In the 1890s she taught art in the local public schools before in 1895 beginning more formal study[2] in Lynchburg with Bernhard Gutmann.

[1] In the 1910s and 1920s, She continued living at Centerview with her mother; according to family tradition she used the dependency behind the house as a studio during this time.

[2] She chaired the art department at the same institution from 1915 until 1945; during which time she traveled to Philadelphia and Gloucester, Massachusetts for further study.

As an artist she produced mainly miniatures and landscapes, which she showed in galleries along the East Coast and at the Paris Salon.

[3] She had a reputation as a "Bohemian" for much of her life; one student recalled how she could frequently be found covered in paint, and it was noted that she kept her brushes in her hair to ensure she would remember where they were.