the next story of paint like a whisper in my mind to inspire my brush or fingers to move across the canvas or paper. In addition to the layers of paint, often you will find mixed media like handmade papers, sand, coffee, glass beads or perhaps even a gum wrapper invoking the question of what story is being revealed. I paint what I feel, how I feel, where I have been, and each found object in my art continues that story.

In recent paintings, I reflected a time of a health change in my life in a series I called “Torn” where I actually ripped to canvas to represent a powerful emotion.

The torn canvas is an intentional and deeply symbolic element in this series. This series represents a pivotal time of emotional upheaval and transformation in my life. The physical act of tearing the canvas parallels the internal struggles experienced during moments of significant change—times when life feels fractured, yet those very fractures become the excitement of painting itself.

The tears on the canvas symbolize vulnerability, reflecting the raw, exposed emotions that emerge when the familiar fades. At the same time, they invite the one looking at the art to consider the beauty and strength that can be found in imperfection and the courage it takes to embrace it. This deliberate disruption of the surface challenges traditional ideas of completeness and perfection, echoing the messiness of human experience.
Through the TORN series, the I transformed deeply personal struggles into universal themes of resilience and hope. The torn canvas, combined with my known textured layers and dynamic marks, speaks not just of what has been lost but of what can be a result—a painting that speaks inward and outward and more authentic than before. Each painting in the series invites the viewer to explore their own emotional fractures and to find strength in their scars.

This series is still an ongoing series, awaiting its direction. I feel it is the pivotal turning point of more emotional paintings. I want to create sculpture like pieces, with hardened layers of canvas. I am looking forward to where this will take me.

My paintings have been on HGTV’s Bargain Mansions in their house renovations. One piece sits in a Residency outside Buckingham’s Palace. They are all over the world in collector’s homes, law offices, rentals, etc.
My art and prints can be found at my website: https://www.cherylwilsonart.com/

I am the founder of Intentional Artist® where I do training for artists and in January will have a Membership Group. It is my deepest passion to teach other artists to find their true voice themselves. https://intentionalartist.newzenler.com/

I started a YouTube channel to help other artists explore their creative journeys where I share my weekly journey and techniques I use in my own art.
https://www.youtube.com/c/cherylwilsonart

I am so humbly thankful for each collector that has found it in their hearts to purchase one of my paintings.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Having a social media presence has grown in the exposure of my art. There are so many artists today in the space that creating a small spot for me has been a consistent and focused endeavor.

For me it is more about the engagement than the numbers. I work hard to tell a story for each piece of art I create to help engage the viewer to connect with my paintings. I have many repeat collectors, but this did not happen overnight, it was a consistent building of my brand so to say. The collectors that buy my art first fall in love with who I am so to say. To do that, I must tell the world who I am and what I am about.

My advice for those just starting their social media journey?

I learned quickly that building a social media audience is a journey that combines authenticity, consistency, and understanding my passion and voice as an artist.

1. Find Your Authentic Story:
Tell the story of why a painting was created, what techniques where used and any stories that gave you inspiration. When I had surgery for my eye, instead of keeping that silent, I shared my pain and how the surgery I had led to my TORN series. It connects people to you. I have sold to people from my social media.

2. Post Consistently but Meaningfully:
Quality is more important than quantity. I might not post every day, but I try to post a story when I do. I am consistent in my allowing the viewer to see my vulnerability in my life and how that is incorporated into my paintings.

3. Engage with Others:
I respond to everyone that comments on my posts. I am genuinely interested in what they have to say. It is also a good idea to follow and interact with other artists, galleries, and people who inspire you. Genuine engagement often leads to reciprocal support and visibility.

4. Embrace Video Content:
Process videos and time-lapses are incredibly powerful. Showing your painting techniques, like creating textures or your tools you use, gives people a behind-the-easel peek.

5. Visual Aesthetics:
I treat my profile like a gallery. High-quality photos of my textured, paintings helped draw people in. I also experiment with videos showing how I work—adding texture with my fingers, using some of my tools.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I decided about 4 years into my art journey that it was not all about making money as an artist. Do not get me wrong, this is a business for me and I have set up an LLC , so I treat my art as a business, but it is more than that for me. I first want people to know me, my struggles and triumphs. Sharing the inspiration behind works, like turning emotional pain into art or finding laughter in adversity, resonated deeply with my audience and eventually my collectors.

I also feel that sharing how I create my art, sharing my tools, my processes to inspire other artists is important to me. When someone on my YouTube Channel tells me they have not painted in years, but my words helped them pick up a brush again, I literally tear up. Or to have someone tell me they cannot loosen up but I have inspire them to do abstracts in a way they could not do before, well, that makes me happy.
I am a believer in God and I feel that He has blessed me monetarily in my sales and I honestly feel it is because of my love to share with others.

Right now the most rewarding story I have is a creative that has learned to paint from my videos and in my opinion has passed me in their talent!!! Now that is just incredibly rewarding.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.cherylwilsonart.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cherylwilsonart/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CherylwilsonArt/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherylannwilson/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/cherylwilsonart
• Other: https://intentionalartist.newzenler.com/