Lynette Thorstensen
Visual Artist
My passion for painting has been reignited after a long period of frenetic activity in other fields.
Although a New Zealander by birth, the last twenty-five years of my life were mostly spent in Australia, then more recently Geneva, Paris and now Clermont-Ferrand.
I am a long standing environmentalist; a lover of nature and landscapes. It has been my privilege professionally to work in roles that defend the integrity of ecosystems, including as CEO of Greenpeace Australia and more recently leading the communications area of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) based in Switzerland.
Finding myself at distance from the ancient and sacred land of Australia, at distance from my beloved and still young children and living an unimagined life of solitude in Geneva, my painting series began to take shape.
I was fortunate to study under the exacting tutelage of Emanuela Lucaci, a superb Romanian artist widely respected in Europe and the United States.
My work is driven by longing for a unique landscape far from Europe’s own beauty and the desire to impart colour, energy and depth into this context.
I love the textures of Australian rocks, oceans and watercourses. I love the aridity of the desert and the resilience of attitude and spirit found in this sunburnt country.
With distance, I am grateful for all that the green calm that the Auvergne region of France now offers me. This is the ‘filter’ through which my work found discipline, expression and ultimately, life.
