By Cheryl Wilson | The Intentional Artist® What two abstract floral paintings can teach us about creativity, connection, and the beauty of original art. There is a moment in almost every painting when I have to make a decision. Do I continue trying to control what is happening on the canvas, or do I trust the marks I've made and allow the painting to become something unexpected? It is a question I face often in my studio. And, if I'm being reflective, it is a question I've faced many times in...

Lately, I have been thinking less about making a painting and more about what happens when one painting begins talking to the next. That shift has become especially important as I move into my newest body of work, After the Interruption. My previous series, The Interruption, came from a place of disruption—those moments in life that arrive without our permission and change the landscape beneath us. The paintings carried that energy. There were marks that collided, disappeared, resurfaced and...

My father had a stroke, and as his health began to change, he gave me his cello. He is still here. He has not left us. But receiving the instrument felt heavier than I expected, because it carried an unspoken truth: there may come a time when he can no longer play it—or when I will have to hold it without him here. Learning the cello has been difficult for me. My hands do not yet know where to go. The bow catches. The notes sometimes tremble, scrape, or refuse to become music. But perhaps the...