It's been a long, hard road to where I am now as an artist. But the struggle is over and I'm ready to show my work to the world....

I was born and educated in Durban, South Africa. From the age of 4 I was always drawing. After art college I worked as a graphic designer in Cape Town where exhibitions of my watercolours and acrylics were well received. In South Africa I painted under the name Cheryl Whitehead.

But my easy success ended when, in 1984, I moved to Canada to marry. What had worked for me in South Africa failed to catch on in Canada. I had to rethink my artistic expression. But each avenue I tried failed. And so began 20 years of unrelenting creative block..

I knew I had to paint from the heart but always my training as an illustrator got in the way, rendering my art facile. In 1991 we moved to Paris where I studied oil painting techniques and the collections at the Musée d'Orsay and the Centre Georges Pompidou. I thought that if I could paint like Matisse I would break free of my creative block.

The truth was that I had to paint like myself. But how? We settled in Rome and I searched for a teacher who could help me unlock my creativity. Then in 2004 I met Anita Guerra who instantly recognised the nature of my block. She pushed me to undo everything that I had learned. In the process, I destroyed all reliance on my early commercial training. Along with throwing out my old painting attitudes I also threw out my brushes. Now I paint with rags.

Italy's light and colour make it the perfect place to paint. When I stand at my easel I'm immediately engaged by the light, colour and energy suffusing my subject. And then there are my dreams with imagery so vivid that I'm compelled to paint not the images themselves so much as their impact on me.

Painting, for me, must be a joyful, energising experience. If it is not, I know that I've missed the mark. It is this bright energy that I hope to communicate through my art.

Gallery Comment :

Painting is about the light. Painting is about looking at the light, looking for the light, looking into the light. The colors come as a consequence.

In Cheryl's painting, light plays a major role. Sometimes, a harsh hot light reveals and evokes unexpected, saturated colors and burns them into the canvas (as in "Tea and Oranges"), at other times a more subdued glow softens the surroundings and introduces pastels, (as in "Monsoon Roses"), but it is always the protagonist. With her paintings, Cheryl shares a moment in time when the conditions were this way, this light, this subject, these reflections. A dream moment when the paintings become, like a diary, honest, intimate expressions of moods and moments.

Although introspective, Cheryl's work is also expansive, open, inviting. Her paintings in oil are full. The technique of applying paint with rags and not brushes produces a scumbled effect with softer contours that enhances the overall effect. (dg)