Sue Emer Works

I was lucky to grow up with a mother who loved to paint. She introduced me to art at a very young age, and by early adulthood I had experimented with oils, acrylics and watercolor paints. I have many fond memories of Plein Air painting with my mother along the New Jersey shorelines. In my youth I was lucky to attend a few watercolor workshops with New Jersey artist Pat Lafferty. Watercolor painting became my favorite medium to work with; the lights, the darks, the transparency and movement of the watercolor paint lend themselves to the type of art that I love to create.

For a time, raising my family and pursuing my career overwhelmed my passion for the arts. I was very lucky to rediscover watercolor painting in 2016. That is when I started studying under Arizona artist Tracy Lynn Ross and to attend a workshop with Lian Quan Zhen.

My pallet has always trended towards earth tones, and so it's natural that the subjects of my work tend to lean into them. I love aesthetic of nature and old buildings, particularly old structures in the Southwest. Their architecture and history add a deeper layer of beauty to my paintings. 

I look forward to drawing future inspiration from the desert Southwest as I discover them.