During high school, Zelda apprenticed with a number of artists in the New York area and eventually won a scholarship to the Savannah College of Art and Design, where she earned a BA in Fine Art. Throughout this period, she pursued her studies of color theory and painting, continuing to find in these endeavors great creative stimulus and inspiration.

Zelda became preoccupied early in life with matters of form and composition, and these concerns actively shaped her interests and her expressions. However, the duotone, black and white world of photojournalism could not compare in her mind and heart with the expression of color, texture and feeling that she found possible with the paintbrush. My work is inspired photographically, says Zelda, but I take it beyond the ordinary representation to create a harmonious blend of texture with composition.