For Lynda, being selected was a privilege and a “fantastic opportunity” – one she has worked really hard towards. At the Private View marking the opening of the 2005 DE Exhibition, Lynda was thrilled to see so many people obviously with a keen interest in the arts – including a number of critics she recognised. Quite apart from being able to add her participation to her CV, the respect afforded by association with the Discerning Eye was clearly very important to her.
Lynda started her career as a sculptor, studying at St Martin’s School of Art. Although she loved that medium, she was torn between the tactile nature of sculpture and the feel of paint on canvas. After graduating, she decided to concentrate on painting; with sculpture she “missed colour”. Her time at St Martin’s was, however, most valuable to her work and she attributes the use of texture and sense of distance in her painting to her sculpture studies.
The four paintings in the 2005 Exhibition were beautifully executed landscapes inspired by walks in Norfolk and the Scilly Isles. She and her husband Chris travel frequently and she is never without her sketchbook. Lynda paints from experience, drawing on her memories; she commented that she could not have produced any of these landscapes without actually having been to those 2 locations. The paintings at the Exhibition reflected the light and atmosphere of a windswept wander by the coast and “just feeling free” – a sense of freedom so sadly lacking in today’s world, where we tend to be “so… closed in”.
