Despite my name I am English! My mother loved interesting names, and fact is I was named after her cat HAHaaa.

I started working as an artist when I was in my twenties, and at this time I was advised not to paint using my surname as being a woman this would change due to marriage and so forth. It was better to have a separate artist name so I settled on a middle name 'Araceli' and my artist name was born.

This was in the late 1980's and it was all going well until it all came crashing down when I was forced to stop due to chronic illness. Illness has bad timing as I was doing well and had been accepted and exhibited at The Royal Academy. After a long break I returned to painting some 7 years ago as a form of therapy, and now only paint as my health permits.

I aim to capture the essence of what I see with the minimum of brush strokes, omitting un-necessary details but retaining the drama which captivates me. I do not paint pretty watercolour's, my work is large, edgy and dramatic. I focus on tonal values over colour, most, but not necessarily all of the time. 

Long before it had a title and became popular I was a 'pleinair painter', preferring to paint outside from direct observation. However sheilding and restricted to my studio due to the pandemic I found a love for producing larger more complex paintings enabled by the controlled environment. With no need for others help, no bad weather or wildlife to deal with. It taught me this is the better situation all round for me now, though I am sure there will be times when I can still enjoy some pleinair painting.

In self isolation I turned to looking through photographs taken by specifically for me to use as reference for my paintings. Decades of them safe in the loft waiting for me when I was ready. It is an exciting new direction.

To date I have won 42 awards for my paintings and have

Fire In The Sky

#2020horizon Taj Mahal India

Hill a half sheet watercolour painted pleinair near where I live

Vertigo - a half sheet watercolour painted en pleinair near my home

Where nature dwells a half sheet watercolour