Southwest Art – August 2019

AUGUST 2019 • WWW.SOUTHWESTART.COM 65

of applying to art school, Gutting chose

to study for the next few years with her

mother. “Since I wasn’t thrilled with

the idea of moving across the country to

go to art school, it was a wonderful way

to move forward,” she says.

Her mother turned out to be a tough

taskmaster, advising Gutting to wait

several years before picking up oil

paints. Concentrate on drawing skills

instead, she said. Gutting obliged and

worked strictly in pen and ink, pen-

cil, and watercolor during those early

years. Eventually she enrolled in nu-

merous workshops, including ones with

Ray Roberts, Bruce Greene, Phil Starke,

and most recently with Greg Beecham.

Beecham offered her invaluable advice,

Gutting says: “Know your critters.”

Indeed, as Buddy Le points out, Gut-

ting is recognized for her knowledge

of “critter” anatomy. “There’s an au-

thenticity to her work because of her

Gettin’ Good at This, oil, 24 x 24.

on an animal—the family’s unsuspect-
ing white bull terrier, Billy. In her young
eyes, Billy was a walking blank canvas.
“It was nontoxic paint. No animals
were harmed in the making of my ca-
reer,” Gutting jokes.
Meanwhile Gutting’s father, Ran-
dall, also played a part in her future ca-
reer. As a teenager, the budding artist
worked as her father’s assistant in his
veterinary practice. She assisted him in
everything from performing a C-section
on a cat to administering an IV drip
to an ailing equine patient in the wee
hours of the morning.
By the time she completed her high-
school studies, she had more training
in art and animal anatomy than the av-
erage teenager. It comes as no surprise
that she married her two interests to-
gether, settling on a career as an art-
ist with an eye on animals—in a sense,
joining the family businesses. Instead