As a boy, Charlie Russell shaped small clay figures and drew pictures. He would one day become known as the Cowboy Artist. In this picture-book biography, young readers will discover the tales of the Old West that his much-admired art and writings tell. As a young boy in the 1870s, Charlie Russell had two passions: art and the West. When he was just fifteen, he established himself as a ranch hand in Montana Territory, where he was able to draw upon his surroundings to develop his artistic gifts. Soon, he was living the life he had always imagined. Twenty-three samples of the artist's paintings and sculptures illustrate this biography, a story that traces Russell's life from young man to cowboy.