‘Being at the water’s edge’ is a phrase that encapsulates most of my life’s work.

This work is born of two passions, one being the love of Cornwall, St.Ives and the sea, and the other being the love of painting and drawing.
Where sea meets land is a continual source of fascination and delightful subject matter to me.
In the summer months, I like to spend much of my time out absorbing the splendour that life and nature here has in abundance.
There are a number of ways in which I like to observe this spectacle, being wandering the beaches, visiting my favourite viewpoints, walking the coast path, cycling the Cornish lanes and swimming in the sea.
When out in the Cornish wilds for a prolonged period of time, I can almost feel as if I’ve become part of the landscape itself and feel very at home next to a weather worn rock on a windswept cliff top.
During this time exploring my environment, I take photos, make small sketches and build up a library of experiences, visual imagery and ideas in my mind.
In the winter months, I have much more focused time in the studio, allowing the outpouring of these ideas and enabling me to work them up into paintings.
Additionally , I’m also interested in still life and simple objects that I can work from directly and include in some of my compositions.
I’m very fortunate to live in such a beautiful and inspiring part of the world and find it a continual and compelling challenge to convey this through my painting.

BIOGRAPHY

Whilst completing a degree in Printed Textiles at Middlesex University (1989-1992), Emma began working as a freelance designer of fashion and furnishing fabrics for agents Foster/Etherington and Artisan, through whom she sold designs in New York, L.A and Japan.
Following this, she earned a place at The Royal College of Art where she completed an MA, also in Printed Textile Design.
After graduating from The R.C.A in 1994, Emma continued to live and work in London as a free lance Textile Designer.
During this time, she collaborated with furnishing fabric company, Monkwell, to produce her own fabric range entitled ‘Postcards’.

After making many trips to St. Ives in Cornwall, she finally moved there in 1997.
Even though, to begin with, she was still designing, this marked the beginning of a long term career in painting and a profound connection with Cornwall , in particular , St. Ives, where she has lived ever since.
The New Craftsman Gallery, in St.Ives, invited her to show her first collection of St.Ives’ paintings with great success and has remained a staunch supporter of her work, spanning the last two decades and where, for the past 8 years, she has had successful annual solo shows.

She has also exhibited in many other galleries in Cornwall, including Beside the Wave Gallery, Avalon Art Gallery, The Sandpiper Gallery and Gallery Tresco on The Isles of Scilly. Further afield she’s shown work with Ainscough Contemporary Art in Dartmouth and London, as well as Thompson’s Galleries in London and has had work exhibited at many London Art Fairs with various galleries and agents.

Becoming known internationally, in 2017, she was invited to show a small collection of her paintings at ‘Gallery St.Ives’ in Tokyo, Japan and she has completed commissions for clients in New York and The Netherlands.
Most recently, she has been invited to exhibit at the Blue Print Gallery in Dallas,Texas which is proving a surprising but successful collaboration.

Alongside this, Emma also supplies The Tate Gallery in St.Ives a range of cards and associated merchandise produced from images of her paintings.

Please see The New Craftsman Gallery for latest collection of paintings.