Paula was born in Cambridge in 1950 and left school without any qualifications or expectations. She married, raised a family and built a house, but at the age of thirty-nine she decided she wanted to return to education and enrolled at Peterborough Regional College to begin studying again. After five years part-time study she had acquired four GCSE’s and four A levels and gained a place at Scarborough University College to study painting, ceramics and Art History. She graduated with a BA(Hons) degree in 1998. Paula’s ability as a ceramicist and abstract painter brought opportunities to exhibit widely in Yorkshire, as well as further afield in London and Edinburgh. She also developed as a painter of animal portraits, which has led to solo exhibitions in London and Boston USA. 'Much of my early work emerged in the form of abstract painting, through which I developed and explored a love of colour. My paintings of dogs continue to give me an excuse to express my love for colour and I hope the unexpected combinations of colour and pattern help to bring an element of quirkiness to them.'