McLellan was born in
Middlesbrough, where her father was an engineer with
ICI, but her family moved to
Dumfries when she was 12 years old. McLellan had two older sisters. In 1987, she also attended
Cincinnati University on a scholarship. Later, she attended the Cite Internationale de arts studios in Paris, France. and portraits, both bearing the strong influence of Japanese art. The process of creating her art involved a "detailed process" of building up multiple layers of acrylic paint on canvas. they married in 2009. She died aged 40 the same year from complications of
multiple sclerosis. ==References==