Local area artist Dianna Fowler has been captivating audiences for decades using musical and painting skills that have been self-taught and honed over years of practice.

Although she considers herself primarily a musician, Fowler started her painting career following the death of her son twenty years ago. She was preparing to produce an album of her original songs when the incident occured, but the devastation of that loss stole her voice.

“I was getting ready to make a cassette of some songs I had written and I couldn’t sing. My mom came to visit me and told me I had to sing. I told my mom I can’t sing. You can’t sing when you’ve lost your child,” said Fowler. “My mom kept coming back for almost three months.”

Fowler’s mother finally convinced her to buy canvas and other visual art supplies so the pair could learn to paint together utilizing how-to videos.

“I told her I never wanted to paint in my life. I don’t know how to paint, but I’ll do it for you,” said Fowler. “So we went to a little place called Republic, MO and bought everything we needed.”

Fowler found that not only could she paint, but that she enjoyed it and it was good therapy for therapy for her.

“I think of nothing else but what I’m doing while I am painting,” said Fowler. “I don’t think of anything else but this paint and what I’m trying to create or make with it. So that was very good therapy for me. I wasn’t very good at it, but I thought that I am going to just be the best I can be.”

Fowler only paints when she has inspiration. Luckily, there seems to be no end for the sources she finds to put her talents to work.

“I don’t want to paint just to be painting,” Fowler said. “I want it to be something I like, or something that speaks to me, or something that may speak to someone else.”

Fowler’s paintings include several rustic country scenes that include horses, old houses, cowboys, barns, and scenic landscapes. She also isn’t afraid to inspect these kinds of works of art while she is out in public.

“I was raised partially on a farm and I just love certain things,” said Fowler. “We’ll be in a restaurant or on a trip and if there is any kind of good art on the wall my husband will be finding a table and I’ll stare at it. It’s like taking an art lesson. I’m looking to see what they did to bring it together.”

Fowler originally only painted for herself, but she began to give her paintings to family and friends as gifts. When she moved to Jefferson City, she joined the Jefferson City Art Club after being told about it by a friend.

“I got very interested in it. The president (of the organization) at that time was so helpful and good to me,” said Fowler. “She would kind of mentor me. She immediately told me I need to hang (paintings) with professionals.”

Fowler was reluctant at first, but the continued encouragement from her friend finally paid off.

“I told her I don’t want to hang with professionals. I’m self-taught and told her they went to college and they’d chew me up and spit me out,” said Fowler. “She said no and that I was a professional and you must hang with the professionals. I felt it was a great honor.”

Fowler has now participated in multiple art shows, won awards, and has had her paintings exhibited in galleries such as Capital Arts in Jefferson City, MO.

“I was very honored to be asked to hang at the Runge Conservation Center in Jefferson City,” Fowler said. “Hanging a painting at Runge Conservation Center is by invitation only. My painting is hanging there right now.”

This year Fowler has hung another painting at Runge Conservation Center. It is a depiction of a baby raccoon peeking over a hollowed out log.

Fowler has been humbled with the amount of support she has received inside the art community, from kind words of encouragement to unexpected monetary gains from the sale of her paintings; which can sell from anywhere between $500.00 and $1,200.00.

“I’ve sold a lot and I can not believe how much this one lady likes my horse paintings,” said Fowler. “I can paint a horse and put it on Facebook and before the paint is dry she will be on there saying I want that.”

Even with a successful painting career, music remains Fowler’s first artistic love. Several members of her family played instruments and, as a little girl, she would often ask them to show her how they created the chords and notes. She would even ask her musically inclined friends and their family for advice.

“My friend Joyce Helton’s sister Leona played the guitar,” said Fowler. “She could really play. I stayed the night at their house one time and I asked her to teach me how to do that. The one thing she told me was that if I wanted to play guitar I needed to keep my fingernails short.”

Fowler recalled that the first song she learned how to play was “Beautiful Brown Eyes” and that the daughter of one of her mom’s friends was the one who taught her.

“We lived out in the country and some friends of my parents visited,” recalls Fowler. “Their daughter said she could play the guitar so I took her and my mother’s guitar up to my room and told her I wanted to learn. She was nice enough to write down finger placements for the song and where to change chords at.”

Fowler describes her songs and style as “non typical gospel” music and favors the twelve-string guitar as her instrument of choice. She has been asked to, and has performed, her music in churches as well as being a guest speaker at St. Francis Borgia High School in Washington, MO for one of the school’s career days.

“I’ve been asked to sing at celebration recovery programs and homeless shelters,” Fowler said. “I do that because there are some songs that fit them so much. I have one song I wish I could sing to a thousand people because I know it would touch their heart.”

People have also asked Fowler to make CDs for them and have told her that they would sell them in their stores.

“I’d like to do it, but I’d want it to sound professional,” said Fowler. “It can cost a lot of money to make it professional, so I’m going to make an attempt at recording it myself. I ordered something that will help me do that.”

Fowler doesn’t know where her art will take her next, but she is enjoying the creative process and looks forward to completing more pieces and sharing them with the world.

“I am a storyteller,” said Fowler. “There is a little bit of a story behind each picture and song. See that church? There’s a village behind it. The clouds have opened up and you can see the stars. A little deer stopped to listen because he can hear them singing in the church. All of my paintings and songs tell a story.”