Her Web site notes:

“As teachers, both Vennema and her husband are able to spend the summer with their two children, Oriana, and Casey. They quickly settle in to ‘Island Time,’ on Swan’s Island, a small island off Mt. Desert Island, where Vennema's family has summered for over 53 years. Here, Vennema paints the waters, woods, rocks and trees of Swan's and surrounding islands ‘en plain air’ using acrylic paints. During the winter months, back in her home studio in Portland, Vennema pushes herself to experiment. Her studio works are executed using the hot wax medium known as encaustic, and these works have ranged from semi-abstract landscapes, to fully abstract mixed media works.’’