Her interest in art began as a child when she studied watercolor and oil from the age of nine, majored in fine arts in college, and later concentrated on figure drawing at Rice University. She worked variously as an illustrator, museum curator and photojournalist before taking up her camera as a fine art medium.

Gail's photography is characterized by dramatic use of light and shadow, delicate tonal variations and exceptional in-camera composition skills. With techniques true to her darkroom background and a classic fine art style, she often selects simple, ordinary subjects and presents them as both beautiful and thought-provoking.

Her fine art images are included in numerous private collections worldwide, as well as the headquarters of Keep New Mexico Beautiful in Albuquerque and the Eye Institute of New Mexico.

Gail recently received two awards in the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science Naturescapes Photo Salon, Migratory Journeys: New Mexico's Wildlife on the Move. She received both the Special Recognition for Best Black-and-white Photography for her image Rufous Hummingbird and Best in Show First Runner-up for her image Tandem at this exhibit.

Additional recent awards and accolades include First Place in the Portrait Division for her image Morning Dove at the Annual New Mexico Photographic Art Show in 2009, Contrast in the 2009 New Mexico Magazine Photo Contest, and the February 2009 New Mexico Magazine cover photo.

She also won National Wildlife Refuge Association Photography Contest Awards in both 2009 and 2008 for her images Tandem and Sandhill Cranes in Flame Sunset, respectively. Her image Bosque at Dusk won both Best in Show and First Place Black-and-White in the 2008 Festival of the Cranes Photo Contest. And in 2002 she received an Excellence in Photography First Place Award from the Texas Press Association for her work as photographer at the Alpine Avalanche. In addition, Gail's images have been juried into exhibits and art fairs throughout the Southwest, and many were awarded prizes at these venues.

She also judges photo competitions and juried exhibits, most recently the 2010 Annual New Mexico Photographic Art Show in Albuquerque.

Gail's photographs have appeared in many books and national publications, including The Birds of Texas (Tveden), For the Birds (Schmauss, Schmauss and Krolick), New Mexico Magazine, New Mexico Vacation Guide, Birding, Winging It, American Birds, and several American Birding Association bird finding guides. In addition, she illustrated Birds of the Trans-Pecos (Peterson and Zimmer) and Birder's Guide to Alabama and Mississippi (Gulf Coast Press), and wrote regular birding columns for the Alpine Avalanche and Penfeathers.

Gail has designed patches and t-shirts for Houston Audubon Society, the Texas Ornithological Society, and the Mexican Wolf Coalition of Texas. She also designed and illustrated educational materials for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and Houston Audubon Society. Gail served for three years on the Texas Bird Records Committee and was East Texas Regional editor for American Birds magazine.