A native of Hampton, this award-winning artist started painting after retirement in 1988, taking her first art lessons with Johanna Obeck. At that time Johanna invited her students to participate in an outdoor art show. After selling three paintings at that first show, Nancy Kearney was encouraged to continue painting. She studied with Joanne Howard and several other local artists.

Her work has been shown in This Century Gallery, Nansemond-Suffolk Academy, the Charles H. Taylor Art Center, Phoebus Arts Factory, and the Magnolia House. She has also sold her work through several outdoor shows. 

Kearney and her husband spend many hours on their boat traveling the local waterways where she takes photographs that inspire her work.