[5] During World War II, the then 18-year old Kish began working for the Pennsylvania Railroad as a mechanic and then a carpenter.

Impressed with the quality of her work, the insurance company hired her as an artist and she was sent on trips throughout New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York to record details of accidents.

[1] After the war, Kish began working as an illustrator and freelance artist full-time and traveled around for various jobs.

[2] Kish's career in paleoart began in 1974, when she was approached by the paleontologist Dale Russell to produce artwork for a slide projection show about dinosaurs for children.

Russell had become aware of her work through a large mural Kish had painted in the Canadian Museum of Nature.

The project took two years and Kish considered it to have "made her career", earning her enough money to fund a studio for herself.

[1] In recent times, several of Kish's dinosaurs have been assessed as "shrink-wrapped", i.e. possessing unrealistically low amounts of soft tissue.

[11] Kish paid much attention to the coloration of the animals she depicted and took their ecological roles and niches into account when deciding how to paint them.