Artwork by Lila Guthrie Christensen on display at Lisbon Area Health Services

by Janet Hansen

    A collection of artwork by Lila (Guthrie) Christensen, Raleigh, ND is currently on display in the hallways of Lisbon Area Health Services, Lisbon. The display includes paintings of horses, cows, cowboys, portraits, houses, landscapes, flowers and more - all of which come, as the artist labels her exhibit,  “From a Cowgirl’s Heart.”

    Christensen is the sister of Rex Guthrie, rural Lisbon, and the grandaughter of the late Rex Brace. She was born in Lisbon to Wayne Guthrie and Sally (Brace) Guthrie and grew up on a cattle ranch in the sandhills near Leonard. She lived in the Lisbon/Sheldon area in the early ‘70s. She and her husband, Jerald Christensen, currently own and operate the Dogtooth Cattle Ranch near Raleigh, N.D..

    Christensen is pleased to be able to show her artwork in the area in which she grew up. She had the opportunity to exhibit some of her artwork at the Bismarck Arts and Galleries Association art gallery some time ago. She also takes some of her paintings to the Prairie Learning Center, Raleigh, each year when they have a special art event. She plans to display some of her work in Medora, N.D. later this year. She has a variety of her paintings on display in her home in Raleigh.

    She recalls that, as a little girl, she was always asking her father to draw pictures of horses for her. “I was my dad’s shadow for years,” she comments. “I would follow him around as he did his ranching chores. He was my favorite cowboy. He would tell me stories about cow camps and chasing wild horses in Utah and Nevada and working on the big ranches there.”

    As she got older, she started doing pencil sketches. In order to expand her artistic interests, her mother gave her an oil painting set and an easel for her 16th birthday. She has been painting ever since.

    After high school, she went on to Minneapolis, where she attended stewardess school for a year. At one point during that year she entered one of her pencil drawings in an art contest and won first prize.

    As time went on, she fell in love, got married and started a family. While raising their three children, Lila continued painting and drawing in her spare time. She and Jerald now have seven grandchildren and she still continues to enjoy painting.

    Christensen, a self-acclaimed cowgirl at heart, has worked with her husband on every aspect of the operation of their ranch. Since 1993 she has also been employed as a clinical nurse at Mid Dakota Clinic, Bismarck.

    Despite her busy schedule, she has always found time to paint. “One day about 11 years ago I decided I wanted to learn how to paint better,”  she recalls. “I decided that even if I could only afford one art lesson, I would go for it.” She was fortunate enough to meet a Bismarck artist named Rosemary Landsberger, who taught her the art of mixing colors to produce beautiful paintings.

    Her home is now filled with paintings of all sizes and shapes. Her favorite subjects are horses, cows, and cowboys, but she has also painted such things as dogs, flowers, buffalo, houses, scenery, and even portraits. She has painted portraits of her grandchildren, famous actors, and, was commissioned to paint the portrait of Miss Rodeo America 2007, Ashley Andrews, of Bowman, N.D..

    Christensen sometimes sees a picture on a calendar or a photo that she is attracted to and paints her interpretation of that picture on canvas. “When I just want to relax, I paint flowers,” Lila explains. “You can make a mistake on them, and it doesn’t really matter, since no two flowers are exactly alike.”

    “I have hundreds of paintings in my head, but not nearly enough time to complete them,” she states. “Painting is fun, challenging, nerve wracking, satisfying, agonizing and just something I need to do. It is part of who I am - mother, grandmother, rancher, wife, nurse, and artist.”

    Christensen keeps a record of each sketch or painting that she does, and has, over the years,  recorded over 100 different pieces of artwork. She tries to keep track of where her paintings go. The one which has traveled the greatest distanced from North Dakota is a portrait of a doctor for whom Christensen worked at one time. When he left the United States to return to his home in Pakistan, he took the portrait with him. She is pleased to be able to say that one of her paintings is in Pakistan. Another of her paintings is now in California.

    Christensen, who continues to be actively involved in the family’s ranching operation, explains that she paints as time allows. She can spend anywhere from a few hours to a few days working on a painting. She explains that getting the colors just right is the hardest part of oil painting.

    Although she does paintings on canvasses of all sizes, she states that the most common size for her to work on is 16 by 20 inches. She frames all her finished works of art. “The frame just adds something to a painting,” she explained.

    “If I could ranch and paint forever, I would be happy,” Christensen comments.