I saw Cheraine for the first time in 2019, just before we had to lock ourselves for COVID; she strolled gracefully through the spaces of the Fotonostrum gallery in Barcelona with her very long and blond hair that reached her legs.

She looked like a Dea. She was the star of the event. Her images from the ‘Marvels’ and ‘Where is Adam?’ series stood out in strategic spots in the gallery, printed in very large size: beautiful, perfect. In the same exhibition I had two 30×20 printed photos in the corridor that led from the gallery entrance to the first of the rooms.

As a good Italian, I should have approached her and flattered her, but at that moment (stupidly) my artistic shame and awe was stronger than Italianism! But she and her images remained imprinted in my eyes and head and I contacted her through socials and since then we have maintained a nice long-distance contact, united by our passion for visual art and the creative process.

After almost 6 years, I proposed this interview for Dodho and she accepted with the same availability and affability as always, even though she has now achieved important artistic goals throughout the world and her works are listed in important art galleries both in the United States and in Europe. Cheraine is one of the few people who can say that she is self-made, thanks to her effort and her skills and who can proudly say that she can live off her Art.

Cheraine was born and lives in The Netherlands, in Otterlo, a small town 80 km from Amsterdam. Since she was a child she liked to paint with colored pencils and brushes. At 11 years old she also started taking pictures with one of the first digital Canon cameras, maybe because through photography she could communicate what she found difficult to do with words. She photographed and archived (certainly with great method) the photos on her computer. One day, her father entered her room and gave her a Wacom tablet and Photoshop CS2, telling her that in this way she could combine her two passions: drawing and photography. Her first work was a combination of the image of her pet Bunny with that of some roses from her garden. In her university graduation she presented the project Upside Dawn that was selected for the Graduation Show in Amsterdam.

Cheraine then moved from pencils to digital, and with the help of many tutorials found on YouTube and especially thanks to the teachings of James Gurney from the book “Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn’t Exist”, she acquired skills that were previously hidden; first combining photography and drawing and then specializing more and more in what we now call “composite”, reaching over time a level of almost absolute perfection. Think that normally, Cheraine’s creations contain about 500 different layers and in her most recent work, they reach over 1000. Furthermore, the very high definition with which she works, allows her to print up to 10×13 meters without losing sharpness. This certifies the meticulous precision of her works that are not only visually attractive and conceptually founded, but that reveal extremely high technical qualities.

One of the reasons why I have chosen to express myself through photography is because of my utter inability to draw. I would have liked to do it but Mother Nature did not provide me with this skill. This is why I asked Cheraine why, knowing how to draw so well, she uses photography as the main basis for her creations. What attracts her is the representation of reality that only photography can give; she wants to use the beauty present in the physical elements of reality that you come across when exploring the world and Nature. These elements of physical reality she then uses to shape and create what her imagination has conceived, to create her own world and her own perspective of the world. Moreover, she can achieve such fine details with photography that would be extremely difficult to achieve with painting.

When she told me about her creative process, I had the impression I was listening to the actual implementation of many things I had read in Rick Rubin’s book ‘The creative act: a way of being’. First and foremost, Cheraine is a volcano of ideas; she has dozens and dozens of them, all the time. Of these dozens of ideas she has, she sketches a few to put them in order and let’s say ‘land them on the ground’ This phase serves her to understand if the idea can have a visual meaning and at the same time suggests its ‘implementability’; this allows her to do an initial screening to understand which of them to ‘bet’ on. Cheraine confides to me that at that moment it is more her stomach that decides than her brain; she feels that among all those drafts one appears to her as if it were already almost finished; then she concentrates all her efforts and all her time on it to give it form and bring it to life! None of her ideas are lost, thanks to the drafts, all ideas remain potentially active and could be taken up again at another time, depending on whether there has been some new element in the meantime that allows that idea to move to the state of realization. In this whole process, her brother (and manager) Ferron, plays an important role as a point of reference and comparison. Cheraine confides to me that this has matured over time, when she was younger it was all much more confusing, but now it is easier for her to trust her instinct and intuition and this in a way reassures her about the final outcome.

Returning to her creations, it is clear that the constant element in all her works are animals. I asked her why. The answer left me surprised: I love the Bible and I love God and I love the story that is told there; they are an endless source of inspiration for me. My creations are meant to be a celebration of the beauty that God has created for all of us and that we must protect. Human beings should become aware of and value the natural and cultural heritage we have been given. Animals are perhaps those who suffer most from human selfishness and the destruction of their habitat.

Cheraine lives off her art, this is unfortunately a rare thing and so when it happens, we have to be happy with those who succeed! But let’s see what Cheraine’s business model is. It is not based on the works she is commissioned to do; she has some, but they do not constitute a significant part of her income. Cheraine has the ability and the luck to decide freely which of her ideas she wants to work on and then it is the art lovers, collectors, large corporations, foundations, interior designers who are interested in her works and buy them. The role of art fairs and art galleries in this strategy has been very decisive in the case of Cheraine.

The series with the vintage cars also comes from her idea. I thought it was a commissioned work because I didn’t believe that a person who loves animals so much that she watches them for a long time in silence to photograph them, could ever be attracted by so consumerist good like cars! I was wrong! Cheraine explained to me why. Vintage cars are the fruit of the imagination of designers and engineers who come together to create something unique; these cars are handmade, they are the product of craftsmanship like the one she does when she creates her images. Furthermore, man has progressed because he has been inspired by Nature, the velocity of cars inspired by the speed, power and elegance of felines and horses.

I asked her: in your marketing strategy, what importance have social networks had? How have you used them and how have they helped you consolidate your brand? Cheraine answered me that in her case she has never used social networks to make herself known and to advertise her works. When in 2019 she won the IPA Award in the Fine Art category, afterwards she reached out to a master printer and was introduced to one of her first art galleries and that was the turning point. Cheraine uses social networks fairly little and primarily to maintain contacts that she has gradually made especially with other artists and some of her contacts in the art world because that way it is easier to share the same spirit.

I asked Cheraine if she has introduced AI into her creative flow. She replied that she simply made some attempts with the AI-based functions of CC Photoshop to remove or change a small part in the composition, but was not at all satisfied with the quality of the results obtained, especially in the definition, so she put it aside. I then asked her if she is against the use of generative AI as a creative tool. Cheraine says that by her character she does not reject something if she does not know it and realizes that she is not an expert in this field. At the moment, AI does not bring value to her workflow. She is very happy with what she does and with her technique and therefore sees no need to explore something just because everyone says it is a powerful creative tool.

This is the portrait of Cheraine Collette, a very sweet girl, aware of her creative and productive abilities, a volcano of ideas and a person who gives a lot of importance to relationships with others in real life. For this reason, she loves going to art fairs and exhibitions because they are an opportunity to meet other artists, gallery owners, art lovers and collectors. Her next stop is the Palm Beach Show in Miami next February, a fair of antiques, jewelry, design, and art. [Official Website]