Collection: Rachel Brownlee

Rachel Brownlee was born in 1993 in Rushville, Nebraska. Inspired by her youth on the family cattle ranch, Rachel started drawing early, focusing on horses and cowboys. Being home educated, Rachel was entirely self-taught. She was influenced almost solely by two books she owned containing horse drawings; one of them was by C.W. Anderson and the other by Marguerite Henry. Due to the rural location of the ranch Rachel grew up on, she was not exposed to artwork or art education until her twenties. She recalls the first time she realized “realistic shapes are not defined by lines, but by light or the lack thereof”.

She portrays western life in an honest and even discordant manner because while fine western art is typically pastoral and romanticized, her work contains sometimes unattractive, old horses, and gritty details. She believes that traditional western life and the people and animals involved should be portrayed as they lived which can be rough, dirty and even painful.

She was most recently rewarded the 2021 Best of Show at the Mountain Oyster Club sale and the 2023 Beset of Show at the Cowgirl Up! show, were a great honor to receive. Her work is available through Setters West Gallery in Tucson, Arizona. Rachel lives on a large family cattle ranch in Ashby, Nevada with her husband, daughter and son. She lives the life she draws and often uses neighbors as models for her work. Her studies come from her own cattle, horses and daily life on the ranch.