Gabriella has always lived in the East of England for the last 20 years near Cromer in North Norfolk with her husband, photographer Tony Buckingham and two children. She lives ten minutes from the sea and paints and teaches from her garden studio.
After completing a BA(Hons) in Graphic Design at Kingston Polytechnic, as it was then, Gabriella worked for national magazines illustrating everything from broccoli to romantic fiction. For three years she worked as an in-house Christmas artist for International Greetings designing cards and wrapping paper, and subsequently became a product manager for another card company for two years before returning to freelancing. She has illustrated many children’s books and created a children’s gift brand called Moobaacluck which she ran for ten years before committing to her fine art practice full time in late 2018. Since then, she has sold many paintings to clients worldwide, and has been longlisted for the Jackson’s Art Prize and The Ashurst Prize, was shortlisted for the ING Discerning Eye and The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition twice. Gabriella's work has been chosen for the Sir John Hurt Prize in Norfolk whenever she has entered over several years and in 2023 during the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition her two hung works were selected to be printed as a card, print and to be part of the 2025 RA calendar. Over five years Gabriella also developed three online art courses on her Fromaplaceofwonder.co teaching site where students can see Gabriella's entire painting process and find their own through a series of exercises.

Artist Statement
"I'm fascinated by colour, light, and paint itself. In the last few years, I've enjoyed using my intuition to paint, just as much as observing the subtle changes of shape and colour as light shifts over a subject. I enjoy a feeling of mystery as I paint, a sort of not knowing what will appear; in my abstract work there's definitely a spiritual or subconcious element to my painting. My still-life painting, often deals with relationship dynamics, alongside the pure joy of colour, form and pattern. so there can be an element of humour or story telling.
Sometimes my paintings are bold and intuitive; at others, quiet and observed, very much like I am as a person. I’m uncovering what I find exciting to see and make. That could be portraying the way light falls around a small still life in a variety of ways; or the feeling of a wild freedom as I allow my inner self to take a lead in my intuitive work. There is an energy of attempting to make the invisible visible in my work. My work is about exploration and discovery in many ways, so expect diverse work if you visit.

I paint for many reasons including to feel connected to something beyond me. My practice is a quest for the feeling of freedom and joy that painting at its best, can give you. This is not always dramatic, sometimes it’s in the flow of the instinctive colour choices I make, or achieving the exact colour of light on the curve of a bowl and particularly in the elusive way the best paintings seem to make a surprise appearance."