Karen Brennan Art

Some people are lucky enough to find their true calling, I found mine written in the margins of history. I’m Karen Brennan a calligrapher and watercolour artist with over 35 years of practice.

I’ve spent a lifetime turning the beauty of the Irish landscape and the richness of Irish heritage into art that endures. My connection to the exacting craft of calligraphy runs deeper than most. My great-grandfather, William Brett from Co. Mayo, was an artist and created gorgeous illuminated addresses at around the turn of the century painstaking, gilded works made to honour, to commemorate, and to last. Having grown up surrounded by his artistic treasures, I feel like that same instinct lives on in my work today. I have great reverence for the hand-made, the meaningful, and the beautifully rendered.

Through my roots in the West of Ireland, I draw constant inspiration from the landscapes that shaped me, our rugged coastlines, ancient woodlands, and softening light over limestone and the Atlantic ocean. I studied Fine Art background from Atlantic Technical University and the National College of Art and Design. My watercolours and prints, I hope carry that sense of place, bringing a piece of Ireland into homes across the world, particularly among the Irish diaspora who carry the island with them wherever they go. Whether it’s a sweeping landscape print, a piece of illuminated calligraphy, or a bespoke commission, everything I create is an act of remembrance for place, for people, and for the art of making something truly by hand.