Shyama Ruffell grew up in the Sussex countryside. Her childhood memories of submerging herself in long grasses and discovering a secret magical world of colourful wildflowers and insects are a significant influence on her paintings. Shyama’s images are jammed full of colour, texture and pattern reminiscent of ceramic and fabric designs (another source of great inspiration for her). Fresh flowers always fill her studio and provide fantastic reference material together with drawings and photographs. With their semi-abstract edge, her paintings become “A cocktail of William Morris and Rousseau in an English meadow, with a splash of Klimt”.