Emma Greenhill: Butterfield Garage’s February Featured Artist

Emma creates these figurative artworks from her imagination. With a rich color palette, she sees the canvas as a window to the soul, capturing the strength and vulnerability of women overcoming adversity. Knitted into her work are glimpses of nature, often representing new life, rebirth, and spiritual awakening.

“Painting is a form of therapy for me, I use it to transfer my feelings and release energy.”

Mostly self-taught, Emma finds painting to be a continual learning experience, persevering to find techniques that transfer what is in her head to what is on the canvas. She finds painting joyful and frustrating at the same time, sometimes sitting in front of the canvas, waiting to start, then starting and starting over, then stopping for a break to come back until that magical moment, for no particular reason, when things start to flow and it becomes easy, joyful and fulfilling.

The painting “Boca” was inspired by a dog her husband had a very special relationship with and still talks about the special place the dog holds in his heart. Emma’s painting speaks to the bonds we develop with our pets and the immense comfort and joy they bring us.

Emma paints from her home and participates in art shows across the state while being represented by the Butterfield Gallery in St. Augustine. She has won several awards for her work, including Best of Show 2019 at the Old Florida Celebration of the Arts in Cedar Key.