Cleary hung solo shows in many Kansas communities, taught drawing, composition and watercolor for Fort Scott Community College Outreach Program and taught public school art for 7 years.

Cleary’s watercolor painting “May’s First Born” was included in the 115th Annual Exhibition of the American Watercolor Society at the National Academy of Design Gallery in New York City, NY, and was selected for a 12 month traveling exhibit, one of her greater accomplishments.

After seeing an exhibit of Nicolai Fechin’s work in the 1990s, Cleary chose oil as her preferred medium, concentrating in plein air landscapes. Cleary also worked in sculpture and printmaking for a short period of time, operated a gallery and art supply business, was co-founder of Art Adventures, an educational and working tour program for professional artists, and was included in Who’s Who in American Art.

Cleary traveled extensively to New Mexico and Maine in the 1980s
and 90s for inspiration, and while there, mastered the landscape. Her oil
paintings include many New Mexico skies, botanicals, and prairie landscapes. Most of her paintings have been published and printed, and are in private and corporate collections, and museums throughout the United States.

A great admirer of Monet and Fechin, and some of the California plein air painters, Cleary said, “I try to push the color (and some of the principles involved in color theory) in the direction that I think these artists might have if they were still painting today.” Allowing her vibrant work to speak for itself, Barbara believed her intention or what she “meant” when she created the piece, has little validity for anyone else. “I can’t tell people what to see,” she explained, “because each person sees through the veil of his own experience.”

While Cleary didn’t acknowledge it at the time, her change in career and lifestyle in the 60s directly challenged the social conventions of the era; like many other women artists of that decade, she faced gender biases and difficulties in trading her work and gaining recognition. Despite the
challenges faced in the early years of her career, she found success in showing and selling her work in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s. Her bold choices as a wife, mother, and artist contributed to the progressive Women’s movements of the 60s and 70s and gave her a life of fulfillment and adventure.

Her later years were spent living and working with David Gross, friend and painter.