Dorothy Dooley Prescott Artist Fine Art Pastels

If you had asked Dorothy when she was a young girl, what she wanted to be when she grew up, her answer would have been, "An Artist" (--or "An Attorney"--because she heard they made a lot of money!)  As a child growing up in the Pacific Northwest, she was always drawing and painting on anything she could get her hands on, including her dad's seminary papers, her headboard, the driveway... It turned out that she grew up to be a 7th grade Language Arts teacher, and a mother; both careers she loved.  But she still yearned to paint, to represent the beauty around her with her own voice and vision.  Upon retirement, she moved to Prescott, Arizona, after three years as a nomad traveling the world and U.S. The 3rd bedroom was officially designated "The Studio",  and the painting journey began.  After working in watercolor, she tried pastels and immediately fell in love with the medium.  Blessed to have a master pastel instructor in town, she has been developing her craft and defining her vision

Arizona and Prescott in particular, abound in beauty and variety. At nearly every turn, I encounter a unique scene that captures and compels me to give it expression. When I am immersed in creating a painting, I feel alive with anticipation.  I find painting to be a microcosm of life: Some days are disappointing—painful even; others, turn out just as I expected; yet some moments are magical—far beyond anything I had imagined! Life has taught me that these magical moments can only exist with the others as their companions. There can be no magic if there has been no pain. Although I have learned to accept the whole of it,  it is for those moments of transcendence, that I love to paint.