The Cowboy and Western Art of Susan K. Guile

I wanted to do something so people other than locals could see the Cowboy and Western artwork of my late wife, Susan K. Guile. Susan, 5 March 1961 – 21 October 2024, was a native Texan growing up in Wichita Falls, Abilene and Del Rio, Texas, and other states as well, in a military family where she developed a love of animals, especially horses. She graduated from Shippensburg State University in Pennslvania with a Bachelors Degree in Fine Art. While in Texas, she rode with the Escaramuzas (female Charros) in South Texas, rodeoed in Pennsylvania, Virginia and Alabama, and rode Classical Dressage in Germany with one of the last Prussian Dressage Masters.

She also worked for several years as a wrangler and trail guide at a ranch in Southern California. Settling in El Paso, Texas in 1999, Susan taught horsemanship for over 20 years instilling a love and respect for horses for many adults and children. She used her love of horses and the western lifestyle to paint realistic oil on canvas scenes of horses and cowboys and other iconic western scenes for which she was well known for in the El Paso Art Community. She would only paint from photographs she owned, aside from the occasional commission piece, so man of her painting were of her husband (me) which is unfortunate as she could have had better subjects. These are some of her works below:

This piece (above) is titled "Jubal" of me and a Mustang gelding who proved to be a difficult horse, even dangerous at times, but taught me so much. Took me awhile to make friends with him, but I actually used him to teach a couple clinics off of. The original painting was 30x36 inches oil on canvas.

I'm old, with many wrinkles, but Susan used to accuse me of telling fibs when the corners of my eyes would crinkle up. She called this my tell. So the title of the painting is "The Tell". I have to admit I cannot keep myself from making up ridiculous stories and get gullible people to believe me. She painted this painting of me. The original was 22x26 inches oil on canvas.

This piece (above) is called "The Last of the Range Riders" when I was a Conversation Law Enforcement Officer, colloquial called an Army Range Rider and riding a young horse (Chance) breaking him into duty. The location was the Otero Mesa in New Mexico on Bureau of and Management grazing units where we had enforcement jurisdiction. The original painting was 30x54 inches oil on canvas.

Susan also painted from time to time in water colors, and this work (above), which she called "Best Friends", is me introducing Jubal the Mustang to my best friend Petey, a Gordon Setter. The original painting was 18x24 inches oil on canvas.

Susan took a photo, hard to do at night, of me drinking coffee by the fire pit, and turned it into this painting she titled "Campfire Contemplations" above. The original painting was 22x28 inches oil on canvas.

Althoughg she painted many others, old barns, homesteads, longhorns and horse, the last ne which I'll share here is titled "Welcome Breeze". From a photograph taken in the hot desert summer, you can tell there is a light breeze blowing my wild rag and the horse, Junior's, tail and mane. The Franklin Mountains Noorth of El Paso, Texas are in the background.

One of Susan's last was to get her artwork available for her family and friends to get prints and what not. I finally got that done, putting her work on Fine Art America where the images can be made into prints and posters, note cards, t-shirts and even coffee mugs. I already warned her family they better not get a coffee cup with my likeness on it only to drink weak ass coffee from it. Anyway, I hope more than a few people can enjoy her efforts. She was as good as a woman, wife and rider as she was an artist.