Meet Cherese Douglas | Artist & Illustrator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cherese Douglas and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cherese, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Honestly, I just fell into it. I’ve always been a creative person. Over the years, my hobbies have included writing, television production, 3D modeling, Photoshop, photography, and many more. I’ve never been tied to just one thing. I still do quite a few of them on the side for fun. I’d taken up watercolor as a hobby and coping mechanism for my Major Depressive Disorder. Well, one of them. I also take medication and go to therapy. I started with watercolor coloring books, then looked up tutorials on YouTube and joined Skillshare. I decided to narrow my focus to loose watercolor flowers because of their beauty, fluidity, and reliance on impulsivity and instinct, which helps combat my perfectionism. Then my classes shifted from learning how to paint flowers, to how to paint landscapes, to creating digital art using an iPad, and finally to how to start an art business. I’m always happiest when I create. I feel like I’m the best possible version of myself. All of my pain and insecurity falls away. It’s nourishing and fulfilling. Why wouldn’t I want to make that my full-time job?

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My art contrasts with my mindset. It is vibrant, bright, and colorful—opposed to the thoughts I have daily. I don’t know how or why it turned out that way. I’ve tried drawing and painting things that are dark, moody, and morose, but it doesn’t work. My mind actively rejects it. It took a while to accept that. I felt like a fraud at first. I was painting bright, vibrant, and loose flowers when I felt anything but. Then, I remembered that I’ve been left-of-center since I was born. I never really felt like I fit in anywhere, so I carved out my own space. Maybe… this was an addition to that.

After I embraced that, I started learning about and adding new mediums such as acrylic, gouache, acrylic gouache, and digital using my iPad. I tend to rotate subjects, too. It sounds flighty, but I like the variety. It keeps things interesting, and I love to learn! I have so many classes, videos, and books saved. I’m tackling them one by one!

If it wasn’t painfully obvious, I’m self-taught. Like I said before, I learned how to paint and draw traditionally and digitally with a potent combination of Mark Kistler’s book “You Can Draw in 30 Days,” YouTube tutorials, the learning website Skillshare (where I found Joly Poa), and (I actually forgot to mention this!) the book “Happy Abstracts” by Etta Vee.

It’s kinda crazy to think about how far I’ve come, overall.

I went from posting my Skillshare class projects on Instagram on a whim to starting a business. I had to build it very slowly because I didn’t have a lot of money. I didn’t open my shop until November 2022, about a year after I created my LLC, because I had to acquire everything I needed slowly. I’d originally settled on selling prints and original work on my website and print-on-demand (POD) websites. However, POD sites didn’t work out for me, and certain changes forced me to focus on curating a space I could control. Now, I only sell my work on my website. Everything is created, printed, and shipped by me. I even include a handwritten thank-you card.

I ran into two huge problems about five months in. First, I overworked my hands and wrists drawing and painting. I couldn’t hold a piece of paper, let alone a brush or pencil. Second, I found a lump on my body. That put me in a holding pattern for a year while I saw multiple doctors, got a battery of tests, and had surgery. Turns out, I have a very rare disease called Rosai-Dorfman. Basically, my body loves to make a certain type of white blood cell, and THAT cell loves to group up and form benign tumors. They don’t know why people get it, and it affects everyone differently. The stress killed my mental health. I couldn’t make art. I had to pass on multiple opportunities until I knew how Rosai-Dorfman would impact my life. I’ve said it before in a previous interview, and I’ll say it again–it felt like my life had been suspended and I’d been redirected into another I never asked for. I was devastated. I’d barely started my business, and I already had to put it on the back burner. I worked so hard! I spent the rest of 2023 recovering and adjusting to a new norma,l and topped the year off with COVID. I’d started to get back on my feet in 2024, only to have the wind knocked out of me again when I found another lump, resulting in another surgery. I like to joke that I’m on a bit of a hot streak, because I had another procedure this year, too. Thankfully, it was minor, not world-ending, and I’m doing a lot better! With the help of a mentor, I’m developing better systems that work for me and with me. I feel much more confident and secure with my art, myself, and my business. I’ve been told that I’m a fighter. I don’t feel that way, but it’s flattering to hear. To me, it’s just… crap. Life is full of it. I can’t control that. I’m just glad I have that village I mentioned earlier. I’m lucky to have them.

I think the biggest lesson I’ve learned is that everyone is on their own timetable. Sometimes, I find myself comparing myself to other artists who started around the same time, and they’re doing bigger and better things. Hell, they’re better artists! But I have to take things one day at a time. I’m growing at my own pace, and that’s okay. It’s not the end of the world. I still make art. I take more breaks. If I feel myself start to fall down the perfectionist rabbit hole, I put my supplies away in another room and turn my brain off, ask a friend, or pivot to something easier. If my depression flares up, I work with the energy I have and try not to beat myself up for not being productive. I have a job in a separate industry to help keep me afloat. I make my own hours, which helps a lot.

My growth as an artist, person, and businesswoman is slow and at times, very bumpy, but steady. But, like I said, that’s okay. It’s better than not moving at all. I’m always going to be dealing with something. If it isn’t the Rosai-Dorfman, it’s my depression. If it’s not either of those, it’s just the ups and downs of life. Art reminds me to live, to breathe, to enjoy, to savor. It makes me feel like I’m more than my depression or the things I’ve been through. It’s my safe space—one I’m happy to share with others. I say on my website that I like to think that when you buy my originals or prints, you get a piece of that space for yourself. Or, it’s not that deep, and you just like colorful things. Either one works for me.

There’s always light, even in the darkness.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
This shoutout is dedicated to my mother, Barbara; my friends, Juliet, Ashley, Freya, Jay, Morgan, and countless others I can’t list here; and my family. Thank you for being my village. Thank you for encouraging me and supporting me, for believing in me when I couldn’t, and for helping me throughout my journey, artistic and otherwise. It is an honor to have you by my side. Thank you for completing me in ways I never thought possible. Oh, and Joly Poa. She’s a watercolor artist and teacher. She cracked the watercolor code for me and made me fall in love with painting flowers. Mark Kistler, as well as his book “You Can Draw in 30 Days.” He was right. Skillshare, as well. That platform has changed my life.

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