The Connection

The horses in the painting pictured below titled Sharing are the same horses that I painted in Sweethearts.  I photographed them when I lived in Butte on East Broadway.  In July of 2009 the National Folklife Festival was in its second of three years in Butte.  That year's festival was about the culture of the horse in Montana.  Lucky for me, the horses were corraled behind where I lived. Very close by was a little arena where horse demonstrations were held.  I watched two cutting horse demonstrations with Wylie Gustafson.  It was amazing to see how responsive his horse 'Whiskey' was.  In the second demonstration, Wylie brought in another horse who just stood off to the side.  Sometimes when the horse's friend is brought in it makes for a calmer, more relaxed horse.  In the corral, it was very evident these two horses were very close--best friends.  Later in speaking with Wylie I learned that they were brothers (or at least half brothers) and that if one were to die, the other one would soon follow.

I gave Sweethearts that name as it was a painting I produced for 'The Love Show' in February 2010 at Main Stope Gallery in Butte Montana.  We could also call it 'Brotherly Love' too!