Dominique Bachelet was born and raised in northern France. Her maternal great grandfather was an “artiste peintre” who died at the turn of the 20th century. Some of his paintings are still hanging in the museum of her home town Arras. Her father, while a mechanic by training, could draw and paint very well. He encouraged her early on to draw animals from the farm and pastoral landscapes around his native village.
Dominique came to the US in August 1979. After a year in West Virginia, she moved to Colorado. As a graduate student on a budget she enjoyed drawing and making her own posters to decorate her bedroom. She also drew all her Christmas cards.
In 1984 she moved to southern California for 2 years, then to New Mexico for another two years. In both places she took a few watercolor classes with local teachers. She continued taking sporadic drawing and watercolor classes in Oregon where she moved in 1988. She came to Olympia in 2000 where she met the watercolor artist and teacher Melodi Cottongim. She took Melodi’s Friday classes as regularly as her work schedule allowed. Back in Corvallis since 2012, she started taking regular watercolor classes with Lynn Powers in Albany until Lynn's untimely death in 2016.
Dominique first showed her watercolors in 2005 at the Olympia Fall Arts walk. Her friends have enjoyed her homemade greetings cards and some even display her original watercolors on their walls in Asheville and Franklin (NC), Seattle and Olympia (WA), Corvallis (OR), Albuquerque and Las Cruces (NM), Bozeman (MT), Arras, Boulogne, Toulouse and Paris (France). Dominique's day-time job is climate change impacts research and in 2007 she organized an art show in Portland on the theme of climate change, asking Olympia school children and a few professional artists she knew to compete for the prize of the best of show. Given the lack of support for climate change research with the new administration in 2017 she decided to semi-retire and spend more of her time painting.
Dominique came to the US in August 1979. After a year in West Virginia, she moved to Colorado. As a graduate student on a budget she enjoyed drawing and making her own posters to decorate her bedroom. She also drew all her Christmas cards.
In 1984 she moved to southern California for 2 years, then to New Mexico for another two years. In both places she took a few watercolor classes with local teachers. She continued taking sporadic drawing and watercolor classes in Oregon where she moved in 1988. She came to Olympia in 2000 where she met the watercolor artist and teacher Melodi Cottongim. She took Melodi’s Friday classes as regularly as her work schedule allowed. Back in Corvallis since 2012, she started taking regular watercolor classes with Lynn Powers in Albany until Lynn's untimely death in 2016.
Dominique first showed her watercolors in 2005 at the Olympia Fall Arts walk. Her friends have enjoyed her homemade greetings cards and some even display her original watercolors on their walls in Asheville and Franklin (NC), Seattle and Olympia (WA), Corvallis (OR), Albuquerque and Las Cruces (NM), Bozeman (MT), Arras, Boulogne, Toulouse and Paris (France). Dominique's day-time job is climate change impacts research and in 2007 she organized an art show in Portland on the theme of climate change, asking Olympia school children and a few professional artists she knew to compete for the prize of the best of show. Given the lack of support for climate change research with the new administration in 2017 she decided to semi-retire and spend more of her time painting.
