Arabella graduated in theology from Oxford University and then studied further in Edinburgh, attending both the Art College and the University, gaining a Masters in Theology & Philosophy.

In Edinburgh she joined the Edinburgh Printmakers’ Workshop, learning the craft of etching alongside established artists. From that point she became a printmaker. Her interest in book-making began during a visit to Sweden in 1994, as a student of the Royal College of Art. She further developed this craft in a year spent working in collaboration with the Village des Arts et Métiers du Livre in the South of France (1996-7). In 1998 she moved to France and stayed there for nearly a decade before returning to Britain to live and work in Saxmundham, Suffolk, a stone's throw from The White House.