It is an inherently creative process. But does it mix with the world of investment?

“I would always hope that people would buy my work firstly because they like it,” she says.

Ms Masson, a professional artist for ten years, makes her living from her art, but reasons that investors are not guaranteed a financial gain. She says: “There’s no guarantee that anything will go up in value — things go up and down, things become fashionable and unfashionable.”

When it does come to selling her work, the reward is greater than the price. “It’s a great compliment if somebody wants to live with your work on a daily basis,” she says.

Yet the relationship with her work doesn’t end when Ms Masson puts her oils away. “There are certain paintings that I really don’t want to part with,” she says. “You have to live with them for a while, get them out of your system. It can be quite threatening, because there’s a certain type of buyer who feels they have almost bought a bit of the artist.”

Rising demand for art, and contemporary art in particular, has been a blessing for artists. “I do like the fact that contemporary art by living artists is seen as valid,” Ms Masson says. “You don’t have to be dead to be seen as successful.”

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