Born in Portpatrick on the west coast of Scotland, Sheila studied at Glasgow School of Art, graduating with a Diploma of Art and Design in 1979.

Over more than three decades living and working in London, Sheila’s career evolved from textile design through illustration to full-time painting. Throughout, Sheila exhibited in group and solo exhibitions. Undertook commissions and residencies. Her work regularly selected by the Society of Women Artists, Society of Botanical artists and the Society of Graphic Fine Art.

Her relocation to the Scottish Borders in 2014 proved pivotal, shifting her focus from portraiture and urban subjects, forging a passionate commitment to conservation, her gaze focused on the intricate, living jigsaw of flora and fauna within her re-wilded garden and surrounding countryside

Experiences and observations are distilled into densely layered paintings. Using sumi-e ink, watercolour and collage she builds intricate surfaces that echo the dense networks of hedgerow and meadow.

Her paintings have attracted strong interest, leading to group and solo exhibitions as well as commissions across Scotland. Her most recent solo exhibition, Wild, at The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh featured 38 works, most created over the preceding 14 months.

Her work has been selected annually by the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour, and she was elected a full member in 2024.

In addition, her skills as a portrait artist had her self-portrait ‘The Artist and her Muses’ selected for inclusion in the Scottish Portrait Awards 2026 at the Royal Scottish Academy running from November 2026 - Mar 2027.