Bountiful Bales

This original oil painting has sold to Bassford Remele Law Firm, located in the Steel District Office Tower. It provides brilliant color and life to their elegantly appointed conference room.

Though the original has sold, I am happy to paint the scene again in another size for a custom commission. And, prints in many sizes are available as well. Simply fill out the form below completely, if you would like to inquire about a private commission similar to this painting or a print!

This brilliant summer's day scene is iconic South Dakota. I took the photo I used for inspiration for this painting immediately after this field was baled by our new friends who operate a thriving Angus cattle ranch in Marshall County, South Dakota. How I delighted in making that blond field SING as it did in real life each time the clouds passed, allowing the full rays of sunshine to highlight the path of the balers. I have been told that standing in front of this large painting, one might begin to even smell that freshly baled hay!

Poet and Author June Tuff Witte was inspired to write a poem about this painting while it was on display at my solo show, "Dazzling Dakota" in the winter/spring of 2025. What an honor and delight to inspire another creative to reminisce and rhyme with my painting!!

BOUNTIFUL BALES

Artwork by Mecca Rutherford

Slow walking the exhibit—

Dazzling Dakota—

I want to put into words

the mesmerizing wildflowers 

at Good Earth State Park

or pen praise as I gaze 

at mist rising amid pines 

in the Black Hills forest—

give voice to serenity 

settling my troubled soul.

Instead, I stop by a field 

of bales that take me home,

back to the days when bales

were not round and mammoth,

but rectangles picked up

and tossed onto flatbeds—

not by me, no, not by me—

I’m not a farmer’s daughter.

I am a daughter who pumped gas

at the family filling station

where my father taught me to care 

about farmers whose success 

was bundled with ours.

The field of golden bales takes me 

home—a child of summer with no care

beyond my small world, no

awareness of the world war my dad 

fought six years before I was born.

I scan the field, feeling the sun 

warm my summer tan, my 

youthful naiveté light upon me…

a gray-haired grandma 

on a soft settee in an art gallery

once again

a child counting bales.

June Tuff Witte

Published in the Scurfpea 2025 Poetry Anthology, The Holding of Hands.

*Supplies for select paintings in this show were partially funded by a grant from the South Dakota Arts Council (SDAC). SDAC support is provided with funds from the State of South Dakota, through the Department of Tourism, and the National Endowment for the Arts.