Corsica-born, Estelle is a self-taught painter, she first exhibited while a student in Paris in 1996. Four years later she moved to London to pursue a dual career in art and graphic design in the City of London. In early 2007 she decided to focus exclusively on her art. Her first source of inspiration was her father, a keen amateur oil painter who encouraged her to develop her skill and technique. Her childhood was spent experimenting with most mediums from charcoal and pastels to oils and watercolours, in search of new technical challenges she has recently turned to more experimental techniques which can be seen in her latest 'Glimpse' series. Her sensibility in the use of light is partly inspired by the Dutch masters, particularly Rembrandt, another influence is Modigliani for the sensuality he depicted in his work. Her ‘Glimpse’ series of chiaroscuro paintings has been the result of a considerable amount of experimentation, the idea was to create a high contrast, but subtle effect where less is definitely more. By using a mica based acrylic medium, an iridescent blue is achieved through the reflection and refraction of light between the coated surfaces of tiny transparent mica platelets contained in the medium she uses. The hue of the painting changes from bright blue to deep purple depending on the viewing angle. In this non-traditional medium, which requires a very specific technique to achieve the desired result, she has found something quite special, which has so much potential to experimenting with further. Although she has been painting for over 30 years, her first professional exhibition was held in November 2007 at an Open Studio Exhibition at Wimbledon Art Studios. Her work both challenging and innovative as she likes to find new ways to present visual ideas and not obsessing about creating a uniform style throughout her entire body work.