A Devotion to Detail

Sunbeams dance through Cheryl Wilbraham’s studio windows, filling the space with bright, cheerful light. The view beyond looks out over the Trent Valley toward Donington Park, offering idyllic scenes most people only dream of. The garden backs up to a small holding, where sheep and cattle leisurely roam the countryside, and the next-door neighbors’ chickens persistently pace and scratch about the orchard.

Inside this airy atelier, colorful flowers, tucked in jars and bottles, surround a tilt-top drawing board; one perfect blossom, plucked from the bunch, serves as the day’s inspiration. Cheryl pauses, pencil in hand, trying to coax the vision in her head to the blank page below. “Sometimes I have no idea where I’m going with a subject—I just like it,” she says. “Drawing gives me time to think, time to observe and get to know it.”

The abilities of this watercolor virtuoso showed up at an early age when she was handed paper and pencil to keep her occupied during a visit with relatives. The result was a very precise sketch of a handbag “with as much detail as the human eye could see.” At 15, she was introduced to wet-on-wet ink-wash techniques—and to the possibility of art as a career. With her parents’ blessing and encouragement, Cheryl pursued her passion in college, and upon graduation, worked as a freelance illustrator and a finished artist, the latter requiring the utmost degree of attention to detail.