The two weeks that Trish Stevenson spent at her grandparent’s log cabin in western North Dakota each summer as a child were the best part of her year. She and her five siblings loved how different it was from their home outside Denver, Colorado. They even loved the outhouse. “It was like camping for two weeks,” she says. “It was the highlight of the year for us.”

But what Stevenson remembers most is her grandfather. She remembers how tall and lanky he was, how he sat with his legs crossed in a certain way, how he rolled cigarettes with Bull Durham tobacco, and told funny stories. She remembers how he took them to rodeos and brandings on local ranches. She remembers falling in love with the cowboy lifestyle.

Read the full article in the March/April 2021 issue.

Hot Pursuit

Pastel
12” by 15”

“True horsemen, and unsung heroes of rodeo, the pick-up men, with the well-trained horses, are chasing a loose bull or wild bronc, which they do for hours on hot, dusty days at summer rodeos. I chose bright, warm colors that would reflect that hot, dusty feeling, as well as brushstrokes that emphasize the non-stop action.”

The Cowboy Way

Oil
20” by 16”

“I wanted a somber tone to this painting and eventually decided on a limited palette of alizarin crimson and ultramarine blue with white, which gave me an opportunity to learn more about value and color temperature. The subject is a hard-working young rancher with all the tools of the trade—hat, rope, reins, saddle, chaps that he probably built himself, and his dependable cow-horse—working the cowboy way.”