Frederic Remington

 

By Kristy McCaffrey

Frederic Remington is best known for his art depicting the cowboys, U.S. Cavalry, and Native Americans of the Old West. He was a painter, illustrator, sculptor, and writer.

 

A Dash for the Timber, 1889.

Born in Canton, New York, in 1861, his family had hoped he would have a military career, but his love of drawing revealed itself early. His goal was to become a journalist, while doing his art on the side. At 17, he wrote to his uncle of his modest ambitions, “I never intend to do any great amount of labor. I have but one short life and do not aspire to wealth or fame in a degree which could only be obtained by an extraordinary effort on my part.”

The Herd Boy

He attended art school at Yale University, preferring action drawing rather than still life objects. At 19, he made his first trip west when he traveled to Montana, and he quickly grew to love the frontier and the heroic cowboys and soldiers he met there. He went on to work for several magazines, creating images that helped shape the world’s perception of the American west.

 

The Broncho Buster, 1895

While he produced over 3,000 paintings and drawings, he’s best known for his sculptures, which he began in 1895 with “The Broncho Buster.”

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In my upcoming novel, THE STARLING, a mystery surrounds the western painter J. Montgomery.

Colorado 1899 

Kate Ryan has always had a streak of justice in her. When she decides to apply to the Pinkerton Detective Agency, nothing will stand in her way. Initially hired in a clerical position, she quickly works her way up to field agent with the help of her mentor, Louise Foster. When Louise is injured, Kate gets her first assignment and the opportunity of a lifetime. 

Henry Maguire has been undercover in the household of wealthy entrepreneur Arthur Wingate. Employed as a ghostwriter to pen the man’s memoir, Henry is also searching for clues to a lucrative counterfeiting scheme. When Henry’s “wife” shows up, he’s taken aback by the attractive woman who isn’t Louise. Now he must work with a female agent he doesn’t know and doesn’t necessarily trust. And because he has another reason for coming into Wingate’s world, Kate Ryan is unavoidably in his way.

Kate Ryan is the daughter of Matt and Molly from THE WREN, and THE STARLING is the first of five novels featuring the second generation of Ryans in the Wings of the West series.

Coming August 2, 2022

Read Chapter One and Pre-Order Now