The sisters settled in the north central California town of Redlands, and in time Marie came to marry Dudley Kendall, a journalism teacher, around 1912. In 1914, Marie attended summer classes at Carmel by the Sea which led to further painting studies with Jean Mannheim in Los Angeles. Subsequently Marie and Dudley needed a place to stay, and began spending their summers in Laguna Beach. In 1921, the couple moved there where they continued their teaching careers.

In the March 1939 issue of The Western Woman, an observer wrote that Marie communed with nature throughout her career. Closer to home she would sketch California's deserts, coasts, redwoods and the High Sierra, while making longer excursions to the Canadian Rockies, Newfoundland, New England, and New York. Her enthusiasm for painting also poured over to promoting her work in numerous exhibitions, including the California Art Club, the Society of Independent Artists in New York, the Laguna Beach Art Association, and the California State Fair. Source: Philip and Marian Yoshiki Kovinick, Women Artists of the American West 1998.