Crayons, colored pencils, and paints have always been in her hands, even as a child. As her enthusiasm of oil painting grew, her desire to learn and study intensified. In 1990 Suzie took her first art class. Since then, she has continued to sharpen her skills and expand her knowledge through several internationally acclaimed wildlife artists.

A professional diving instructor for over 30 years, Suzie, the first woman to teach diving as a license instructor, traveled the world to teach diving. While working for the CIA, she taught CIA agents, Secret Service Agents, US Marshals, FBI Agents and other law enforcement personnel how to dive. Traveling gave Suzie the opportunity to see extraordinary creatures up close, which she has captured in her paints. Suzie has also traveled worldwide to paint, including the rainforest in Guatemala, Alaska and Africa. Suzie has now expanded her artwork to include aquatic mammals, African birds and mammals, and landscape and figurative work.

Suzie has won several distinguished awards for her art including Artist of the Year from the Ocean Foundation, exhibited at Birds in Art at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, the Bennington Art Museum's Art and the Animal Kingdom Tour, Coos Bay Art Museum where she received an Award of Merit, and Grant's Pass Museum. Suzie was honored by the Raymond James Financial Organization in "Women in Arts" as the first female wildlife artist from their collection. She has won Top 200 and Top 100 in "Arts for the Parks" and has had her artwork published in "The Best of Oil Painting" book.

Suzie has sold pieces at Christie's and Sotheby's Art Auctions in London, the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., and the Honolulu Zoo. Her pieces are collected and shown internationally as well as in several galleries and shows around the US. Suzie is a member of the Society of Animal Artists, the Artists for Conservation, the Wildlife Artists Association, a founding member of Southern Plein Air Artists (SPAA),

a member of Oil Painters of America, and the American Society of Marine Artists. Her new book "My Painting is Done - Now What Do I Do?" was published in 2006.

In addition to working with AFC Suzie has supported a range of conservation and art organizations over the past number of decades. She is licensed by the State of Florida as a Marine Turtle Rescue Personnel and received the Presidents' Volunteer Service Award for her work with Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida.

A few of the other organizations she has worked with include: Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum “Birds in Art”, The Bennington Art Museum, The Ocean Foundation, Coos Bay Art Museum, The Roger Tory Peterson Institute, The Audubon Society, The National Zoo, Honolulu Zoo, Society of Animal Artists, Save our Seabirds Sanctuary, Survival Outreach Sanctuary, Pelican Man's Bird Sanctuary, The Jane Goodall Institute, Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast, Friends of MacArthur Beach State Park, and the Zoological Society of Florida.

received the Distinguished Achievement Award - Celebrating The Natural World from the American Women Artist show in the Loveland Museum, Colorado.  The painting was "Birds of a Feather - Petroglyphs". The show was September 2024. She also received the Honorable Mention awarded for Twilight Alert in the Rocky Mountain National Watermedia show.  This was held in Colorado in August 2024.