Lynette Kay studied painting with Charles Howard (St. Ives School) and following this was offered a place at the Royal College of Art. She has received commissions for designing and painting CD covers and Jazz promotional posters, and has produced many set designs and contributed illustrations for a children’s book produced by UNESCO. For the Millennium, she directed children in the production of a large scale patchwork and was also part of the commissioning group for a ceramic mosaic mural for a local project.
Her influences come through music, color, shape, and texture in the environment. Periods living abroad have introduced aspects from Picasso, Renoir and others in the south of France; Inuit art in Canada and tribal art in South Africa. Major current influences include “The Sydney Paintings” by Patrick Heron and color, shape and texture in coastal landscapes.
Colour and texture are the central passions of my work. I use the landscape and figure in context as a starting point for my work. I produce many sketches until I have enough information to start the painting. I then let the work develop, allowing the painting to evolve its own identity.
My paintings are concerned with how the paint is applied and react with different media. The base is treated in various ways – materials are applied in an unconventional manner and paints are mixed to allow color separation when dry.
Music has always influenced my painting, bringing feelings, colors and textures to my work. Whenever I hear a piece of music, I see explicit colors, movement, shapes, and textures in my head. I have now discovered that this phenomenon, where one sense overlaps another, is known as “Synaesthaesia,” and I have become actively involved in research on the subject. When I use a specific piece of music it is usually just a short phrase which generates images which kick off the painting – the picture once begun then takes on its agenda and lifeform. I will often play the same phrase over hundreds of times, always producing, in my head, the same images.
Lynette Kay has undertaken many commissions both local and international and has exhibited in London, Toronto, and Johannesburg.