Debi Mortenson began her art studies in New York City at the age of 7, where she was mentored by WPA artist Albert Pels. From the age of 9 she was exhibiting in shows and winning awards in local and national competitions. She continued to study many disciplines of art at the world-famous Art Student's League in NY, and won acceptance by juried portfolio to the High School of Music and Art in New York. She completed her early training as a fine artist in the City College of New York fine arts program, during which time she began her professional career in art.

Early in her career, Debi followed the lead of the great masters, often bartering her paintings, sculptures and photographs for the necessities of life. Her photographs have not only hung in exhibitions, but have additionally appeared in trade papers, portfolios of actors and dancers, and on taxi-IDs and passports. Her graphics have been included in corporate and non-profit organizations' presentations, and her paintings, photographs, sculpture and prints are now owned by a number of private collectors.

Whether Debi is channeling her unique style of watercolors into a fusion of realism and surrealism, exploiting oil's expressiveness to convey a mood, or utilizing photography to capture exciting images, she endeavors to create a work of art that evokes a response from the observer. Debi now utilizes the digital darkroom for all her photographic processing, as well as digital reproduction for her limited-edition art series.

Although Debi has been represented by a number of galleries over the years, most recently Fine Framing Gallery and Bethel Arts Junction, and her work has hung by invitation at the Redding Town Hall and the Richter Center for the Arts, all in Connecticut, winning both prizes and receiving critical acclaim, as of winter 2005 she exhibits year-round exclusively in her own gallery, the D MORTENSON GALLERY, in Stonington, Maine.