JoEllen considers herself primarily a plein air painter. She paints mostly in the mid-Atlantic region and has a studio in Northwest DC. She is currently represented by two east coast galleries. She has been accepted and won awards in several national and regional pastel and plein air shows.

In her past life she was a medical illustrator, an art director at The Washington Post and a portraitist. She found her true calling when she picked up her first pastel stick. “Pastels are a combination of drawing and painting, plus the medium in unsurpassed for its color vibrancy” she says.

She has been juried into plein air events up and down the Eastern seaboard including Easels in Frederick, Wayne and Paint Annapolis among others.