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Kathleen Walne (1915-2011) was a very talented and successful watercolour artist who painted mostly figurative studies, still lifes and landscapes. She has been described as having produced some of the most unusual and exuberantly colourful English watercolours of the last century.
Kathleen was born in Ipswich into the family of Herbert and Ruby Walne. They had seven children and were not well off, but Kathleen at the age of 14 won a scholarship to the Ipswich Art School. There she met and later married fellow Suffolk artist Frank Ward. They moved to London where it was felt that Kathleen's talent might garner more recognition and in 1935 she had a solo exhibition at Wertheim's Gallery.
In the late 1960s Kathleen and Frank moved to Brighton to care for their friend Lucy Wertheim, in the final stages of her illness. They lived there for the remainder of their lives. They took an active part in the artistic life of their community in North Laine. Kathleen had a long life of painting, and now her works are on display in the collections of art galleries as diverse as The Salford Museum and the Auckland City Art Gallery in New Zealand.
There is a lot more information about Kathleen and her husband Frank Ward in the book ‘Mixed Palette' by David Buckman - unfortunately it is out of print. The author also wrote Kathleen's obituary for the Guardian newspaper.