HELLO, I'M GEM

I'm a portrait artist based in the UK, creating expressive oil paintings filled with colour, movement and personality.

People have always fascinated me.

Long before I picked up a paintbrush, I spent ten years behind a camera photographing them.

FROM PHOTOGRAPHY TO ART

After finishing my degree in 2002, I began working as a portrait photographer. Over the next decade, I photographed hundreds — probably thousands — of people.

I loved it.

I loved faces, expressions and those little moments when someone's personality came through. Looking back now, I think those years taught me far more about portraiture than I realised at the time.

Then life changed.

In 2012, I became a mum and spent the following six years at home raising my two amazing girls.

Creativity eventually started calling me back.

In 2018, I began drawing again — a lot.

I wrote and illustrated a children's book and then became completely hooked on realistic pencil drawing.

And when I say realistic, I mean REALLY realistic.

I could spend hundreds of hours on a single drawing, obsessing over every tiny detail.

My original drawings and prints began finding homes around the world, and I also created drawing tutorials for an art academy.

I loved what I was creating.

But eventually, something started to change.

I WANTED TO LOOSEN UP

After years of trying to capture every tiny detail perfectly, I found myself craving something completely different.

More freedom.

More colour.

More movement.

More feeling.

I wanted to stop worrying about whether every single hair was in exactly the right place and start making marks because they felt right.

Also, after years of sitting hunched over incredibly detailed drawings, my back had a few opinions on the matter too.

So in March 2026, I bought some oil paints and picked up a paintbrush.

I decided to paint a portrait.

And I was hooked.

COMING FULL CIRCLE

The funny thing is, after all those years and all those different creative chapters, I've ended up back where I started.

People.

Only now, instead of photographing exactly how someone looks or drawing every tiny detail, I'm interested in something else.

I want to capture how a person feels.

The expression. The attitude. The energy. The imperfect marks and unexpected colours that somehow say more than perfect detail ever could.

Twenty-four years after beginning my creative career photographing people, I'm looking at faces all over again.

Only this time, I have a paintbrush in my hand.

I used to photograph how people looked.
Now I paint how people feel.

— Gem x