Former lawyer Julia Noble took up painting when she quit her job to bring up her three children and “do things that I had never been able to as work took up so much time. ”  She was inspired by the loss of her sister who was killed in a cycling accident when Noble was on maternity leave with her first child. “I do think that this influenced my decision to stop something that was not working in my family life and to start something new which I really love.”

A course of classes, led to an art foundation year and then a degree in Fine Art - she got a First - at The Cass, Whitechapel, part of London Metropolitan University. Her work is abstract, colourful and spontaneous.  

“I like to create joyful work that the viewer can look at for a long time and still see new things in it. Claire's death really taught me that we only have one life and that life might be short. Whilst I know many artists focus on death and our mortality in their work I like to focus on the joy and the fabulous things that can happen. I want people to feel uplifted.”  

Her latest exhibition is at the Highgate Gallery from March 9 to 22.