The painter, draughtsman and teacher Brenda Mark was born in Hull, Yorkshire. However, she was brought up and spent the rest of her life in Edinburgh, studying at Edinburgh College of Art from 1939 to 1943. She taught art in primary schools and for four years was attached to the teacher training college in Moray House as a crafts lecturer. She also taught at St Denis’ School, Edinburgh. She married the artist Sir Robin Philipson in 1949. Philipson was greatly influenced by Oskar Kokoschka and this is certainly visible the expressionistic brushstrokes of this work. Mark was a prominent exhibitor at the Scottish Society of Artists, of which she was a member, and the Royal Scottish Academy.