When I was a kid, one of my elementary school teachers had asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" The first answer that I thought was artist. But for some reason, at the time, I thought, "No. I'd better come up with a second choice."
For whatever reason I thought no, I can only guess. Perhaps it was in my subconscious that artists don't become successful, at least not in their lifetime, or so it seemed. Or perhaps it was because I got the most praise and encouragement to work on math, from my father. Or perhaps it was the fear of what my teacher might actually say to such an idea. For whatever reason it was, it was a decision that I made way back when, that I've had to overcome, and have overcome. I made a new decision.
As a new mom, one day when I was out with my daughter, I took the neighborhood side streets home, and I saw a yard sale that had a two sided easel for sale. One side was higher than the other side. My heart sang! I can have the taller side and my daughter can have the shorter side! I felt blessed to be driving home with the two sided easel in the back of my car.
When I decided to become a professional artist, I wasn't all that good at it. It wasn't something I had been honing all of those years. I had to learn skills. So I set about practicing. I watched Bob Ross videos, and purchased artist books and did many of the exercises. I also attended some artist workshops.
Once I got some techniques down, I figured I should decide on what kind of art I wanted to create. One day a sales clerk commented that as I got better at painting (Which is the main type of art I was doing at the time.), I would want to buy bigger canvases. After that purchase, I commenced to buying bigger canvases. It was kind of nice painting large. I joined an artist's group and exhibited some of my paintings. When I took in a rather large shark painting to display, I got the question, "Why did you paint that?" I painted the shark so that I could practice painting teeth, lol. But I did get some comments that so and so would like that kind of a design on a t-shirt. Hmm.
Anyway, I searched for other avenues of making art. I have always liked functional art, art on things that also had a functional purpose. I read about floor cloths and started making those. I sold some at an art fair. I made some more, but also realized that I was running out of space to create them; it required getting down on the cement floor to glue (hem) the edges, and leave them there with weights on the hems, while they dried.
I went smaller and started making pet placemats instead. Size wise, it was working out better; I didn't have to get down on the floor so much, but then I had placemats drying on the washing machine and dryer, and wherever I could find a place. I sold some to friends, around town, and also on the internet. I got great positive feedback, yet I knew I didn't want to keep wondering where all I was going to place them, and what I would do if I received any large orders.
I went smaller, and started hand painting postcards. I got an order for fifty and graciously accommodated my customer. It was pretty cool. They all fit on my table; I didn't have to worry about size and space. Yay! It seemed that small was the better choice for me!
I really got in to painting a particular design. Then it wasn't so appealing to me to paint it over and over again. Hmm.
I was figuring out my don't likes and transforming them into my do likes. I did like painting small. I just didn't like repetition so much. My next step was the internet in a bigger way. I could paint small. A print on demand company could easily do the repetition part. Yay! A win win!
It took a couple of tries to find a print on demand company that was a good fit for me. It was another process of figuring out my likes and don't likes, and then focusing more on the likes. That led me to the one that I have worked in association with for over 16 years.
This is one of my popular postcard designs; the bee enjoying a flower with my hand drawn honeycomb background.
I had already come up with a business name, back when I was making floor cloths, I had come up with Creative Brushstrokes, LLC. It was too long to fit in the number of boxes I was allowed to use on the print on demand site, Zazzle.com, so I went with my first name. That is how CherylsArt came to be.
I have been creating small designs ever since, and love it. I love the freedom it gives me in creating, and that the print on demand company does the printing, shipping, and billing. My designs are printed on every day products, including t-shirts, cups, magnets, and more; all very functional choices. It works for me.
Another one of my loves are cats. Our cat Muffin is so full of love. I did a picture of her in pointillism and added my birthday hat design. Doesn't she look adorable on this paper plate!
She seemed to be a purr-fect match for conveying some fun and love.
Hope you enjoyed reading about my background. Wishing you a blessed and great day!
Cheryl Paton
to color in the base color. Then I used 
to add depth and shading. Voila.
