Lynn Donoghue, who was born in Red Lake, Ontario, in 1953, was trained at H. B. Beal Secondary School, London, Ontario, where Herb Ariss and Paterson Ewen were among her teachers, graduating in 1972. She began to exhibit her work professionally in 1973. Throughout her career, she championed portrait and figural work. After her first trip to Europe in 1979, she became more interested in what she considered her heritage as a portrait painter of past masters such as Velasquez, quoting from their work in her own way. Donoghue largely chose her subjects, many of them her friends, resulting in a body of work which explored the cultural community in Toronto and beyond.Donoghue's work was often large in scale, with bright colour applied directly onto the canvas in thin layers of paint so that they have a translucent effect.