Her father, William Nassau Holmes, was an Irish schoolmaster and her mother, Lilla Edith (néeThorne), was a Tasmanian-born teacher.

Her mother recognised Holmes' "good sense of colour" from a young age and encouraged her to pursue art.

Holmes attended the Hobart Technical College from 1918 to 1935, where she studied art under the tutelage of Lucien Dechaineux and Mildred Lovett.

[1] In the 1930s, Holmes operated a studio in Hobart together with Lovett, Florence Rodway, Dorothy Stoner, Ethel Nicholls, and Violet Vimpany.

Her work was well-received by critics and from 1938 to 1951, she had seven exhibitions in Melbourne, where she met artists Danila Vassilieff, Eveline Syme, George Bell, and Arnold Shaw.