Hello my friends! Here is a little history of myself. I was born Pamela Beckenbaugh, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. I became a budding artist at an early age.

In elementary school my favorite subject was art. I always entered the school Polio Poster Board contests. That was where I decided that I wanted to grow up and become a Commercial Artist. As a minor and without my parents consent, I entered the “Paint Me” contest that you always see in magazines and signed up for a very expensive correspondence art course. My parents were lucky that I was a minor and legally unable to sign a contract. That got me out of that very expensive deal!

Then it was onto the Academy of Sacred Heart boarding High School in Sag Harbor, New York where I had a close relationship with the art teacher. I was very shy and quiet and found an escape in the attic art room where I stayed after evening study hall until lights out! I drew with charcoal and painted with oils as often as I could! When my sister, Noreen, who was 6 years younger than me, would get sick or hurt, I would paint her a picture to brighten her up!

After graduation, I still wanted to become a Commercial Artist, but my mother felt that this career was too competitive. So I changed my direction to a High School English teacher. Figure that one out! Of course that didn’t work out after only one semester of college! Enough of that wrong career direction!

When I came home, my mother sent me to an art school in New York City, the American Academy of Art, where I used charcoal and oils on portraits with live models. After six months, my mother could not afford to continue supporting me, so I started working in an office and put art aside. That was 1965!

I didn’t get back to art until 1998 when I fell in love with the decorative painting of Donna Dewberry. I found a certified teacher in Smithtown, Kim Barone, and painted with her as often as she had classes. Two years ago, I became certified and started teaching at the Sachem High School Adult Education Program.

A close friend of mine, Rebecca Kirshy, introduced me to a Roz Stallcup design at Pat Lolly’s studio. Then about a year ago, she brought me to a studio known as Country Crafts in East Northport. Since then I can’t get enough of decorative painting! My love for this form of art is so great that I am opening a home studio here in Lake Ronkonkoma. I will be able to paint and teach as often as I please! Check my website often for future developments and class schedules!

I feel that when you are doing what you truly love, it is a labor of love! Every time I sit down to paint, all time flies by. I truly feel that this is God’s design for me! I came to this design by a very round the bend path! Ha! Ha! The important issue here is that I am where God wants me to be! I want to pass my love of His nature onto all whom I meet! Maybe that someone will be you! I am looking forward to meeting and working with you either in my home studio, local high school or Michael’s Craft Store in the future! Call and say hello (516-647-3090) and I know that we will become friends in art for a very long time!

Pamela