Bella's colourist paintings are inspired by Scottish and Italian landscape as well as everyday objects and interiors which have personal associations.

She enjoys dramatic contrasts and subtle nuances of colour, and free gestural markmaking with palette knife and brush. Her palette could be described as expressionist in feeling, using colour to convey atmosphere, light and weather. Although sometimes naturalistic, it is more often created and developed during the working process.

Her main references are charcoal or ink drawings made directly from the subject using shape and rhythms as starting points. Her choice of medium is guided by the subject and her response to it, both out of doors and in the studio; recently, these have been oils and gouache.