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Commitment, tradition, passion, love of family, appreciation of nature–these values are so evident in a conversation with artist Cheryl Bush of Byron. She has a spark about her that,unfortunately, too many of us leave behind with our youth. How many of us grew up, got busy with life, and forgot about the simple pleasures that we once enjoyed so much? Cheryl’s story is a great reminder that continuing, or returning to, our passions, hobbies, and dreams is integral to being human. It’s also a great way to leave a lasting legacy.

Cheryl was raised in Massachusetts, and her family later moved to Maine, where her relatives still work as lumberjacks in the wilderness. She grew up hiking and camping, a love of nature instilled from the time she was young. Cheryl moved here to her husband’s hometown of Warner Robins in 1982, and, though the landscape of middle Georgia looks vastly different from that of the Northeast, she finds beauty and joy in nature here all the same.

Cheryl has been creating art since she was a child. She found her lifelong love of botanical painting when she was in college, influenced by her love of the outdoors. Her paintings are mixed media, a combination of graphite, colored pencil, and watercolor all in one. With this combination, “I control the texture as well as result,” she explains. As a young adult, Cheryl’s work garnered attention and awards from the New York Society of Illustrators, Boston Society of Illustrators, and more.

Early in her professional life, Cheryl created puzzle and game artwork for well known children’s brands including My Little Pony and Strawberry Shortcake. She also worked for Hallmark in greeting card design. On her time creating art for corporate companies, Cheryl notes that companies like Warren Puzzle, now Hasbro, and Hallmark own the rights to that artwork, but that you can still find her work online through sites like Ebay. “They’re called vintage now,” she explains with a giggle.

After moving to Warner Robins, Cheryl took on commissioned work. She did paintings for Sears Cleaners, which you’ll be familiar with if you’ve been in the area a while. Cheryl took a break from selling her art, during which time she worked as an Assistant Manager at Hobby Lobby locations in Warner Robins and Macon. After more than a decade, she took the leap back to painting commissioned pieces, and she went on to paint many local businesses and landmarks,including E.L. Greenway Welcome Center.

You may be familiar with some other local landmarks she’s painted, including the White Diamond Grill and old truck off of Highway 96. If you’re not familiar, the truck sits off of the highway, its location unchanged for over half a century, kept by the widow of its owner where it was parked a final time. Cheryl approached the widow of the former truck owner for permission to paint it, and she gladly allowed it. As a thanks, Cheryl gifted the owner a print of the finished work. Another beautiful piece that may look familiar, though it’s not exactly local to Middle Georgia, is a painting of The Hogan Bridge on the 12th Hole at Augusta National Golf Club.

You’ll notice that there is a uniformity to the color and structure across Cheryl’s body of work. She describes her style as having an architectural feel, and she uses a color palette designed by the lateLee Wettstein, another local watercolor artist. In all of her paintings, Cheryl is guided by the motto, ‘Painting with a Purpose.’ She says, “Each one of them had a reason. The truck was to actually do a print for the elderly women.” At the time she painted it, Cheryl didn’t actually realize the truck was a well known landmark, she simply wanted to give the owner a painting of the truck that she could have in her home.“I feel my purpose in life is that my creativity inspires,” Cheryl says.

One thing that is certainly inspiring is the artistic tradition Cheryl has carried on from older generations of her family. As a child, Cheryl was inspired by her maternal great uncles Benedict and Andrea Cipollini, Ecclesiastic artists in Boston by way of Carrara, Italy. Their paintings and sculptures were recently given to Brandeis University in Massachusetts after being housed in Cheryl’s mother’s home for over a century, and they will hopefully be on display in a museum when a complete catalog is done.

Cheryl recalls sitting for a sculpture by her great uncle Benedict Cippollini as a child. “He always gave me tips about drawing and painting, and he was definitely one of my biggest inspirations,”she says. The family tradition is alive and well. A mother to four and now grandmother to ten, Cheryl’s priorities have shifted. These days, she spends her time passing on her love of art to her grandchildren. They often paint with her, and she enjoys painting with her grandchildren as subjects, a full circle from sitting as a subject for her great uncle’s sculptures. Cheryl says her paintings and sketches of her grandchildren are her most cherished works of her life.

Today, Cheryl’s love for botanical art is as strong as ever, but painting isn’t her only form of nature-related art. Her love of nature has developed to include a love of gardening, a hobby she enjoys sharing with her husband. “My garden is my pallet,” she says. Cheryl’s artistic endeavors and accomplishments through the years are quite impressive, but even more so is her dedication and determination to follow her passions as they develop through life. If her life’s purpose is to inspire, she’s certainly succeeded.