Why Artists Need to Share Their Story
Cheryl people watching!
Have you ever noticed how we can’t help but watch people? At the café, on the train platform, in line at the supermarket—our eyes wander, curious about others. People are endlessly fascinating. It’s why reality TV exploded as a genre; we love peeking into other lives.
As artists, this truth holds a powerful lesson: if we want our work to resonate, we need to share not just the finished piece, but the story behind it.
Art With a Pulse
A painting isn’t only colour and brushstrokes. It’s choices made in the studio: why you picked that subject, what memory stirred the palette, what emotions guided the rhythm of the brush. When we reveal the why and the how, our work breathes more deeply for others. It becomes alive with human connection.
Collectors, students, and admirers don’t just want art—they want you. Your process. Your struggles. Your spark. That’s where meaning is created.
The development of a Painting. “Watchers of the Light”
The Artist as Ambassador
Here’s the reality: no one else can step in and do this for us. If we want to be known, to sell, or to influence, we must become ambassadors for our own art. We get to shape the narrative before anyone else does. That doesn’t mean being polished and perfect; it means being honest and interesting.
When we share our journey, we invite others into it. We give them permission to feel inspired, to try creating themselves, or even to take home a piece of our story in the form of a painting.
Why It Matters
Cheryl welcoming talk at “Lilly Pond Flow exhibition”
Telling your story doesn’t just make your work visible. It gives your art purpose—because art is meant to connect. It turns your studio practice into a shared experience, a bridge between what you create and what others feel.
If you’re an artist who dreams of selling, teaching, or influencing: then storytelling isn’t optional—it’s part of the job. Share your inspiration, your motivation, your expertise. Show the fun, the joy, the mess, the breakthroughs.
Because when we step forward and reveal our story, our art carries more than pigment on canvas. It carries us.
