Priscilla Hauser, MDA, is a dynamic and amiable painter, instructor and key influence in the creation of the decorative painting industry.  Her book, For Whom the Brush Tolls Vol. I, served as the catalyst for expanding the industry.   

Decorative painting is a diverse art form, utilizing a variety of techniques and media to decorate functional and non-functional surfaces.  Tole painting, historically used to describe decorative painting on tin surfaces, was in its early days confined to only tin; however, Priscilla educated artists about painting on surfaces such as glass, wood, or even canvas.  Thereafter, an industry was born.   

Priscilla's journey as an artist spans more than forty years, sparked by an appreciation of a beautifully painted camel-back trunk she fell in love with as an adolescent.  As an adult, Priscilla took a six-week course in tole painting at her local YMCA.  Afterward, she began painting and honing her style from her garage studio, which led to sales of her artwork and classes.   

The demand for Priscilla's classes built up.  Eventually, her class sizes outgrew her garage studio space, resulting in the opening of Priscilla's Little Red Tole House in 1964.  Priscilla, a high-energy, innovative and enterprising woman, also began to create instructional art books. Dimensional Glass Painting, written in 1969, was the first of more than 250 books she's authored.   

Envisioning an organization for teachers of tole painting, Priscilla--future founder of the Society of Decorative Painters--began a start-up fund to realize her dream.   Interested painters, many of them her students, contributed to the fund.  In 1972, Priscilla gathered 22 artists together at the Camelot Hotel in Tulsa, Oklahoma to form an organization for decorative painters.  Influential, well known artists including Mary Jo Leisure and Peggy Hobbs were in attendance.  This historically significant meeting is considered the birth of The National Society of Tole and Decorative Painters, now known as the Society of Decorative Painters (SDP). The organization's mission is to stimulate worldwide interest in and appreciation for decorative painting, to recognize diversity of and excellence in the art form, and to serve as the resource center for all aspects of decorative painting.  

Priscilla Hauser is truly a living legend.  Her contributions to the growth of the decorative painting industry are unparallelled.  Passionate and confident in her belief that she can teach anyone how to paint, Priscilla has appeared in television series, authored instructional art books and shared her knowledge and love of painting with burgeoning artists throughout the world.  Her motivating force