A painter and illustrator, Dorothea Francis underwent training under Miss Nankivell and Catherine Hardess in Melbourne. Subsequently, she pursued further studies alongside her sister Margaret at the George Bell School. Her artistic contributions were showcased in exhibitions organized by the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors, as well as the Melbourne Contemporary Artists, earning her a prize from the former in 1937. Francis exhibited alongside notable female artists like Lina Bryans and Isabel Tweddle. In 1937, she provided illustrations for an early Australian edition of Alice in Wonderland. Her inaugural solo exhibition took place in Mornington in 1955.
Francis participated in a joint exhibition with the Victorian Artists Society in 1946, alongside Dora Serle and Alan Sumner. Notably, her work "Composition" was praised for its ability to "weave the figures of a woman, a child, and a dog in a fruit-shop into a rhythmical design, executed in patches of clear color."
Her artistic legacy extends to having works included in the collections of the State Library Victoria and the Heide Museum of Modern Art.