In 1990, Gabriela travelled to Florence for a year to learn to draw. She enrolled at the Cecil-Graves Studio, an artist-run school based on 19th century atelier training and study, before returning to the UK to complete a degree in Art History at the University of Edinburgh.
From 1995 to 1997 Gabriela worked as an assistant to artist John Ward CBE at his studio near Canterbury, later going on to collaborate with work on his Millenium Mural at Challock Church. Her QEST Scholarship in 2000 enabled her to return to Italy for a further two years to continue her studies in painting.
Portrait commissions include Dr Donald Rees, Warden of Hugh Stewart Hall, Nottingham University, and the Rt Rev Crispian Hollis Bishop of Portsmouth. Her smallest ever portrait – of a bee – was selected by Sir Charles Saumarez-Smith CBE, chief executive of the RA for the 2007 exhibition Discerning Eye.
