The Tale of Two Portraits
Scott Tallman Powers participated at the Western Horizons show at Legacy Gallery in early March and reports that a fascinating thing happened with one of his paintings at the Arizona show while a collector was standing in front of his work. Powers’ girlfriend, Carrie Fisher, tells the the story:
“A collector from Oklahoma was drawn to a portrait of a rancher who wore his wisdom in his eyes and spoke volumes with just a look. The collector was drawn to the piece and saw that it was painted by an artist whom he’d purchased art from at another show one year prior, at a show almost 1,000 miles away. The first painting he’d purchased from this artist was a ranchwoman, beautiful and strong. He said it was her eyes that drew him to her portrait and prompted him to put his name into the draw to bring her portrait to their home. But this was 2024, 1,000 miles west. The same artist, a different portrait and another story. The collector shook hands with the artist and as they conversed, he learned for the first time that the woman in the portrait he’d purchased a year prior was Floydena Garrison, horsewoman and wife of Bill Garrison, the Montana rancher in the portrait he saw before him. With multiple names already in the purchase box for Bill’s portrait the likelihood of winning the draw was slim, but our collector and his family knew they had to try to bring this painting to their home. With only a few minutes left, they placed their name in the box and crossed their fingers. Moments later, the sale was over and the names were randomly picked from the boxes. It was then that our collector learned that he had won the opportunity to purchase the mate to the painting he’d bought one year earlier.
The two portraits weren’t painted at the same time, they weren’t painted for the same art shows and never in his wildest dreams did the artist think that the two paintings would find their way to the same home and be hung together, but this is Bill and Floydena Garrison, who have worked side by side for over 50 years, raising children, cattle and horses together on their third-generation Montana ranch.
It was then that I learned the power of unbreakable bonds such as theirs and that the paintings of Bill and his bride were meant to be together...Some stories are simply written in the heavens, and some couples are never to be separated, not even on canvas.” —
Send us your Sold! stories by emailing Michael Clawson at mclawson@westernartcollector.com.
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