Lynette Thorstensen 

Renaissance of a Southern Artist

 

Today Lynette Thorstensen is depositing not only her cases in the Auvergne but also her canvasses washed with the blue of southern seas.

Born a New Zealander, and passing through New Caledonia, Lynette Thorstensen has spent 25 years mainly in Australia and more recently in Geneva and Paris.

Her paintings clearly reflect the Australasian landscape, though they display a strong maritime influence: “far from European beauty, I became aware of the colour of the Australian landscape, of its force and its depth” she says somewhat apologetically.

And to follow on: “I love the texture of the rocks, the sprit of the oceans, the power of the rivers and waterfalls. I love the aridity of the deserts and the physical and spiritual resilience of the denizens of these lands burned by the sun”. While it is true that her oil paintings vigorously convey this intensity, so do her eyes, which sparkle with the same blue of the ocean that permeates her work. Lynette Thorstensen paints raw nature, conceding nothing, contriving nothing. The only people that she paints are her close family.

Nature and the environment are particularly sensitive issues for her.  Former CEO of Greenpeace Australia and former Communications Director for the Geneva based World Business Council for Sustainable Development (a global organisation of companies supporting sustainable development), she has fought for the safety and defence of eco-systems.  However it was during her posting in Switzerland that she took time to pick up her long abandoned paintbrushes again.

Her journey today takes her to the Auvergne, compelling her to exchange her palate of blue for a greener one.  “One can hear the slap of the waves at the cathedral door” suggests the Director of the Atelier Diagonales  Joasiane Pinel-Debris somewhat slyly, commenting on the artist’s work.  May she invest the same ardour and talent in landscapes of the countryside that now surrounds her every day.