Renske was born in The Netherlands and grew up in the Cowichan Valley. After several years of living in Victoria, then Saskatoon, she moved to Edmonton, Alberta, where she studied Arts Administration, worked for the Department of Education, and raised a family. In 2010 she retired and moved back to the Valley with her husband. She took up painting while in Edmonton, and has been able to devote much more time to it since retirement, taking various courses at Vancouver Island School of Art (VISA) and participating in many local courses and workshops. She likes to focus on still life, landscapes and portraiture, and her preferred medium is acrylics. She is also a keen photographer. Before joining the Maple Bay Painters in 2014, Renske served on the board of the Cowichan Valley Arts Council for several years, holding the position of secretary, then member at large. She has served as vice-president and president of the Maple Bay Painters.

"I am inspired by nature and landscape. I feel extremely lucky to live here on Vancouver Island where we have so many trails and parks to explore, and so much beauty to discover. At the same time I am very concerned about our environment, as I see our local lovely open spaces being destroyed by more and more housing developments. I use the photographs I take as references for my paintings. I work directly on canvasses prepared with gesso and a thin layer of colour. I make a very minimal sketch on that layer and then “dive straight in”. I use a limited palette of warm and cool primaries, mixing on the palate as well as on the canvass, and working with the biggest brushes I own. I work all over the canvas correcting mistakes as I go, eventually creating a unified composition. I try to add the smaller details at the end, especially focussing on the distinct separations between light and shadows. Besides being a fabulous way to spend my time, painting is a kind of meditation for me. Every canvas filled is a new learning process."

You can contact Renske directly by email at: renskesagar shaw.ca