Rather than being influenced by the great masters of the past, Isabelle's artistic inspiration comes directly from her personal observations, experiences and feelings regarding the world we live in today.  Although, initially, she sometimes would work from various photographs, she says that once the image is established, the photos would be set aside and the entire painting reworked to infuse it with warmth and life. Her work is essentially about compassion, empathy and universal inter-connectedness; hence a recurring theme in her work concerns humankind's encroachment on Nature and how the environment we have created for ourselves impacts us and all other species to which we are inescapably linked, physically as well as emotionally. Often exploring modern isolation and loneliness, Isabelle admits that her work is also deeply personal, and thus prefers to see her art as representational rather than realism.  'Ultimately, I think it important to leave sufficient room for the viewer's own interpretation', she says.