For the past 30 years, Carrie L. Ballantyne has drawn and painted the people of today’s ranching and cowboy culture with depth and texture and an emphasis on authenticity. She is best known for her powerful yet sensitive portraits that chronicle men and women of the contemporary West with a timeless quality.

“The individuals themselves inspire much of my art,” Ballantyne said. “I enjoy painting representational and intimate portraits of real people — most often family members, personal friends and neighbors.”

Profiled in numerous periodicals over the years, Ballantyne is the recipient of various awards and honors from distinguished Western art shows and museums. Prix de West continues to be a favorite venue. In 2014 she won the Donald Teague Memorial Award for Best Work of Art on Paper and in 2008 and again in 2020 she received the Express Ranches Great American Cowboy Award.

“Showing my art alongside many of my heroes at the National Cowboy Museum is an exhilarating and humbling experience,” she said. “It is an inspiration I look forward to each year.”