SeemoreofGutting’sworkat
http://www.southwestart.com/featured/
gutting-a-aug2019.BonnieGangelhoffis a contributingeditoratSouthwestArt.Doin’ Their Job, oil, 24 x 30.
AUGUST 2019 • WWW.SOUTHWESTART.COM 67For reference material Gutting often
travels to rodeos in Montana, Wyoming,
and Idaho, returning to her studio with
tons of photographs. These days the art-
ist makes her home in Coeur d’Alene, a
scenic small town perched on a lake and
at the edge of a national forest in Idaho,
and she shares a studio with her mother.
“I have learned how vital it is as a painter
to surround yourself with people who
know you and understand your goals,”
she says. “Fresh perspective and feed-
back from such people are foundational
to moving forward. And I just happen to
have most of that in-house.”
In fact, Gutting notes, her mother was
the one who shot the reference photo-
graph for MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS at
a local rodeo. “My mom said that she had
to shoot photos of the scene because she
knew I would like them,” Gutting says.
Her father pitched in, too: When Gutting
hit a creative snag, struggling to depict
the cowboy’s hands in a pose she liked,
she recruited her dad to moonlight as a
hand model. He agreed—no charge.
When asked what she hopes to con-
vey in her work today, Gutting replies,
“I would be very happy if the takeaway
from my work is an appreciation for a
simple, down-home way of life. Good
humor, a hearty work ethic, and appre-ciation for the land, rooted in home and
family. When qualities like that are set
in the rugged region of the American
West, there’s always a great narrative. It
never gets old.” E