Thora Clyne was born in Caithness in 1937. She studied at Edinburgh University and College of Art where she was taught by Sir William Gillies - and graduated with Honours in Fine Art in 1960. This was followed in 1961 by Thora being awarded the Andrew Grant Post-Graduate Travel Scholarship. She served as Principal Assistant at Aberdeen Art Gallery at this time and subsequently studied printmaking at the University of Colorado in 1963. She was married first to the celebrated Scottish painter Sir Robin Philipson from 1962 until 1975, and subsequently to the composer Gareth Clemson.. She worked as a part-time lecturer at Edinburgh College of Art from 1963 - 1993.

Much of her work is based on places in her travels. most notably to France, Italy, Serbia and Romania.

In the 1980s she moved to her Tillywhally Cottage in Kinross-shire where she maintained her studio. She is a great lover of cats - and many of her later works feature her special feline friends. For her outdoor subjects, Clyne was fond of working in watercolour and pastel. She died in 2020.