“Both of my parents were parents were painters – I grew up with the smell of turpentine.”  Pam Ingalls told the audience during her portrait demonstration at the Bennington Center for the Arts as part of AWA’s events surrounding their annual Juried Art Show September 20 – 24, 2016.

She studied art at the Accademia Di Bella Arti in Florence, Italy, and received her art degree from Gonzaga University in Washington.  Pam mentored with the Russian Impressionist Ron Lucas – a protegee of Sergei Bongart.  “Sergei supposedly said, ‘Don’t paint the fleas before the dog!’  In other words, don’t paint the details first.”  During the demo Pam started with a quick drawing, worked on dark masses, followed by lights and smaller shapes, then darkest darks and lightest lights.

Pam likes a buttery feel to her paints and achieves this using Daniel Smith’s painting medium.  Her limited palette includes: Cad Yellow Medium, Cad Red Light, Alizarin Crimson, Ultra Marine Blue (“very little!”), Black, and Titanium White.

While painting, Pam likes to listen to music.  During the demonstration she turned on Portuguese Fado and escaped into her painting.