Rich Bowman was born in Sherman, TX, in 1969. The place of his upbringing, surrounded by thunderclouds, rolling fields, and flat river plains, has always influenced his landscape paintings; a place that once held boredom and unrest for him now holds beauty, serenity, and intrigue. For Bowman, growing up among the fields and vast plains was childhood of joy and hard work. For years he struggled to find peace with his paintings. He came to the realization that the detail and craft of his illustrative past are secondary to the emotional quality and truth of his work today. Free to paint without the burden of a camera’s detail, the landscapes come from a place filled with feeling, a place that he knows well. It was only a matter of time before it would find its way from his head and onto his canvas. The result is that Bowman's works are both passionate and poetic, dramatic and subtle. He lures the viewer with patches of color juxtaposed to contrast and intrigue. “My paintings today are a direct result of my upbringing and my many years of creating, trying to capture the emotion I have felt from viewing a scene," he explains. "My paintings are not about the details of a specific place. I try to convey a feeling of time and atmosphere through texture, design, and color. My goal is to trigger a familiar feeling in the viewer as they connect to a painting.” Bowman earned his degree in fine art from the Kansas City Art Institute. His vibrant landscapes have been featured in Southwest Art magazine, Southwest Airlines magazine, and United Airlines magazine. He has had numerous exhibitions throughout the country and won several awards for his work, including the Gold Medal in Painting from the Kansas City Art Directors Association in 1992.