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Born Cindy White in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and reared in Papua New Guinea during the formative years of her life, Cindy Wider always possessed the heart of an artist.  As a young child, she was constantly encouraged to write letters to and draw pictures for her grandparents who remained in Australia.  At the age of eleven, Wider and her family returned to Australia where she continued to enjoy drawing; however, she became increasingly frustrated with what she perceived to be deficient level of skill with art.  Therefore, believing that she lacked genuine, artistic talent, Cindy Wider renounced drawing at the age of fourteen.

Seeking a different avenue for creative expression, Wider became a hairstylist and purchased a beauty salon at the age of twenty-one; however, the life of a young entrepreneur proved to be emotionally, mentally, and physically taxing.  Soon after starting her business, Wider contracted Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, a debilitating illness which left her unable to walk more than a couple meters.  Although excruciating pain and discomfort from the disease gripped her body, she refused to allow it to gain control of her life.  Wider set a goal for herself.  Most people take for granted the short walks to the letter boxes in their yards, but for her, the letter box became Mt. Everest, a feat she was determined to climb and conquer.  Fighting through the pain each day, she finally reached that letter box, and the realisation of this amazing goal affirmed that she could accomplish anything.  In that epiphanic season of her life, she decided that she wanted to rekindle the relationship with her first creative love in order to become the artist that, years earlier, she doubted she could ever be. 

Subsequently, at the age of twenty-three, Cindy Wider followed the passion that once provided her with so much joy as a child.  She began to draw and paint, and she has not looked back.  Beginning as a coping mechanism for the crippling pain from an illness that lasted more than seven years, Wider’s art has now become a productive career, and more importantly, it has become threads in the tapestry of her existence. 

Spanning two decades, Cindy Wider’s career in the art industry has taken her from being a student of art to becoming a world renowned art educator, author, and award-winning talent.  Her art is highly coveted by collectors from around the world in countries such as the United States, France, Ireland, and Italy, and major corporations such as Microsoft Sydney commissioned her in collaboration with her husband, artist Stuart Wider, to create an original painting and limited edition prints for the 2004 annual corporate gift.  Excelling in the literary arts as well as the visual arts, Wider has published several short stories, a book Paint in Your Pyjamas – Every Woman’s Guide to Finding Your Life Purpose through Art, and The Complete Draw and Paint in Your Pyjamas Certificate Course, a series of thirty-six e-books.

Dedicated to helping others to evoke their inner artist and gain confidence in their creative abilities, Wider devotes much of her time to art education.  Among many teaching endeavors, she is a virtual art instructor and curriculum designer with the largest and fastest growing recreational art tuition website in the world at Drawspace.com based in Nova Scotia, Canada.  Each week, she teaches sixty students from around the world within nine virtual classrooms.  Because of her success with art, a field she nearly abandoned years ago, she works diligently as an educator to afford others the opportunity to realise their dreams of becoming artists. 

Cindy Wider, a passionate, caring, and enthusiastic artist, author, and educator is not only dedicated to her career in the arts, but she currently resides in Noosa, Queensland as a devoted wife and mother of two.  Happy in her career and fulfilled through the love of family, Cindy Wider works continuously to develop her craft, create her best art, and share her passion for the arts and spirit of hopefulness and optimism with the world.