Pamela Dennis Hall had her first show in the first grade and by the age of ten she sent sketches off for critique by her favorite equine illustrator, Paul Brown. His encouragement prompted her quest to pursue a career as a painter. Her formal art education began with weekend classes at the Cleveland Institute of Art and by her senior year of high school, she had won the National Scholastic Gold Medal for illustration. Hall received a Bachelor of Science in art education at Ohio State University where she studied figure drawing with Sidney Chaftiz. She attributes the numerous hours in the studio and her understanding of draftsmanship as the foundation for her interest in portraiture. She attended John Howard Sanden’s Master Class at the Portrait Institute and has studied with Daniel Greene, Carolyn Anderson, David Leffel, and Sherrie McGraw.
Since 1990, she has been working as a professional artist, painting portraits. She is a member of the Portrait Society of America. She has won numerous awards including Best Texas Artist and People’s Choice at the 2008 Art Show at the Dog Show at Wichita, Kansas.
A passionate lover of animals since early childhood, Hall developed an interest in canine portraiture. The works of the Victorians Landseer and Stubbs were sources of inspiration, particularly the softness, expression and the quality of light falling on the subjects of the paintings.