Gabriella Brunner is no stranger to the Bermuda art scene, but when her exhibition, “New Works by Gabriella Brunner: People, No. 1”, opens to the public tomorrow, it will mark the Swiss-born artist's first solo show on the Island she calls “home”.

Unlike many artists, who are captivated by Bermuda's picturesqueness and light, Mrs. Brunner's fascination is with its citizens - and from all walks of life.

“I love to do people, they are really my subject,” she says. “It is about the face and how I see it. I look at a face and I can see more than one colour, and I intensify those colours and make them really strong.

“That is what gives my portraits that colourful look.”

Indeed, this is an artist whose trim, feminine stature belies the big, bold canvases she produces. The ten portraits included in this exhibition at the Masterworks Foundation gallery in the Botanical Gardens are on 30-inch by 82-inch canvases.

“They're the size of a door,” she smiles.

She works in oils, which she applies boldly with a palette knife and her hands.

“In certain areas the paint is quite thick. Obviously, it is a long process because I have to let it dry.”

Despite her distinctive style, visitors to the exhibition will no doubt recognise most of her subjects: Ruth Thomas, Andra Simons, Johnny Barnes, Elsbeth Gibson, Teddy Tucker, Sonny the street person, Conchita Ming, C.V. (Jim) Woolridge, Jim Butterfield, and Betsy Mulderig and her “mamma”.

Because capturing the expressiveness of her subjects' faces is so important, Mrs. Brunner paints from photographs and slides rather than live sittings so that she can work at her own pace.

“I like to capture the personalities as they are - happy, smiling,” she says. “You get that better from a photograph than if they are sitting for hours. For me it is important to keep and catch the mischievous look of Teddy Tucker, for example, or the sparkle of Ruth Thomas, or the unbelievable smile of Johnny Barnes.

“It would be impossible to catch all that in real life, and I really want to make their paintings come over as happy, positive and colourful. They are all unbelievable people. It is amazing what is in Bermuda.”

In addition to her portraits, Mrs. Brunner is also exhibiting abstract, mixed media sculptures of a group of palms. Slim and vertical, the sculptures are created from cement or fibreglass. The cement sculptures are waxed to give them what the artist calls a “warm, soft feel”, while in some cases the fibreglass is tinted blue - again reflecting her love of colour.

It takes Mrs. Brunner five to six months to prepare for an exhibition, and already she is planning to have another in half a year's time. Choosing ‘People, No. 1' gives her space to do more portraits, she says, noting that she also likes to work in themes.

Prior to coming to Bermuda four years ago, Mrs. Brunner was a professional fashion designer - something she regards as beneficial to her work as an artist.

“It is a good background, and probably why I can pick up faces well and also have a talent for drawing, which you do so much of in fashion design - putting down on paper what you see.”

She also holds degrees in pottery and fine arts, and enjoys acting.

Despite being married with three children aged between six and two years old who keep her very busy,

Bermuda has allowed Mrs. Brunner to focus more on her art, and she makes it a point to set aside time each day to work in her studio, much of it at night when all is quiet.

“You can focus for four or five hours without interruption then, and that is important. Time just flies,” she says.

In the past Mrs. Brunner has exhibited with Sharon Wilson at the Rosebank Gallery, at the Kafu Gallery and in several of the Bermuda National Gallery exhibitions, including one Biennial.

“Art is my passion. It is my soul and everything. I have a husband and children who are everything too, but (in terms of art) I always try to tell people: ‘If you really open your eyes you are able to see things differently, but you really have to look and make an effort to see people or subjects from different sides.

“ ‘A lot of things just look totally different then. Not only subjects but situations.' ”