Stubbs was born in Crowlas, near Penzance, where she spent her early childhood, before the family moved to Hertfordshire where she was educated. In 2007 she obtained a BA (Hons) in Art & Visual Culture from the University of the West of England in Bristol. Stubbs has exhibited widely in Bristol and Cornwall. In 2010 she returned to her Cornish roots, settling in Newlyn, where she pursues her art practice alongside her career as a writer.

Her artwork is inspired by a love of the natural world. In 2001 she was presented with the Wessex Watermark National Award by David Bellamy for her environmental mural 'Yesterday, Today, the Future'. Stubbs' owl collage 'Night Flight' took her to the finals of the 2009 BBC Wildlife Artist of the Year Award.