“There’s so much to do!” Emma Gilbert responds when I ask how the new year is going for her–and that, she believes, is a good problem to have.

Gilbert has been painting for as long as she can remember, from the time she was able to hold a brush. Once she learned what paint was, she wanted to make something with it—on canvas, on paper, or whatever was in reach. Art quickly became an essential part of the rhythm of her childhood.

That rhythm became clearer during a year of homeschooling in third grade, when Gilbert and her siblings spent their days painting together. “That’s when I really fell in love with it,” she says, “and when art became something that connected my family.”

By age twelve, that love took on new meaning. Her mother posted one of Gilbert’s paintings on Facebook, and it sold for $50. The moment has stayed with her ever since. “That was the first time I thought, could I actually do this for a living someday?” she says. Not long after, she wrote it down in her “dream book”: I want to be an artist when I grow up.

Later in her teenage years, her father, who owned a fence business, offered her a small attached shop to use as a studio. Gilbert began painting commissions and supporting herself through social media, working primarily in canvas and family portraits. By the time she was 18, she had already been doing commissioned work for years. She graduated high school in 2020 at 17, already living a version of the life she’d imagined as a child.

Gilbert admits that college was never part of the plan. Art school wasn’t financially possible, so she chose a different route entirely: she and her boyfriend, Justin, bought a shuttle bus and converted it themselves, taking nearly a year to build it out before they hit the road.

There wasn’t room in the bus for canvases, but the need to paint remained. “That’s how I stumbled into murals,” Gilbert says. Armed with bucket paint and brushes, she took on two jobs in Alabama, then began traveling farther afield. Georgia led to Utah, then Washington; one project quickly opened the door to the next.

“Learning how to talk to people was the biggest thing,” she says of life on the road. Working across regions and cultures sharpened not only her communication, but her perspective. “In two years, I felt like I lived 50 years of life.”

Eventually, the couple returned to Alabama. Now based around Alabaster and McCalla, she’s made it her mission to bring more public art to her home state. “Out West, you see mural after mural,” she says. “Since 2023, I’ve been on a mission to make Alabama more beautiful.”

Her inspiration often begins with people and nature—subjects she says she could paint endlessly. She points to Nina Valkhof for her magical nature scenes and to Krimsone for his bold color choices and surreal pairings of portraits and birds. The influence shows up in work that feels imaginative, magical, and slightly otherworldly.

One of her favorite projects in the past year came on Montevallo’s main street, where she was given full creative freedom. Despite difficult weather, the experience stood out. “They trusted me completely,” Gilbert says. “Projects like that make me fall more in love with my work, and that one really lit a fire in me.”

This year brings even larger opportunities, including another large-scale mural in Atlanta (she completed a staggering 15,000 square foot piece there last spring). The scale has grown, but her approach remains unchanged.

Looking back, Gilbert can understand the concern voiced by teachers and others who questioned a future built on art. “I can come from a place of empathy now,” she says. “But at the time, I did feel like I had something to prove.” That feeling has since softened. “I just want to paint and have a good time. I’m not trying to prove a point.”

What hasn’t softened is her resolve–when she commits to something, she follows through.

For young creatives unsure where to begin, her advice is straightforward. “I didn’t really have a plan,” Gilbert says. “The scariest part is starting—but once you start, you gain momentum.” One booking leads to another. Possibility builds. “The first step is the hardest,” she adds. “But you can make something incredible happen.”

And in Alabama, thanks to Gilbert, there’s now a little more beauty—and a lot more color—on the walls.

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