Courtney began her studies in portrait and figure drawing at age 14 under the mentorship of Artist Jeremy Lipking at the California Art Institute. At age 16, she took college courses at The Art Center Pasadena and then continued her studies at the University of California Davis where she received a Bachelors Degree in Studio Art, with a focus on Painting and Printmaking. In 2004, Courtney attended a study abroad program in Brittany, France where she studied landscape painting at the Pont Aven School of Contemporary Art, at the residence in which Paul Gauguin lived and worked. In 2008, Courtney received her MFA in Painting from the New York Academy of Art, Graduate School of Figurative Art where she studied anatomy, contemporary painting and the techniques of the classical masters. Courtney was awarded an artist residency on the island of St. Barths in the French West Indies in 2009. There, she spent 5 weeks living and working at Eden Rock Hotel and Gallery as the Artist in Residence. Courtney has exhibited her work throughout the United States and in France. Courtney now lives and works in Long Beach, California where she is a Full Time Artist, Art Professor, Wife and Mom to two boys.