We had the good fortune of connecting with Pamela Dietrich and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Pamela, are you pursuing your passion?
I am pursuing my passion for art and painting. I do work full-time as a high school art teacher, but I try to paint during any and all free time that I have. My hope is to paint full time at some point. I definitely will when I retire from teaching. Painting is truly my passion and is so relaxing and rewarding. I love to do it for myself, but if someone else loves what I do and purchases a painting, I feel truly blessed.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My artwork can best be described as Pop Art mash-ups. I have a ton of pop culture references and trivia always floating around in my brain. I love when I am brainstorming for ideas and characters come together and make me giggle. That’s when I know what my next painting will be about. If it makes me laugh, I paint it and hope that others will get the reference(s) and make them laugh too. I used to paint just portraits of people, but when I got back into painting, I decided to paint what I really love – things from my childhood or characters that make me happy. Soon after I began painting again, I was picked up by The David Leonardis Gallery in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. I have been represented by Mr. Leonardis for over three years now!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would definitely take them to Fred’s, in Fort Worth, for the best hamburger around! I would also take them to Desperado’s Mexican Restaurant (on Greenville Ave.) for the best chicken fajitas anywhere! I’m not really into alcohol, but we’d probably have a margarita at either El Fenix or Chuy’s. We’d have to have thin crust, sausage pizza from Pizza Inn (in Midlothian or Duncanville). We would have the best breakfast at La Madeleine on Camp Bowie Blvd. in Fort Worth. We would definitely go record shopping at Doc’s records in Fort Worth or Top Ten Records in Oak Cliff. For historical fun, I’d take them to see Lee Harvey Oswald’s boarding house in Oak Cliff. You can set up a time to sit with the owner and see his actual room. It hasn’t changed since 1963. It was really very interesting and brings history to life to visit in person.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to dedicate my shoutout to my sister and brother-in law for sending me to Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. My husband and I had been struggling with money for a long while, it was always one thing after another (we always seemed to have the worst luck). It truly had me very depressed. I hadn’t done any of my own painting for years. After taking the course, I decided to really focus on getting back into painting as a side-hustle, hoping to sell a few to help pay down debt. My paintings took off almost immediately and have been in several galleries since I started. Now, I paint in all of my free time and do really well with it. We will also be debt free in February!

Website: pameladietrichalteredartworks.weebly.com/ www.DLGalleries.com
Instagram: @pameladietrichart @oldmotelsigns
Linkedin: Pamela Dietrich
Twitter: @PammyDietrich
Facebook: Pamela Tyner Dietrich
Youtube: Pamela Tyner Dietrich

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