Christine de Brenni

Christine was born in Narromine, N.S.W. in 1959 but grew up on the far north coast of N.S.W. in the little fishing village of Brunswick Heads. She now lives at “Brienne” Mt McKenzie in rural South Australia.

She has enjoyed drawing and painting and generally being creative, since early childhood.

Although she has no formal art training – her background includes a Pharmacy degree from Sydney University, a Diploma in Education from the University of New England, a Post-Graduate Diploma in Homoeopathic Medicine, an Advanced Diploma in Herbal Medicine and a course in Scientific Illustration - she has combined her love of art with her background and interest in science to produce detailed botanical works.

Her thesis for Homoeopathy involved an investigation of indigenous Australian plants as a source of potential new homoeopathic remedies. The researching for this subject deepened her knowledge of our beautiful native plants, our indigenous brothers and sisters and the healing that comes from a greater attunement with all of God’s creation.

Christine was a member of the Wildlife Art Society of South Australia, having been editor of their newsletter for five years.

She is a versatile artist working in a variety of media including pen, watercolour, acrylic, porcelain, silk and most recently, mosaics. She has won various prizes, particularly for her botanical works and received commissions from Britain and New Zealand as well as here in Australia.

Christine has been involved, in various capacities – exhibiting artist, volunteer, hanging and curating - with several local galleries including, Top of the Torrens Gallery at Birdwood, the Barossa Regional Gallery at Tanunda and Lillefield Gallery at Eden Valley. She is also a committee member of the Barossa Arts Council.

In 2005 Christine completed a Diploma of Transpersonal Art Therapy through the IKON International Institute of Healing Arts and Sciences. She has used these skills and knowledge on a voluntary basis working with kindergarten and special needs children as well as adults.


In 2007, together with her husband Jules, Christine travelled in France and Spain. Walking part of el camino de Santiago provided the perfect opportunity for personal reflection and brought with it the realization that doing what you really enjoy (in Christine’s case, expressing herself through her artwork) is essential to one’s wellbeing.

A pilgrim finds direction!

The photos show Christine on the way to Fisterre (The End of the Earth!)

Christine began her time in France working in a studio, Atelier de la Rose, at Montcabrier in South West France.

The remaining gateway into the                                          Outside the studio.

bastide of Montcabrier.

                                                                                                   Inside the studio.

While in this area she visited Pech-Merle, the site of some amazing prehistoric cave paintings. The visual arts certainly go back a long way! The visit to the caves was in some ways a spiritual experience for Christine and demonstrated for her the power of art.

Her stay at Atelier de la Rose was such a wonderful experience – relaxing, sketching, drawing, photographing, writing, wandering the village streets and surrounding forest, meeting the most interesting people and enjoying simple French food and wine, usually al fresco, looking across the valley to the mountains – that Christine would like to provide a similar experience for artists, or anyone for that matter, at Atelier de Brienne.
For further information see Artist’s Retreats.

                        Enjoying lunch with my hostess Sally Gaucheron.

Above - scenes of Montcabrier