Hi everyone, I’m Emma.

I’m a portrait and figurative painter based in Birmingham, working from my studio at the Custard Factory. I grew up in Moseley and now live in Kings Heath, so I feel very rooted in this part of the city.

I mostly paint close up portraits. Faces have always fascinated me. I’m interested in what sits just beneath the surface, the quiet tension, vulnerability, strength, the unspoken stuff. Painting is a way for me to slow everything down and really look.

My Wonder Series explored crafted joy and longing through dreamlike portraits, and more recently I’ve been working on a body of work called The Space Between Us, which looks at connection and the emotional space that exists between two people.

I work mainly in oil because I love the physicality of it, the push and pull, the softness and the rawness all sitting in the same place.

There are so many of us in this group and I don’t know everyone yet, so I’m really looking forward to seeing more of what you’re all making.