Sagebrush and Paintbrush: The Story of Charlie Russell, the Cowboy Artist

Nancy Plain

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About Sagebrush and Paintbrush: The Story of Charlie Russell, the Cowboy Artist

 

It seemed that Charlie Russell could draw or paint anything. Wherever he went, his pencils and paints went with him—sometimes stuffed inside his socks. His cowboy friends recognized their faces in his pictures, which he dashed off on scraps of paper, bits of wood, and the linings of hats. This habit of sketching life on the Montana range earned Charlie the nickname “The Cowboy Artist,” and he became famous throughout the world.

But as good a friend as he was an artist, fame wasn’t important to Charlie. In fact, notoriety was nowhere near as precious as the life he lived and the people loved. In this book, you’ll read about the one-and-only Charlie Russell and how he lived his dream and honored the Old West through his renowned art.

Praise

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With an easy–to–read and inviting narrative, Nancy Plain spins the details of an extraordinary life. After Russell became a fulltime painter and sculptor, his wife was his business manager. They traveled across the country following his exhibits, lived for a time in New York City, but always returned home to Great Falls, Montana. In later years, they wintered in Southern California, where he met some of the greats in the western movie industry. His true–to–life paintings and magazine illustrations still inspire movie directors. A summer cabin on Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park gave him an annual refreshment of wilderness life. Western history fascinated him, to which he contributed an outstanding legacy of vivid paintings, murals, bronze sculptures, stories, and illustrations of Native Americans, cowboys, and western landscapes. His works are scattered all over the country, in homes, private collections, museums, government buildings, and as treasured keepsakes of old friends. Art students, cowboy aficionados, teachers, and history buffs of all ages will find this book a rewarding read. –Janice E. Kirk, author and illustrator of Milton the Mouse