The daughter of a solicitor, Emily Paterson was born in Edinburgh in 1855 and studied at the Edinburgh College of Art, as well as in Paris.  She lived at Albyn Place, Edinburgh before moving to London in 1917, having travelled widely between 1909-1934, visiting the Netherlands and Italy on a number of occasions.

Her favoured subjects were landscapes, architecture and botany. She was elected member of the Royal Scottish Watercolour Society, Scottish Artists' Society and the Society of Women Artists.

Emily had a special affection for the west country and loved painting the sea. She worked in Polperro in c.1932. An exhibition review described her pictures of Polperro as 'delicate, sensitive studies, in which the subtle greens, greys and blues of evening and of dull mornings are seen and successfully reproduced, sometimes in a manner which suggests the work of Whistler.'

Just before her death she was elected to STISA. Emily died in London on the 23rd July, 1934 - a memorial exhibition was held at Walker's Gallery, London later the same year. The painting St Ives (undated) was sold at Christies, London, South Kensington on 27 January 1999.