About Emily
Emily Suñez is an artist, author, and illustrator who grew up in northern Virginia and now resides and works from her home studio in Pasadena, California. Emily’s award-winning paintings have been featured in Candyfloss Magazine, Create! Magazine as well at Brea Gallery, Sanchez Art Center, Palos Verdes Art Center, and the Joshua Tree National Park Art Expo. She is the illustrator and author of the forthcoming book The Healing Journal: Guided Prompts and Inspiration for Life with Illness. Outside of her art practice, Emily is a K-5 reading teacher and an advocate for people with chronic illness and is the co-founder, Outreach Director, and board chair of Los Angeles Dysautonomia Network (LADN).
Emily is a member of The Authors Guild, The Pasadena Society of Artists, Monrovia Association of Fine Arts, and The Art Queens Society.
Artist Statement
Painting intricately detailed southwest desert landscapes has helped me forge an intimate connection with the natural world. My fascination with desert plants relates to their ability to thrive and beautifully bloom despite the harsh conditions of the landscape. As such, the desert life forms in my work evoke themes of growth, resiliency and survival.
For me, painting has always been a form of meditation and healing, where I find peace through repetitive tiny brush strokes. While my process begins with taking photos in the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts, I work largely from memory of these locations in my most recent work. My paintings are an idealized, romanticized version of the natural world, portraying the desert landscape as pure and sacred, worthy of reverence and protection. I strive for my paintings to be a reminder to the viewer of Earth’s beauty and sanctity.
Photo by Miriam Brummel