Nedra grew up on her family farm in the Great Plains of Nebraska which led to a lifelong love of the outdoors. Her early education was in a one room school house where Friday was dedicated to art. Imagine: one school day devoted to art! This instilled at an early age the love of art and the outdoors would be a part of her life.
After high school Smith chose to pursue an art education at George Washington University. At the time GW was one of the only universities teaching a classical approach to art education. After college she spent years working as a graphic artist and art director but her desire to paint never faded.
Finally she took the plunge and deciding to pursue painting went to Chengdu China to study figure painting with He Gong, a master painter, who taught at Sichuan University.
Returning to the states Nedra was introduced to plein-air painting while studying with Kevin McPherson. With her love of the outdoors and plein-air painting she had found the perfect match.
Over the years Nedra has had the opportunity to study with some of the top painters such as; Scott Christensen, Danial Gerhartz, Roger Dale Brown, Carolyn Anderson to name a few.
Nedra and her husband live in Rappahannock Virginia where any direction you look is a painting possibility.
She is happiest outdoors with brush in had.
