Lynley restarted her creative journey in 2020 after experiencing severe burnout from a long academic career. Finding inspiration in figurative and portraiture, she explored graphite and charcoal drawing and painting before moving onto oil painting. Lynley continues to attend online classes with teachers in the U.S.A, with regular mentoring by figurative artist Susan Lyon via Mastrius and Patreon. This mentoring has led Lynley to explore a contemporary approach to portrait painting using complimentary colours instead of traditional skin tones, and to paint portraits with soft pastels. Lynley is currently completing a yearlong painting course at Browne School of Art in Auckland to extend her knowledge and skills, which has led her to extend her art practice into mixed media; acrylic paint, pastels, charcoal, and ink and combining figures and faces with abstract shapes and backgrounds. In the last year, Lynley has exhibited in four members exhibitions at the Mangawhai Artists Gallery.