Born in Portsmouth in 1969, Laurie Maitland came from an artistic family. Having been brought up in the Cotswolds for the formative years of her childhood, she moved to London as a teenager and excelled in the arts. Maitland studied photography, life drawing, and specialized in set design as part of an English and Drama degree. After teaching for a couple of years, Maitland first exhibited her work in 1995 and has since owned and sold in two art galleries and a furniture design business. She now paints full time and her work is a best seller in galleries up and down the country as well as overseas.