RACHEL BROWNLEE

About this artist

As a fifth-generation rancher, Rachel Brownlee draws from a lifetime of
experience on her cattle ranch to create highly realistic artwork that captures the
rugged beauty of the Western lifestyle. After pursuing a career in software
engineering, Brownlee returned to a family ranch in Nebraska intending to focus on
her software company and the ranch, but her self-taught artistic skills took her in a
different direction. Her photorealistic style of drawing with charcoal is entirely self-
taught. A local librarian encouraged her to enter her work into an art exhibition.

Since her work’s debut at the Mountain Oyster Club in 2021, her charcoal
paintings have earned her several major awards including the Mountain Oyster Club
Best of Show Award in 2021, the Cowgirl Up Best of Show Award in 2023, the
Museum of Western Art Roundup and Exhibition Best of Show Award in 2023, the
Mountain Oyster Club Purchase Award in 2023, the Mountain Oyster Club Best of
Show Award in 2024, and the Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery Masters of
Drawing Award of Excellence in 2025.

She was selected as one of Southwest Art Magazine’s “21 Artists under 31” in
2024. She is now represented by Settlers West Galleries, Broadmoor Galleries, and
InSight Gallery. Through her work, Brownlee honors a way of life that is still very
much alive. She lives on her family’s historic cattle ranch in Nebraska with her
husband and two children.