Gay’s work is a spirited demonstration of her love of people and life in joyful articulations of colour and light.

Her captivating canvases of land and seascapes evoke the strength and vitality of her East Lothian upbringing. Painted en plein air, they are filled with a vibrant sense of the play between light and colour so reminiscent of Mactaggart and Eardly and the broader influences of the Scottish Colourists and French Fauvists.

Her sensitive figurative work similarly reflects her passion for drama, light and movement demonstrating a sensual appreciation of person and place revealed in line, shadow and perspective. Her portraits display an innate understanding of individual, unveiling character in colour and line

Travel has increasingly influenced Gay’s palette, and her pastels evoke an eastern ambience in the dusty ochres and spiced reds of the south Indian coast. When based in Edinburgh, her studio work reflects her empathy with the traditions of abstract expressionism and closely observed life drawing.