Paula Sharples was born in 1951 and grew up in Sussex.  She gained a degree in Textile Design at Reigate School of Art in Surrey in the late 60's and spent fifteen years as a freelance textile designer for the international bedding and furnishing market, creating designs for companies such as Coloroll and John Wolf Decorative Fabrics in the USA and Portmeirion and Churchill China.  The landscape surrounding her home in the Peak District. The North Norfolk Coast and Cornwall have significantly influenced her work.

She works on gesso prepared board with acrylics, ink and graphite in layers and uses a combination of still life with landscape background. Her use of pattern and colour is evidence of her past in textile and ceramic design.