Gabriela Da Rocha is a painter whose work is shaped by a lifelong closeness to water. Raised in Rio de Janeiro, she grew up with Copacabana Beach on her doorstep, a place where the pull of the ocean, shifting light, and wide horizons became part of her visual language from an early age. Those early experiences continue to echo through her work today.

Now living in Richmond upon Thames, Gabriela finds inspiration in the gentle bends of the river, the changing tides, and the soft colours that settle over the water at dusk. She also draws deeply from her time on Cape Cod, its ponds, marshes, and open coastline, landscapes that mirror the calmness, clarity, and atmosphere she seeks in her paintings.

With a background in interior design, Gabriela approaches painting with a natural sense of harmony and mood. Working in oils, acrylics, and mixed media, she builds layered, expressive landscapes that sit between the real and the abstract. Her paintings are less about capturing a specific place and more about evoking the experience of being near water; stillness, reflection, memory, and movement.

Whether it’s a marsh at dusk, a quiet river path, or a shoreline dissolving into light, Gabriela’s work invites the viewer into gentle, contemplative worlds shaped by the waters she has lived alongside.