Emily Efferson

Emily Efferson is a Baton Rouge, Louisiana native and local artist who has been painting most of her life. She enjoys memberships and holds executive board positions in the Louisiana Watercolor Society (LWS) and in the Art Guild of Louisiana (AGL). She is also a member of the Northwest Watercolor Society and an associate member of Women in Watercolor.

Her love of art began at a young age in grade school and continued throughout high school and into college. Later life and work got in the way, and she completely stopped painting for close to 20 years. Her sister was one of her greatest advocates and gave her much encouragement and support. She would always tell Emily she was wasting her “God given talent” by not pursuing her passion. In 1995 she lost her sister unexpectedly, but her sister’s words kept haunting her. After much searching, in 1997 Emily finally found an instructor who gave her the courage to pick up a brush and get back to doing what she knew deep down she loved. She started back with oil painting, which was what she was most comfortable with. In 2006 she was ready to explore other art mediums and that is when she tried watercolor and viola it felt like Valentine’s Day, and she fell in love!  Today, watercolor remains her very favorite medium.

Emily studied under local and national award-winning watercolorist Kathy Miller Stone, LWS-M, NWS for several years and credits her as one of her greatest mentors. She has taken workshops from many other renowned and award-winning watercolor, acrylic and oil painting instructors as well. She paints at home in her studio, but she looks forward to painting weekly with other artist friends at the Art Guild of Louisiana “Open Studio.”  Emily says, “just to be among other artists painting together gives me joy and inspiration and it’s where I feel I do some of my best work.”

Emily believes Louisiana has some of the most beautiful places to paint anywhere in the world. It has a natural palette of vibrant colors with its beautiful swamps, plantation homes, live oak trees and its abundance of wildlife all waiting to come alive through a painting. She spent a lot of time with family in New Orleans growing up and loves painting anything in Louisiana, but especially all things in the French Quarter. The famous “streetcars” in New Orleans is a favorite subject and so are photos of everything we eat in South Louisiana, i.e., seafood, oysters, crawfish, shrimp, crabs, etc. She will tell you from personal experience “any artist who has ever lived in Louisiana and moved away knows exactly what it feels like to come back home to find the surrounding beauty just waiting to be reawakened with a brush!”

It is with great honor that two of her watercolor paintings have been juried into the Louisiana Watercolor Society International Exhibit (LWS) “Iced Blues” in 2016 by Paul Jackson, NWS, AWS, LWS and “Fresh Pickins” in 2023 by Carrie Waller, NWS, AWS, LWS. Her works have been juried into the National River Road Exhibit (AGL) at the Louisiana State Archives each year from 2013 through 2023. She was juried into the LSU Brush with Burden Exhibit each year from 2013 until it ended in 2016. She has shown in the Baton Rouge Art League Show (invitation only) each year for the past 10 years.

Emily sells her paintings and on occasion does commissions, but mostly she paints for the LOVE of it. She lovingly gives many of her paintings to family and friends and donates to charitable organizations and other causes. You can see some of her works at: www.instagram.com/emilyeffersonart