Painting Has Changed Anita Bowen’s Perspective

New Anderson Artists Guild member Anita Bowen initially found an outlet for her creativity through hair. “The first thing I bought with money I earned was a wig—not to wear but because I wanted to style the wig and nobody would let me fix their hair,” she said.

She earned a business degree from Emmanuel College in Franklin Springs, Georgia, then completed beauty school. She worked as a cosmetologist for 30 years. Her specialty was color, a talent she often turned on herself. “My hair has been every color there is except jet black,” she said.

She retired five years ago to care for her sister, who’s now in remission with Stage 4 breast cancer and a metastatic brain tumor. During the time, as a stress reliever, Bowen started to paint after learning the basics from online tutorials. She began with oils but eventually settled on acrylics, drawn to the much quicker medium. Her style is impressionistic and full of bright colors. She paints landscapes, flowers, and lots of pet portraits, mostly as gifts and often from photographs. She tried plein air about a year and a half ago but usually stays close to home to help her sister.

She appreciates how painting has changed her perspective. “Now I see things differently,” she said. “Even the trees in my own yard that I walked past for years and clouds, flowers, even weeds become something special, become something individual I can see in my mind blown up. It’s a completely different way than I would have thought of them before.”

Her most recent foray is working with clay. She’s taking lessons from fellow AAG member Joseph Graziano. “I want to expand my horizons,” she said.