As an early outlet for her artistic abilities, Weatherly developed a ceramic jewelry business that specialized in patchwork quilt designs.  Once her children were in school however, she returned to her love of drawing and began seeking clients for illustration assignments.  Weatherly researches prospective clients who use her style of art; this may include advertising agencies, magazines, book publishers and small businesses.  She then prepares a packet of sample illustrations and sends them to the art director requesting a future assignment.  With the use of a telephone, fax machine and the internet, Weatherly is able to live outside a metropolitan area and pursue her art.  She has published work with Highlights for Children, Guideposts, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, and United Methodist Publishing House.  

In her personal work Weatherly takes an ordinary scene and twists it in a way that draws the observer into mystery and possibility.  She composes as one might a quilt, combining pieces of playful imagery in a pattern surrounded by a fanciful border.  She often creates a series of paintings because her inspiration cannot be contained in one single picture frame.  This approach stems from working with art directors where she provides several visual ideas for the given text.  She notes, “I try to add a sparkle of vitality in my work. I want viewers to experience imagination and wonder.”  

Weatherly was accepted in the Dixie Art of the Plate Design Competition which was shown at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, NY, in 2003.  She was invited to exhibit in the Prevailing Human Spirit Exhibition at the Society of Illustrators in New York in memory of  9/11, 2002.

After diagnosis and treatment for Breast Cancer in 2006, Weatherly created a body of work about  her experience.  Titled Exposure, A Creative Response to Breast Cancer, the exhibit has traveled extensively along the east coast.

Currently Weatherly is an MFA student in Drawing at Radford University in Virginia.