How One Artist Helps People Find Hope With Her Art

How I Met Cheryl Kline

One day while looking for companies that might benefit from our online enrollment software, I came across an art studio in Los Angeles, CA called Kline Academy of Fine Art. I called the phone number on the website and wound up speaking with the owner, Cheryl Kline. I asked her what she used to manage her student enrollments, take payments, and more generally keep track of what was going on in her business. She told me she was in the market for a solution, but the likelihood of her using Enrollsy's software for music and fine art schools would be improved if she had a new website to better organize her classes and workshops and present them to her customers. In less than 10 days, we had Kline Academy's new website designed and published, with custom Enrollsy enrollment links for each of her weekly classes and workshops.

Working on Cherylkline.com

A short while later, Cheryl contacted me and asked if I would redesign her personal website. Working with Cheryl on these projects reminded me why I started Enrollsy in the first place. After a decade working in the corporate world, I became disenchanted with the the myopic and self-serving politics and ideologies that plague large enterprises (and the smaller ones that provide products and services to them). There are plenty of good, talented, and well-intentioned people in corporate America, but I realized I have more in common with the entrepreneur and small business owner, so I wanted to jump into something where I could use my experience to help the kind of people I relate with most. Over the last few months as I have gotten to know Cheryl and dozens of other business owners, I've gained a greater appreciation for how wonderful this world is. It's filled with people who toil away at their craft and develop a passion for ideas, products, and solutions that bless the lives of others. In particular, I've enjoyed observing how Cheryl approaches everything within her business and I've had a glimpse into her artistic process, which, in the words of Louis Armstrong has me thinking:

I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself what a wonderful world

I've always loved the lyrics to this song and I feel now more than ever, it would do each of us good to reflect on the beauty of this world we live in, the power and consistency of the solar system and the other forces that allow us to live and breath and have warmth and light. And also the power and resilience of the human spirit. Cheryl's paintings of the sky do just that for me. They remind me of the things that are eternal. They are a welcomed distraction from the temporary, the insignificant, the mundane, and the manmade.

Cheryl Kline: Artist, Teacher, Writer, and Entrepreneur

It takes a tremendous amount of patience and persistence to create something worth sharing with the world, let alone something the world will pay you for. Add to that writing about it and building a business dedicated to teaching it to others. This is what Cheryl Kline has done.

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While building Cheryl Kline's personal website, I learned that every Monday for an entire year, she painted the sky from the same place at the same time. When I look at her work now, I don’t just see someone who is incredibly talented, I see someone who is committed and passionate about what she does. If you don’t have a Cheryl Kline painting in your home or business, now is the perfect time to get one. With her magnificent skies in grand scale, you can hang a little hope on an empty wall and have a daily reminder that like the rising and setting of the sun or like the passing of the clouds, the things of this world come and go, but love, beauty, friendship, family, and the most important things in life go on forever. For me, her Walking in the Clouds Gallery is my favorite, and her From Now On work in her Luna Collection is my current desktop image. While building her site I rotated through a few of her paintings as favorites, but this one is sticking. If you want to buy me something for my birthday, this would be it!

Cheryl Kline's Process

Kline's thirst for historical education in the process of classical painting techniques results in a painting process that includes techniques used by master artists like Rembrandt and many others. Her paintings are not born in a single night or day. When you see one in person, you will experience the luminous quality that is only achieved by this method. Take a look at this time lapse video that shows how she produces her timeless and true-to-life paintings of the skies:

What's Your Passion?

I love meeting new people, but I especially love meeting business owners who are passionate about their work and want to share it with others. This year we hope to meet hundreds (if not thousands) of business owners and provide solutions and resources that make it easier for their prospective customers to enroll and become part of their classrooms, cohorts, communities, or customer base. If you have a passion for what you do and are looking for an IT, web development, or software partner to help you take the next step in your business, please send us a note!