The beautiful posters that announce the 53rd PRCA Rodeo of the Tehachapi Mountain Rodeo Association held this August 19 and 20 are the result of the talent of a local artist, Mrs. Betty Finch. With this being both an election year and an Olympic year Betty felt it was appropriate to include an American flag in the painting. That was the inspiration for Miss Rodeo Tehachapi galloping in on her palomino with the stars and stripes.

Betty Finch was born in Indiana, and raised in Mojave, California. Betty, along with her husband Ken, and their beloved horses currently reside in Tehachapi.

Betty considers herself a sculptor, working primarily with hard-shell gourds. The paintings for the rodeo posters are something she started doing as a favor for a former classmate, Dal Bunn. She prefers working on 3-dimensional art using gourds as a medium. Betty grows her own gourds, cross pollenating them to get unique shapes, contorting them as they grow and them assembling them into sculptures resembling humans, animals and imaginary creatures. Her other hobbies include experimenting with plant genetics, raising Appaloosa horses, and working dogs.

Read The Loop's Complete Guide To Mountain Festival 2016, click here: http://www.theloopnewspaper.com/page/your-complete-guide-to-mountain-festival-2016/2795.html

For a map to Mountain Festival Weekend, click here: http://www.theloopnewspaper.com/page/mountain-festival-at-a-glance/2796.html