Artist Virginia Carroll draws many things, from cacti and desert landscapes to portraits and still lifes.
Virginia Carroll had an artistic eye growing up.
When she was 6 years old, her mom signed her up for drawing classes. Carroll’s artistic inclinations soon led her to other mediums, such as watercolors, pastels and oil paints.
She studied art in college, eventually taking a break from creating to start a family. But it remained in the back of her mind.
“Even though I wasn’t actively working in it, I was always thinking about it,” she says.
In 2006, as part of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum’s membership program, Carroll received a catalog in the mail for the museum’s arts program.
“Being a member, I thought, ‘Gee, I should support that,’” Carroll says. “I looked through (the catalog) again and there was a class called ‘Intro to Colored Pencil.’ I thought, ‘Gee, colored pencil. I can do that half-asleep. I may as well take that class.’
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“I signed up for it and the first day, (the instructor) did a PowerPoint presentation of her work and some other work with colored pencils. My jaw was on the floor,” she says. “I couldn’t believe you could do that kind of thing with colored pencil. I was hooked.”
Just like that, Carroll found her medium.
