"I wanted to draw a dog. I sat beside Carlow's kennel and stared at him for a long time. Then I took a charred stick from the grate, split open a large brown-paper sack and drew a dog on the sack. My married sister who had taken drawing lessons looked at my dog and said, "Not bad." Father spread the drawing on top of his newspaper, put on his spectacles, looked, said, "Um!" Mother said, "You are blacked with charred wood, wash!" The paper sack was found years later among Father's papers. He had written on it, "By Emily, aged eight."--Growing Pains, p.11
Emily began her career as an artist very young. Her formal training began at the age of 16 although she had taken drawing classes from the time of the above story. The year that her father died, Emily completed that year of high school only, and refused to go back. Instead, she took a local art class with two other girls.
Both of Emily's classmates left for London, England to more seriously pursue their artistic careers. Emily pressured her elder sister Dede to let her follow, but she refused. Finally, Emily turned to her guardian, lawyer James Lawson, who gave her permission to study at the California School of Design, in San Francisco. From then on, there was no stopping her...she would travel to England, France, and to the wilds of British Columbia to pursue her dreams.
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