Pascale Rentsch RSW

Pascale Rentsch – Scottish Contemporary Artist

Pascale Rentsch is a Swiss-born, Scotland-based contemporary artist celebrated for her evocative plein air paintings that capture Scotland’s ever-changing landscapes. She graduated with a BA (Hons) in Drawing and Painting from Edinburgh College of Art in 1999 and has since made Scotland her permanent home, living and working in East Lothian. In 2022, she was elected a member of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour (RSW), recognising her outstanding contribution to Scottish art.

 Pascale’s work is shaped by a lifelong connection with nature. Growing up in Switzerland, she was rarely without her sketchbook, recording wildlife and landscapes with an attentive, intuitive eye. At 15, she met the late John Busby, whose dynamic approach to drawing inspired her to pursue art more seriously and ultimately led her to Scotland. After studying in Brighton, she moved to Edinburgh in 1997 - initially staying with the Busbys- and decades later fulfilled her dream of acquiring the very house that first captured her imagination.

 Working predominantly en plein air, Pascale paints outdoors in all weather, allowing rain, wind, and sunlight to shape her process. Her expressive, spontaneous paintings capture not just what she sees, but what she hears and feels, offering a vivid sense of place and atmosphere. Rather than aiming for pictorial precision, her work conveys the spirit and emotion of the landscape, often described as a visual diary of her experiences.

 Pascale’s paintings celebrate the beauty and resilience of nature. From birds soaring above stormy skies to sunlight sparkling on the shoreline, her work captures fleeting moments with sensitivity and immediacy. Each brushstroke reflects her direct engagement with the landscape, creating artworks that are not just seen, but truly felt.