Deborah has been a professional botanical illustrator since leaving the National College of Art and Design, Ireland in 1991. She works on a freelance basis for the Royal Horticultural Society and the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew.

Deborah has held the position of Orchid Artist to the Royal Horticultural Society since 2005 and in that time, she has painted more than 500 orchid paintings. In 2014 she joined RHS Picture Advisory Panel which includes judging at the yearly RHS Botanical Art shows at the Saatchi Gallery London.

In 2019 Deborah was awarded the Jill Smythies Award for excellence in scientific botanical illustration by the Linnean Society of London, and in 2020 she received the Margaret Flockton Award 1st Prize from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, for her illustration of a new species of Gastrodia orchid.

Deborah regularly exhibits, talks about her work and does demonstrations.