I first saw Tana Rai Faltrino's art when her cousin Gay Pearson showed me a picture of her granddaughter with a horse that she had. I thought it captured the moment wonderfully. She lives in Havre. Tana grew up on a farm and ranch south of Havre. She was encouraged by her mother and the nuns at St. Judes School to continue to draw and paint. Tana studied painting and Art History at NMC. Another cousin Donna Jenkins, of Big Sandy and Tana, coauthored together a cookbook, Montana Legacy of Love Cookbook. Tana said, "Donna and I plan on painting together too!" She likes to use farm and farm life as her inspiration. Painting flowers, trees, and animals, mostly horses. She continued, "I also like to paint from nature, and every day things like a gumball machine or even a portrait." If you ever ate at the former Andy's in Havre, her paintings were on display there. She uses oils, acrylics, watercolors, pastels, and mixed media. Tana taught at adult education in Havre and specialty class at Old Station, for the dog park. She has four dogs. Tana gives private art lessons as well.
She said, "painting is important to m. It is an expression of my feelings, and it pushed me to get better with each painting. My subjects are eclectic, anywhere from a horse to a portrait of Marilyn Monroe. I love to paint; it's relaxing to me."
"Art is important to all of us. To make our environment and living area a restful expression of our lives, whether it's classic, contemporary, western, or modern art it can stimulate you or create a restful scene that can take you away from our everyday lives. If you have a painting you really love, it makes a special place in your home."
The featured painting is a mixed media painting taken from Tyla's camera shot, daughter of Raynee Pearson and Matt Gullickson of Big Sandy. The title of the painting is "Tyla Kissin' Marmalade."
