"Gesture and expressive use of line are key elements in my work. Whether drawing or painting, a dynamic rhythm flows from energetic mark-making. Sensitive, lively lines act as a conduit for my emotions.” Northwest Artist Randena Walsh is well known for her interpretations of the NW landscape in pastel and watercolor. Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Randena became fascinated and intimately acquainted with the natural world while growing up on Puget Sound. A member of Women Painters of Washington and the Northwest Pastel Society, Walsh earned the title of Distinguished Pastelist in 1995. She has been published in the North Light Books series Strokes of Genius. She has taught design at Olympic College and demonstrated drawing and painting techniques as a guest artist for arts organizations and design and painting classes “My drawings and paintings are a personal expressive response of places I encounter while hiking or kayaking the trails and waters of the Olympic Peninsula. Gesture and expressive use of line are key elements in my work, only the essential is expressed.” Her studio on Gamble Bay is surrounded by the flora and fauna that inform much of her work.Randena received her Bachelor of Arts degree from The Evergreen State College in 1996. She was a three-year recipient of the Alfred G. & Elma M. Milotte scholarship for her undergraduate work in painting and natural history studies.