Born and raised in Houston, Judy traveled east to Roanoke, Virginia for college, earning a BA in Studio Art from Hollins College (now University) in 1978. Besides her fine arts training at Hollins, she continued the cartooning she had started in high school throughout her college years with editorials, illustrations, and even a weekly comic strip in the school's student newspaper.

     After a year and a half of work and thru-hiking the entire Appalachian Trail, Judy headed to New York City to continue her studies at the Art Students League. Studying with Robert Philipp, she immersed herself in figure and portrait painting. A job took her to Virginia and after a couple of years there, she returned to Houston to stay. Back in Houston, Judy enhanced her art with classes at the Art League studying with Cholla. Additionally,  she studied at the Museum of Fine Arts Glassell School with Charles Schorre and Suzanne Mann, where she was the recipient of a portfolio-based scholarship.

     Judy put aside art for a number of years when she was a full-time mother and part-time employee. She did occasional art projects, usually related to her church and children's involvements. When her youngest child went off to college in 2010, she picked up her brushes in earnest again. She decided to reflect on her decades-long love of the outdoors and paint landscapes based on her and her family's adventures traveling throughout the United States. She undertook a number of commissions for people and began to sell Giclee prints and greeting cards of her art.

     Additionally, over the past two years, Judy has explored collaging -- fascinated with the juxtaposition of shapes and images, sometimes random, sometimes ironic or humorous. As well as non-representational layering of colors on canvas.

     These days, she divides her time between Houston, TX and McCall, ID. Judy continues her pursuit of outdoor adventures, often with one or all three of her grown children. Beautiful places can be found almost anywhere and Judy loves the search. She has not lost her fascination with capturing the uniqueness of people in paintings and cartoons. Whether it's the natural world, shape and color, or that fascinating creation called humans, Judy feels she has enough subject matter to keep her happily occupied for years to come.

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