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Catherine Brennand

Born in Woking in 1961 Catherine Brennand grew up in a small village in East Kent. After graduating from University College Chichester in 1983 with a degree in Art and Design she was still undecided as to either medium or subject in which to specialise. However her first job as a technical graphic artist in the construction industry awakened her interest in architecture and she rapidly developed her individual interpretation of buildings.

Brennand specialised in watercolour paintings using many thin washes and glazes on top of one another, producing rich colours and tones. Often wax resist and tissue collage techniques were combined with paint to add further texture and interest. Artists who influenced her work included John Piper, Graham Sutherland, Mark Rothko and Patrick Heron. She travelled widely in Europe, Israel and the USA for inspiration.

In 1991 at the Annual Exhibition of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours her painting “Facade Aix En Provence” won the Young Painter of the Year Award sponsored by Winsor and Newton. At the RI exhibition the following year she won the Frank Herring & Son award for the Best Painting of an Architectural Subject. Following that exhibition she was elected as a full member of the RI. Within five years she had left her job in the construction industry to paint full time.

In May 1997 Brennand participated in a tour of Israel sponsored jointly by the Linda Blackstone Gallery and the Jewish National Fund. This was used as an opportunity to gather resource material for a seris of watercolor paintings which were exhibited in April 1998 to commemorate 50 years of the State of Israel. The April edition of Artist’s and Illustrators Magazine published an article by Brennand entitled “Modern Paintings in Watercolour” describing the techniques she used in her paintings of buildings in Tel Aviv.

In the September 1997 edition of The Artist Catherine Brennand featured in the “Masterclass” series and one of her works was selected for the front cover.

In April 2000 Brennand was again featured in Artist’s and Illustrators Magazine, this time featuring Paris shops as a subject and how she integrated collage material into her watercolour paintings.

In November 2005 Leisure Painter featured her work in an article on the techniques she used in painting buildings. Works from London, Dublin, Malta and Paris were shown.

Despite undergoing a second course of chemotherapy in February 2006 Brennand held her first and only One Woman Show in Malta. Organised by the Salesians of Don Bosco and opened by the Hon. Dr Hugo Mifsud Bonnici, President Emeritus, the Private View was held over the weekend of the 17th and 18th February.  Of the 40 paintings exhibited 36 were sold the remaining four going by the exhibition's end.

Ten weeks later, on 1st May 2006, Catherine Brennand died of complications caused by breast cancer. She is succeeded by her husband Mark and two children, Jack and Tom.