(Editor's Note: The Kerrville Mountain Sun is publishing a series of articles on the active members of the Cowboy Artists of America, one of the most significant groups in the field of American western art. They were organized 25 years ago.)

"Wester painting?

Why does an Easterner do western paintings?

"My fascinations with the West probably started when I saw a wild west show before I was five yeard old. This interest was sustained during my childhood by the stories of Will James and the illustrations of N.C. Wyeth, as well as the western movies I watched continuously for years. So when I was working as an illustrator and the art director asked if I would like to do a western, my milieu was settled. I have done western paintings for book covers, illustrations of magazines, and advertising for large companies, corporations and movie companies ever since."

These are the words of Frank C. McCarthy, who was born in New York City in 1924 and attended grammar and high school in Scarsdale, New York. The progressive education offered at the grammar school allowed Frank to develop his talent in painting. In his high school years, he studied at the Art Students League in New York during the summer, and after graduation, he attended the Pratt Institute of Brooklyn.

McCarthy began his career as an apprentice in a large studio where he first mounted and delivered photographs and drawings and later laid out type and photos until he became a staff artist.

In 1948, Frank left his salaried position to become a freelance artist working on movie posters. Soon he married Mary Fahrendorf, a girl he had been dating since he was fifteen.

McCarthy wanted to paint for galleries for years, but it wasn't until 1969 that he placed two paintings in a New York gallery, and they sold immediately. In just two more years all commercial art was finished.

Frank says he paints to achieve visual impact — through the beauty and character of the West: the mountains, streams, lakes, deserts, and most of all, the rocks.

His paintings are based on truth. The settings are real, but the illustrator in Frank leaves the story to the beholder. The stories, however, contain the real characters who roamed the West: mountain men, fur traders, cavalrymen, cowboys and Indians as well as the vehicles: the wagon trains and stagecoaches.

McCarthy begins each painting with abstract pencil drawings searching for new patterns of light and shade, etched with action ultimately to appear. Most of his paintings are casein underpainting with glazes and overpainting in oil on a gesso covered masonite panel.

In 1974, Frank "retired" to Sedona, Arizona. In 1975, he was elected to membership in the Cowboy Artists of America.

(This text originally appeared in "The Kerrville Mountain Sun", October 17, 1990).

More articles:

August 1950 - "Introducing A New Junior Literary Guild Artist"
May 27, 1955 - "Collier's Credits" (by Jerome Beatty, Jr.)
circa 1972 - "With A Paint Brush Instead Of A Gun"
1974 - "Frank C. McCarthy" (by Frank C. McCarthy)
October 1976 - "Frank C. McCarthy" (by James K. Howard)
May 1981 - "A Visit With Frank McCarthy" (by Kay Mayer)
July 1981 - "Frank C. McCarthy" (by Piet Schreuders)
June 10, 1982 - "Cowboy Art" (by Stewart McBride)
July 1983 - "The Verde Valley - A Personal Profile" (by Frank Brothers)
July 1989 - "The 007' Files: Selling Bond" (by Stephen Rebello)
November 1989 - "Illustrators - Part 1: Movie Posters" (by Franz L. Brown)
October 17, 1990 - "McCarthy Paints For Visual Impact" (by Gail Arnold)
2001 - "The Illustrator in America, 1860-2000" (by Walt Reed)