Doris Ingram, a long-time resident of Lewes, has been painting for almost 50 years and has been a Delaware Watercolor Society member since 2005. She has drawn all of her life and particularly enjoys painting en plein air because of her love of the outdoors and nature. Although watercolor is her favorite medium, she also paints in oil. Some of her favorite painting subjects are old buildings, farms, seascapes, and landscapes as well as portraits. “Painting is creative fun—relaxing, educational, and always a challenge,” says Ingram. She and a small group of friends often travel to Southern France or to the western U.S. to paint.

 

These days, Ingram splits her time between Delaware and Vermont, where she’s a signature member of the Vermont Watercolor Society. The Town of Lewes and the Lewes Historical Society have honored her with special art commissions, and she has been a regular fixture at the St. Peter’s Art Show in Lewes for 30 years.

 

Although her early career was as a high school home economics and general science teacher, art has always been part of her life, including weekly instruction at her Lewes and Vermont studios. “I learn along with my students. It’s a good way to discover new techniques,” she adds.

 

Ingram is the former President of the Board of Directors for the Yard School of Art in Montclair, NJ, where she helped raise scholarship money for handicapped art students as well as initiated an endowment fund. She treasured the many opportunities to visit and speak to organizations about the students and their art. When she moved to Delaware in the 1980s, she served on a panel of the State Art Council, which judged and juried artists’ and their work for display in state buildings in Wilmington. She is now represented by Peninsula Gallery in Lewes.