About
I'm Emily and I work in painting and textile, bringing my Paris-trained, Swenglish-rooted background into vivid, large-scale portraits. I wield bold color in both wool and paint, creating exaggerated yet familiar fictive figures through instinctive, unfiltered techniques that celebrate quirks and contradictions. My work is based on humor, discomfort, beauty, and longing, inviting viewers to reflect on identity and vulnerability.
Miles original
Inspiration
I create portraits of fictive people sprung from memories, found images or from people-watching behind dark glasses (a secret speciality of mine). I love people in general (Not in a creepy way! Keep your pants on!) But people full of quirks, oddities, flaws and unfulfilled dreams, are my favourites. I'm specifically interested in the modern obsession with self-image and our relationship to health and beauty. (I mean, counting steps? Is that really a healthy usage of our brains' capacity??)
Through my art, I celebrate the ordinary, the weird and the beautifully mundane.
Master's degree in art direction from École Supérieure d'École Graphic et d'Architecture Interieur (ESAG Penninghen), Paris, France
Art residency - Saxemara artist studios, Sweden, April 2026
Tuft commission for private client in France - due Feb 2026
Portrait commission for private client in Sweden - due June 2026
I tuft large scale wool portraits on soft canvas backing or paint large scale acrylic/oil portraits on canvas.
I paint in bursts of inspiration, letting intuition and experience lead the way. I'm in pursuit of some sort of honesty, a truth if you will, and I won't settle until I find a story that feel real to me. I don't do thorough research but all portraits are accompanied by a story. I improvise based on my own thoughts and feelings, people I've seen, read about or known. I do this to be able to stay free and act in the moment, exploring colour combinations, composition, light and getting the back story right. I normally paint the first layers quickly and then let the painting sit in the studio for weeks, giving it space to mature and create its own specific story, always in dialogue with the other current subjects in the studio, before I continue adding layers, depth and emotion. A dark humour runs through most things I do, it's a sort of shield against getting to pretentious, I think.
My tufts need much more planning and detail focus, so normally I use my painted work as base. Apart from that the process is similar.
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