Hi! I’m CheryI, an oil painter creating paintings shaped by light, memory, and everyday rituals.
Light, Colour & Quiet Stories
My work is autobiographical — rooted in the world immediately around me: flowers gathered on a whim, coastal light shifting through the day, objects that carry history, and moments of quiet celebration. These paintings are not illustrations of events, but reflections — places where movement, colour, and feeling come together and are held in oil paint.
I paint intuitively, allowing gesture, atmosphere, and layered marks to guide each work into being. Realism and abstraction sit side by side in my practice, giving the paintings both structure and freedom.
Where the Work Begins
I live and work on the Central Coast of New South Wales, surrounded by beaches, bushland, and waterways. This landscape shapes my seeing. I walk it, photograph it, and return to it daily — both physically and in the studio.
My paintings begin with noticing:
the curve of a petal,
the shimmer of water,
the warmth of early light,
a familiar bowl or vase on the table.
Each work becomes a quiet record of the life I’m living — a visual diary shaped by season, place, and attention.
Studio Practice
My process balances classical foundations with spontaneity. I build paintings slowly, layering, adjusting, and responding as the work reveals its direction. Accidents are welcomed. Edges shift. Energy accumulates.
Recurring motifs appear across my work — florals, water, vessels, moments of gathering. They speak to celebration not as an occasion, but as a state of readiness: an openness to beauty, abundance, and pause.
Collectors often describe my paintings as full of light, movement, and emotion — works that feel alive in a space.
Teaching & Mentoring
Alongside my studio practice, I mentor and teach artists who are ready to reclaim confidence, depth, and authorship in their work.
I began my career as a visual arts teacher in 1982 and trained at Newcastle College of Advanced Education, later refining my foundations at Watts Atelier in California. A formative period living in China deepened my understanding of art’s cultural role and its capacity to connect people through shared experience.
Today, teaching is an extension of my studio practice — a way of holding space for others as they develop their own visual language and learn to paint the life they’re living.
Collections & Exhibitions
My work is collected privately across Australia and internationally, and I exhibit regularly in solo and group shows.
Upcoming exhibitions include Earp Distillery (2026) and Gosford Community Gallery (2026).
Beyond the Studio
When I’m not painting or teaching, I’m usually walking the beach near my home, gathering flowers, sketching ideas, exploring colour palettes, spending time with my husband Tim — and being followed through the studio by Jorge the cat.
In All I Do
I paint for women who are ready to celebrate their lives — in beauty, in colour, and in small, meaningful moments.
My work is an invitation to slow down, notice more deeply, and live with art that feels personal, expressive, and alive.
Cheryl Willcox is an Australian oil painter and mentor known for her luminous depictions of coastal light, lily ponds, florals, and the tender, everyday moments that shape a life.
Raised in a small country town in NSW, Cheryl discovered early that colour could be a kind of language — one that expressed what she felt long before she knew how to say it. After completing a Bachelor of Education in Art in 1982, she began a four-decade career as a visual arts teacher, eventually refining her craft through further study at Watts Atelier in California. A formative experience teaching in China deepened her understanding of art’s cultural and emotional power.
Now living on the Central Coast, Cheryl’s work is rooted in close observation of the landscapes she walks daily — the churn of turquoise surf against the rock shelves, the quiet shimmer of lily ponds, the wild tangle of overgrown gardens and seasonal flowers. These places aren’t just subjects; they are collaborators. Her impressionistic style blends realism with bold, intuitive brushstrokes, embracing accidents, movement, and the living energy of paint.
Across her evolving body of work — from the Lily Pond Trilogy to her intimate Small Joys rounds — Cheryl returns to a single truth: art is autobiographical. Every painting holds a memory, a feeling, a fragment of her story — from childhood poppies grown in her father’s garden to the reflective stillness of plein-air dawn sessions by the ocean.
Alongside her studio practice, Cheryl is a devoted mentor. Her workshops and Monday Studio classes help creatives strengthen their technique while also unlocking the deeper personal stories behind their work. Her teaching approach blends classic drawing foundations with expressive mark-making, encouraging artists to trust their eye, their body, and their intuitive responses to light, colour and form.
Cheryl now works as a full-time artist and mentor from her renovated home studio. Her paintings are collected across Australia and internationally, offering viewers a moment of beauty, breath, and connection — a reminder to pay attention to the small joys that colour our lives.
Cheryl’s new book for art lovers and learners is available on Amazon - click here to order a copy.
EARLY LIFE
I didn’t know it at the time, but hanging on the walls of my Infants School were famous Artworks by Degas (Tumbling Ballerinas), Franz Marc (Red Horses) and Paul Klee (Slaying the Seals).
I remember being totally captivated by the images, the colour and the feelings I got from looking at what I would later discover were just prints. But it didn’t matter – my love of Art was born.
That initial feeling has never left me and it’s why Art continues to be my reason for being – through teaching, painting and experiencing it first-hand.
After years teaching high school Visual Arts, I left to concentrate on my own Art-making, studying classical drawing and oil painting at Watts Atelier and then being coached by Stefan Baumann of The Grand View TV Show.
What Fuels This Artist?
Read more about how I fuel my art and life……..
Iconic Works
These paintings mark creative milestones in my journey — pieces that challenged me, deepened my process, or opened new doors in how I teach and see the world.
Each one has a story, and a presence that continues to influence how I paint today.
Lily Pond Triptych
Lily Pond Triptych
This was the beginning — a bold, expressive triptych that found its way into my own home and heart. With these panels, I began exploring layered light, reflection, and the rhythm of the water.
It also sparked the teaching methods I now share in my workshops: the concept of The Circle Within, tonal mapping, and the expressive elegance of ‘C’ and ‘S’ curves.
Painted in: 2023 – Currently in the artist’s collection
The Story, the Song, the Studio
Still water, Moving Light
Still Water, Moving Light (SOLD)
A more refined sibling to the Lily Pond Triptych, this series captures the gentle choreography of light gliding across water. There’s more quiet here — a stillness — but also deep movement beneath the surface. Goldfish flicker, lilies bloom, and the composition flows across three distinct yet connected panels.
This series is available as individual paintings or as a full set, and has been professionally photographed and presented in interior mockups to help you imagine it in your space.
Exhibited in: Finding Your Calm, 2024
Available: Full Triptych or Individual Panels
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