Braighlee is a contemporary figurative painter known for her large scale works and life size portraits of embodied women. She grew up in two different towns in California, feeling the power in both the ocean waters, and the snowy mountains. One day climbing trees, pulling apart pine cones to find the pine nuts, with dirt in her clothes, and the next, having sand in her hair, counting the shells, and drawing on the beach. There is still a dichotomy and freedom she’s obsessed with and she seeks to try and find that in her paintings and in her little garden studio she works in.

She sees a balance between ideas like strength and softness, courage and intuition, tenderness and discipline, and she sees these things like the howl of the mountain winds and the roots of the pine trees.

Like these pieces of a puzzle, or a good mystery, she seeks to capture and to put them together through pigment and brush strokes on canvas to tell the stories of women in her life.

Her inspiration truly comes from nature, as she cannot create without feeling the sun on her face or a fresh, long walk in the hills near her Nevada home.

Slow mornings with her dog are essential to her creating work from the soul to feel that connection to Spirit and Nature to remind her of the reason we are here…To feel that greater connection again.

She paints with hints of charcoal, ink, collage, and gold leaf as the soft harmony while oil paints are the main heart behind her work. Having studied portraiture in Rome, Italy, and completing a year-long online program, she has a diverse range of techniques and influences in her work.

Her art challenges historical portrayals of women, offering an emotional, connected and fresh perspective through the feminine gaze paired with intensity through eye contact, color and symbols.