The Coastal Artist Quietly Making the Kind of Art You Actually Want to Live With

I want to introduce you to someone whose work has quietly become some of my favorite I've come across this year.

Her name is Cherie, and her brand is called Stride Coastal. She creates the art canvases inspired by the coast - soft light, blue water, the golden hour at the beach when everything feels peaceful. The kind of pieces that pull you into beach relaxation the second you walk past them.

I came across her work through a mutual friend, and what struck me wasn't the art at first. It was how she talks about it.

"I'm not a decorator"

The first thing Cherie will tell you is what she isn't.

"I'm not an interior designer. I'm not a decorator. I'm not interested in it and not particularly good at it."

This is unusual for someone who sells wall art. Most coastal brands are deep in the language of decor - "transform your space," "tie the room together," "complement your palette." Cherie has zero interest in any of that.

What she is interested in is something more honest: making art that women actually want to look at, for years, in their own homes - regardless of what the design rules say.

"I make art for women who already know what they love. You've walked through enough rooms and scrolled past enough trends to know: the art you actually keep is the art you want to look at over and over. Not necessarily the piece that 'ties the room together.' The piece that hooks your eye every time you walk past it."

That's the whole brand, in three sentences. And it's why her work feels different.

How she got here

Cherie grew up spending summers on the Gulf Coast, and traveling to beaches from Maine to Southern California. She knows what she loves about the beach: the way it strips away the weight of everyday life. No routines. No noise. Just the sound of waves and the blue of the ocean.

She didn't start with coastal art, though. She used to run an abstract art business that didn't work - and she's open about the day she realized it was failing.

"I had a panic attack. I sat with it for a while, scared, and asked myself what I actually wanted to make - and who it was actually for. The answer was the beach. The answer was the calm I felt there, and the people who felt it too."

Stride Coastal came out of that pivot.

What the art actually is

Every piece in her collection is original - designed by Cherie, drawing on years of beach memory and a real point of view about color and composition. The work is printed on heavy-weight gallery-wrapped canvas in the US, made on demand (less waste, fresh print), and ready to hang straight out of the box.

She offers a 30-day guarantee. If the piece doesn't work for you when it arrives, she'll make it right.

The point is what happens when you live with one of her pieces.

Take a peak at her undeniable favorite piece here 

The "five times a day" test

Cherie has a line I've thought about more than once since I first saw her work:

"I want you to hang it where you can see it at least five times a day."

This is the philosophy in miniature. The art she makes isn't meant to be admired as part of a decor scheme. It's meant to be lived with - passed every morning, glanced at on the way to the kitchen, held in the corner of your eye while you're on a call.

The pieces that survive that test, year after year, are a specific kind. They're not loud. They're not trendy. They're not trying to win the room.

They're just shapes and colors that excite your brain every time you see them - at one year, five years, ten.

If you've ever felt slightly out of step with the design world...

Cherie says it best:

"If you buy art just so it coordinates with your paint scheme and furniture, I'm not for you. If you're someone who wants to walk into your own room and relax because what you see on the wall is a place that makes you happy - then you're my people."

If that's you, I think you'll find her work as satisfying as I have.

You can browse Cherie's Sunset collection here

Or take her coastal art quiz, Find your Coastal Art Match, to find the piece that fits what you love

She gave my readers a code - SAVE15NOW for 15% off, for a limited time.