|How the West Was Drawn: Cowboy Charlie's Art|
When researchers want to know how the American West of the late 1800s to early 1900s looked, they study the art of Charles Marion Russell, known by some as Cowboy Charlie. Reading this interactive self-guided tour of thirteen Russell art works is like following one of my art museum tours.
Children can discover on-their-own or enjoy with a classroom or parent.
Questions encourage readers to examine the art works and notice what casual viewers often miss. Readers will find a hidden creature, discover Cowboy Charlie's unique clothes style and read a painting like a comic strip. Further examination of his art teaches all that Charlie loved and lived - from trapper camps to roundups and Indian tipis to buffalo hunts. Readers discover which paintings hung in saloons and which copies appeared in newspaper and magazines.
Best of all, readers take away tools which help them delve deeper into other art works they encounter in the future.
Look for HOW THE WEST WAS DRAWN: COWBOY CHARLIE'S ART at amazon.com or bookstores.
Here I am discussing where I got the idea for this book. The Northern Colorado Writer's "New Author Panel" featured four new authors in July, 2010.