Among Friends

‘Among Friends’ is an exhibition of paintings by three women who met as strangers and became supportive artist friends.

They recognised that they had more in common than just being local women with a desire to make art. Their shared love of coastal Thanet and Margate in particular, an affinity with sea and sky and a considered approach to painting what inspires them has helped them to feel that they’re ‘among friends’ for this exhibition. Though their styles are distinctive, their ethos is the same.

Louise Hynes 

Louise is a mainly self taught painter, although she spent a year at Boston University School of Fine Arts. After raising a family and a career in property and interior design, she decided it was time to follow her true passion and returned to painting.

She works in acrylics, oils and other media to create paintings of the ever changing local sea and sky and some landscapes too. A fascination with faces means that portraiture takes equal space and she was honoured to be asked to paint thirteen portraits for NHS Heroes at the height of the pandemic .

Her work has featured in two issues of art industry magazine Artist Talk. Two paintings were shortlisted for the Visual Arts Associations Open competition in autumn 2021 and a painting was chosen for the Turner Contemporary Open exhibition. The same painting was shortlisted for the Turner Fringe Prize in 2019 , judged by Tracey Emin.

Deborah Isabella Gilbert 

Deborah works mainly in acrylic paint, which she likes to use as it dries quickly, allowing her to build up light, translucent layers of glazes.

A glaze is a single layer of paint that’s thin enough to allow the colours beneath to show through. Each new layer builds up the depth of colour and modified what it’s being painted over. Usually this results in a more expressive and natural looking image.

Her distinctive paintings capture the fresh light and colours of the sea and sky in a semi abstract way. They range from huge canvases for maximum impact to tiny paintings and sizes in between.

Sian Morgan 

Born and raised in Margate, local artist Sian Morgan studied at Medway College of Art and then completed an HND in Exhibition and Museum Design at Hull School of Art.

Sian has a love and affinity with Thanet’s history, architecture and beautiful coastline .

Sian exhibits regularly and sells in local galleries. She paints watercolours of shells from local beaches and other subjects, all inspired by where she lives.