Anita Phillips has loved art since her days of crayons and coloring books, receiving her first art set for Christmas at age five. She has been drawing and painting ever since. "Now I carry a camera everywhere because every outing seems to hold another image that quickly becomes the next painting. I don't think I could ever get all the images that are in my head onto paper."

Studying art in school but having no formal training, she started painting professionally about age 25. After studying four years in semi-private lessons with a wildlife artist, she set out to develop her own style, painting everything from delicate florals to whimsical children's designs.

Inspired by all of nature and influenced by a lifetime in the Midwest, she loves painting the things she has always encountered in her daily life there. "My favorite things to paint are in my own backyard." Anita now I lives about 30 minutes out of St. Louis in the hillsides of rural Missouri with her youngest son and her husband.

To see some of Anita's designs, click here.

Biography and photo used with permission of the artist.