I am so glad you have come to visit!

Welcome to my world as I seek to capture light, emotion, personality and movement through finely detailed portraiture in oils or charcoal.

My work endeavors to capture the spirit of a living soul, drawing you in through the expression in the eye and making you want to feel both the softness and strength of its form.

The eye of my subject is truly the window to its soul and it is here that I will look for the character, emotion and often, the beginnings of a conversation. I will usually start a portrait here and will only move on once I feel that the eye is ‘alive’ with enough depth and intensity.

Sometimes, just sometimes, when the magic is right, I can have a conversation with those eyes while I paint.

I may be a bit odd, but I also have an endless fascination with the relationship between the skeletal and muscular structure and the surface of the body. Nowhere is this more evident than when I paint a horse - they are a contradiction - sublime beauty and softness on the outside, clothing a muscular and skeletal structure beneath, capable of enormous power and strength. Capturing this duality is both a passion and a struggle that is likely to last a lifetime!

My artistic journey has taken a long and winding road….

Although born in London, I grew up on the other side of the world in Auckland, New Zealand.

I have been fascinated by the intricacies and diversity of faces and figures as far back as I can remember and my art classes at school were something that I looked forward to every day!

But my love of art grew alongside a love of music and after my school years it was suddenly decision time – one had to be chosen over the other. So I went in the opposite direction to do a degree in music performance (flute) and then, later, a Ph.D in England, enjoying much that London had to offer a twenty-something.

It would be years later, after marriage, children and a life full of music, that I decided to pick up a paintbrush again and enrol in a local art course.

I wasn’t expecting much but imagine the thrill to find that the instinct to paint was still there – the skills just waiting to be rediscovered.

Once I started again, I just couldn’t stop!

I now truly believe that that little artistic spark, ignited as a child, can stay with you all your life - a silent partner in all that you see and do - influencing the way that you observe things and continuing to train the eye and nurture an awareness of shape and form, regardless of whether or not you actively engage in it throughout the years.

And so…..

Today, I work mostly in oils and charcoal, specializing in figurative drawings and paintings of people and animals, with a very special love for equine and wildlife subjects.

In addition to taking on commissions from individuals and interior designers, I will release collections online (to which my subscribers get first access) and regularly exhibit at the international Contemporary Art Fairs.

My work can be found in private collections both locally and around the world as well as gracing the walls of corporate premises (I have to pinch myself every time I read that!). 

I now live in Wokingham in the UK with my long-suffering husband (who is my biggest fan and greatest critic!), two teenagers and two crazy dogs. I have taken over the conservatory, which is now my studio and my sanctuary, whilst I enjoy a secondary career as a busy artist alongside my musical one.

It is a dream combination, and I simply cannot imagine my life without either of them.

“Life beats down and crushes the soul and Art reminds you that you have one”

— STELLA ADLER