AN EAST Lothian artist is celebrating winning a prize in a major exhibition in Edinburgh.

Pascale Rentsch, whose paintings celebrate the landscape and nature of East Lothian, was named as the winner of the Scottish Arts Club Award at the 141st Open Annual Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour (RSW).

The exhibition, at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh last month, featured more than 350 paintings, including work by some of Scotland’s top artists.

Pascale was “delighted” to receive the award for her striking painting, ‘Autumn Heather, Lammermuir Hills’.

Her prize includes a year’s membership of the Scottish Arts Club in Edinburgh’s West End and the opportunity to have a solo exhibition of her paintings at the club.

The Haddington-based artist said: “I like to paint in the landscape, out of doors, in all weathers.

“This is a landscape in the Lammermuirs, right at the top, where there is an amazing view. It’s a challenge to paint there because it’s so windy and cold, you can’t think, you have to feel and react, put it on paper.

“I love that, it gives me such a sense of freedom.”

Pascale was born in Switzerland and studied at Edinburgh College of Art before training as an art teacher at Moray House.

Inspiration for her work comes from the countryside, hills and coast of East Lothian.

It was through East Lothian’s stunning scenery that she met her husband Darren, who is also a successful artist.

Twenty-five years ago, the couple, who now have three sons, met during a seabird drawing course in North Berwick, run by the late John Busby.

Pascale said: “I love the fact that wherever I am in nature, I know I will always find something beautiful, something that touches me, however small and insignificant it might appear.”

Last year, Pascale received the Visual Artist and Craft Maker Award 2021, which part-funded her film about her work, ‘This Is My Voice’.

Joyce Campbell, arts convener of the Scottish Art Club, said it was a pleasure to select Pascale as winner of the award.

She said: “The painting is an absolutely beautiful mixture of watercolour and thicker paint.

“I love the way is it mounted in two pages, a bit like a book.

“It’s the first time Pascale has shown with the RSW and we were looking for someone new, both to the RSW and to us.”

A selection of the work is also being shown online at rsw.org.uk